REV. R.J. CAMPBELL IN FRANCE.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4627, 7 May 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

REV. R.J. CAMPBELL IN FRANCE.

HIS EXPERIENCES AND IMPRESSIONS.

■Mr. Campbell has given to a representative of the London “ Standard” an account of his recent tour in Western France.

“In England,” he said, “it is sometimes difficult to realise that we are at mal and undisturbed. But the moment war; the surface of life seems so nprone sets foot in France one is conscious of a marked and sudden change. The air is charged with the electricity of excitement. One feels that great things are happening, momentous events impending. The outward and visible signs of war confront one on almost every side. These signs become still more apparent and impressive when one travels through the country and visus hospital after" hospital. Mv friend and travelling companion, Mr, Handley Spicer, and I were fortunate enough to secure a motor-car on landing m France. As a rule motor-cars are not obtainable just now, except by military or other officials, for love or money. Had we been obliged to travel by tram we should have seen practically xiothing. As it was, we were masters of our own movements, save when we were arrested near while motoring to wards the fighting line.

THE GENDARME STOPPED OUR CAR, and entering it with fixed bayonets Kept us under guard until we explained oui position. This we had no difficulty in doing, and were soon released. Uin chauffeur, a Frenchman, was in a stem of great trepidation for fear that tno car would be commandeered. “Our tour, which occupied a week, was an exceedingly interesting one. io.t may best iudge of the impression the British military hospitals made on me when I say that I feel very proud of being an Englishman. The manner in which these hospitals arc conducted is

excellent. The Duchess ol Westminster’s voluntary hospital at is the best we visited ; equipment and organisation are perfect. At Sir Henry and Lady Norman’s hospital admirable Xray work is being done, and I think they arc justified in their claim that it vill he of much permanent value after he war. Their plant is wonderfully ip-to-dato and all that could be desird.

WHAT IMPRESSED ME MOST OK ALL,” Jr. Campbell continued, “was the rent hospital camp outside . It overs a vast area, and many thousands f wounded are there. hen one mlises thisj-the camp becomes a deep- • impressive sight. More impressive .ill, in another way, is the thoroughess of the organisation, the remarkhle efficiency with which everything is onducted. I was out in South Africa oiring the Boer War, and saw a good eal of field hospital work there; and peaking as a layman 1 venture to say .hat our military organisation now is a lew tiling—a notable advance. There is nothing to compare with it. The sanitation is perfect. The operating theatres, although under canvas, are just like what they would be in London, so far as equipment and such-like are concerned, and the environment is clean, fresh, and sweet. It is more than gratifying to know that our wounded are so well and tenderly cared for. “Passing from cot to cot, and chatting with our gallant fellows, one could not hut he deeply stirred by the

SPLENDTD SPIRIT OF OUR SOLDIERS. They are so patient in spite of their suffering, so cheerful, even jolly. Strangely enough, the French soldiers, whether wounded or unwounded, seemed to me much grimmer than the British.. Our men appeared to take things for granted; there was an absence of self-consciousness ; they seemed to say ; ‘Here it is, and we must go through with it!’ And they are facing it manfully!” , „ Mr. Campbell did not care to dwell on the horrors of war as revealed in the shattered forms that crowded the wards, where the effects of bullet, bomb, and bayonet were only too obvious, Rather did he prefer to dwell on the lighter and brighter side, as, for example, the amusing efforts of our ‘•'Tommies” when trying to converse with the Trench villagers upon whom they were quartered. It was curious, too, he remarked, to see the prices of

goods mat-iced iti English,'our currency being readily accepted even in remote villages. ■

CIGARETTES FOR WOUNDED. “There is one point I should like > to bring before the notice of the public,"’ Mr. Campbell said. “Some of the wounded in the hospitals told me rather pathetically that they wished all the cigarettes were not sent to the trenches. A few, they thought, might be spared for the wards. ‘People at home seem to think that a' chap only wants to smoke before he is wounded,’ they said to me; ‘they don’t seem to realise how he craves for a cigarette or two when he’s convalescent.’ Perhaps our kindhearted friends will take the hint. Gifts of tobacco and cigarettes would he greatly appreciated in many wards. “What I noticed,” Mr. Oampbell added, “was that all the people in authority, the more responsible and bestinformed people, seemed to he quite confident of ultimate success, hut they did not attempt to minimise "the magnitude of the task before them.”