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42 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
abiKty. Thus they earn a httle money which they badly
need in these hard war times,"
We also spoke, of course, about the unceasing stream of
wounded who are being brought into Germany. The seriously
wounded and those not expected to recover are kept near the
front, as they cannot stand being moved. But the lightly
wounded, or at all events those who can stand the journey, are
sent home. Soldiers who have had a bullet through the hand
or a flesh wound in the arm, may, if they wish it, go straight
home to their people. In such cases, on leaving the army, they
are provided with the receipt which entitles them to free medi-
cal care at home. They must then attend daily at a certain
hour at the doctor’s for examination ; when fully recovered
they return to their own regiment. Soon I suppose there will
not be a single village in Germany without its war hero and its
Iron Cross. One can imagine the pride and joy with which
a son is received on returning home after his deeds of valour,
and the heartfelt good wishes which accompany him when
for the second time he leaves for the front !
I was told that a fresh train-load of wounded was expected
at Treves at half-past twelve the same night. The doctors were
holding themselves in readiness to receive another avalanche
of exhausted and maimed heroes. Our doctors told us that
when the train stopped they used to go through all the carriages
to examine the patients. Those who were too bad to go any
further were carried on hammock-stretchers to the hospitals.
The others were allowed to go on after having their wounds re-
dressed. This is another phase of the struggle between life and
death—the doctor on the side of life struggling to snatch back
those whom death has vainly sought to capture on the battle-
field.
To wind up our visit, we had a peep into a store-room, the
floor of which was encumbered with entire bales of cotton,
gauze dressings, oil cloth, sticking-plaster and bandages of
all kinds. Entire railway trains full of dressings and bandages,
surgical instruments and drugs, are constantly running east
and west from the heart of Germany. Our hospital at Treves
was also permeated with a strong scent of carbolic, ether and
chloroform. When one sees the pale faces and red scars of the
wounded and the mountains of dressings, and when one in-
hales this penetrating hospital odour, one almost seems to hear
the ping of the rifle bullets and the fierce shrieking of the shells.
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