AMERICAN NURSES

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 46, 23 August 1917, Page 11

AMERICAN NURSES

LONDON IMPRESSIONS

STARTLING FIRST SIGHT OF CITY FULL OF WOUNDED

The following article was written in London by Miss Anne Morton Lane for the Springfield Republican :—

The lobby and the reception room, the "palm-court," and the smoking-room of the.Waldorf Hotel—London's —seemed to be full of bright-eyed dark-blue clad women. They all appeared to bo emiling 1 and they all wore on the left side of their neat, well-fitting tunics, small enamelled medals with the Red Cross emphasising its simple significance upon a white background. Nobody else in the big hotel seemed to matter Very much except theas -women. They meant such an eloquent chapter in the history of two great nations. Abotit^lo years ago n. group of American nurses came over to England to serve on board the hospital ship Maine.' They were organised by Lady Randolph Churchill, and, with their full .complement of doctors and nurses, went to South Africa and,did splendid work among the stricken heroes of the war that had its closing struggle at flic end. of tlie Victorian era. But the American nurses of 1902 were simply members of the Red Cross Hospital Service who came over to England as a, private enterprise without official or military standing. It is different with the American nurses of 1917. They are sent by the Government, they are of the army, they are identified with the great cause of the Allies. And so England in general and London in. particular has welcomed them as part of themselves— not as strangers, but as one of the splendid forces of the Motherland.

"And that's the way we feel toward England," Miss Stimson, the matron in charge of the St. Louis unit, told me, as she extricated herself from a group of h-er own "nursing sisters"—"To many of us London is a new experience, and London most of us thought would be full, of millions of strangers. We have been' here ten days aiid we are leaving for France on Saturday, and do you know I for one feel as if every person I see ill the streets, in the parks, in theatres, and in public places are friends of mine. It's just that cordial suggestion of hospitality that makes us all look as wo feel, happy and contented." Miss Stimson's account of her impressions of English military hospitals and their methods of working and organisation is interesting, not only from the point of view of a trained nurse, but also as the experience of an American university woman who has made nursing her business.

" I was asked recently," she said, "to compare English, hospitals with similar institutions in America, and I Would like to state very definitely and accurately throughout the length and breadth of the States, that comparisons, good or bad, are not only an impertiii ence, but an impossibility. We are skilled and trained women who have come over into the war area to help our sister-soldiers fight for the lives of the brave men who are battling for us. This lunch of our mission we understood, but I tell you that when we go through military hospitals in and about London and see the service English men and women are giving, we feel that we know nothing ; that we are just beginners, and must learn by experiences that are as yet beyond oui' comprehension. This 1 to be specially the case," Miss Stimson continued, " when I with other members of my unit was . shown through yt. George's Hospital in the Watciloo-road.

"First of all, this enormous straggling building was never intended for a hospital, ft was 'converted,' I am told, from a Government stationery factory into its present form, at the commencement of the war. Therefore it is typical, for it starts out with every disadvantage. Its very shape makes it difficult for the. purpose of hospital work. And yet there it stands, a monument of magnificent discipline,; a place where nurses and surgeons make a successful struggle against difficult conditions, and win through triumphantly. I can't begin to tell you how' much all of us admire English women as .we find, them now in war time," Miss Stimson continued. "I don't think we used to assimilate very well, somehow. We Americans had an idea that English women Were rather proud and cold, and had queer ideas about society and ■ that sort of thing. Well, I'd just like to tell the whole nation of American women who are at home that they are wrong—dead wrong. English women are splendid, and we can all leayn from them the jpractical, helpful spirit that is going to be a big help in winning this war. We have been entertained right royally by the most famous people in Great, Britain. The King and Queen have shaken us by the hand, the Prime Minister has received Us, we have lunched with the remarkable Lord Derby, and dined with the Duchess of Marlborough, and we have come in close touch with simpler people who have no titles, and no special prominence in this world, but who count —really count —magnificently. But what I want to point out is, that there is no difference noticeable among them; there is no shoddy feeling or suggestion of clique or class; they are all just one great body of people, with one universal whole-souied idea., and I tell you, we all think it great." . '■

WOMEN IN UNIFORM EVERY-

■WHERE.

Miss Stitnson's enthusiasm for England a.nd English women is, specially animated when she speaks of the uniforms, that are to be seen everywhere in the streets. "Ono of the most lasting impressions of our trips around London streets," she said, "is tho amazing number of women who are in uniform. Women soldiers in khaki, women police, women telegraph messengers, women 'bus conductors and caY conductors, and mail-cart drivers and va.n drivers. I have never seeri anything Kk6 it! And this is another thing I would like to impress upon women in America. Englishwomen are working, not playing at. it, but really working. This war has placed them on a new footing, and when tho world has settled down into peace once niore they will see that the true balance of women's position will be very accurately gauged, and English women will march in close formation with American women. Although we feel that London is teaching'all of us some splendid lessons," the matron of the St. Louis unit went on to say, "I think we all o£ us- are anxious to get away to France and settle into real work. Here we are only lookers-on, and I can't tell you how terribly emotional we have all become. For you see this is all new to us. We are all trained.-and have gone through the routine of hospitals and emergency cases and all the rest of it that goes with the right to the title of registered nurses, but we haven't been brought fnce to face with the actualities of war before. _ And in London we :ire not even helping to relieve suffering—we. are looking at it. TherefoTe we are all of us atingle with nerves. THE PATHETIC SPECTACLE OF THE BLIND. "I went to St. Dunstiiu's Hospital this morning, that lovely place in Eegenfs Park of which Sir .Arthur Pearson, the world's most wonderful^ Wind mini, is the head, whore blind.soldiers arc being 1 taught U> do without tight, and I cinicaway feeling torn to bits with rheejfiilv. -OF'course, if 1 or tho other irarsss with ma had bren there working.it would Uavj been different—but-we v.f-re 'look-ing-on.,' aiid 1 simply can't stand jjihcli more of it—l want to work."-