To understand the service of the Red Cross ambulances one must be familiar with the unusual conditions which existed in this most terrible war of all human history.
Most of us know, of course, that the greater part of the fighting was done at night. By day scouts2 in aeroplanes endeavored to locate the enemy’s positions, while sentries3 kept guard along the miles of trenches4 to fire at any man who dared venture within what was called the zone of death. So all the work of war except the actual fighting must take place behind each army’s line of entrenchments.
[203]
This means that in the early morning, when the night’s cruelties were past, the wounded soldiers were carried from the field of battle or from the trenches to some place of safety in the rear. Here nurses and doctors could give them first aid. And this required tremendous personal bravery. The stricken soldiers must be borne in the arms of their companions to the nearest Red Cross, or else lifted into the ambulances or smaller motor cars. These traveled with all possible speed across the tragic5 fields of the dead, as soon as a lull6 in the firing made attempt at rescue possible.
There, behind a barricade7 of trees, or of sand bags, or of a stone wall, or whatever defense8 human ingenuity9 could invent, stood white tents, or else a stable or house. These waved flags of white bearing a crimson10 cross, demanding safety for the suffering.
These temporary hospitals had to be established at any place where the need was greatest. But the soldiers could not remain in these quarters. As soon as possible they were taken to the nearest properly equipped hospital, sometimes fairly[204] near the fighting line. At other times they were loaded into trains and borne many weary miles away.
But in nearly every case they were carried to the cars or to the nearer hospitals in the Red Cross ambulances. They were the only chariots of peace the war had so far acquired.
However, it is good to know that together with all the modern inventions for the destruction of men, science had done all that was possible to make the new Red Cross ambulances havens11 of comfort and of cure. In Paris, the great Madame Curie, the discoverer of radium, had been giving her time and talent to the equipment of ambulances for the soldiers. From this country much of the money that had been poured so generously into Europe had been devoted12 to their purchase.
So the four Red Cross girls from the Hospital of the Sacred Heart (so named in honor of the old convent school) were naturally impressed with the importance of their new duties.
The plan was that they were to travel[205] back and forth13 from the field hospitals with the wounded soldiers who required the most immediate14 attention. A doctor would be in charge of each ambulance and of necessity the chauffeur15. Under the circumstances it was thought better to have two nurses instead of one. The four additional nurses were required because two new ambulances had just been added to the British service, as a gift from New York City, through the efforts of Mrs. Henry Payne, who was especially interested in the Sacred Heart Hospital.
The morning that the girls left for the nearer neighborhood of the battlefield was an exquisite16 June day. The sun is one of France’s many lovers, turning her into “La Belle17 Dame,” the name by which she is known to her own children and to some of her admirers from other lands.
All the nurses who were off duty at the hospital poured out into the garden to say farewell and God-speed to their companions.
Except for the prejudice which Lady Dorothy Mathers and her friends continued[206] to feel against the four Americans, everybody else had been most kind. The English manner is colder than the American or the French, but once having learned to understand and like you, they are the most loyal people in the world.
Three of the American Red Cross girls were beginning to realize this. But Barbara Meade still felt herself misunderstood and disliked. Under normal conditions Barbara was not the type of girl given to posing as “misunderstood” and being sorry for herself in consequence.
The difficulty was that ever since her arrival the horror of the war and the suffering about her had made her unlike herself. She felt terribly western, terribly “gauche,” which is the French word meaning left-handed and all that it implies. Then Barbara had a fashion of saying exactly what she thought without reflecting on the time or place. This had gotten her into trouble not once but a dozen times. She did not mean to criticize, only she had the unfortunate habit of thinking out loud. But most of all, Barbara lamented18 her own[207] failure as a nurse and all that it must argue to her companions. For so far they had the right to consider her a shirker and a coward, or at least as one of the tiresome19, foolish women who rush off to care for the wounded in a war because of an emotion and without the sense or the training to be anything but hopelessly in the way.
It was for this reason that Barbara had finally decided20 to accept the new opportunity offered her. If she should make a failure of it, she agreed with Eugenia’s frank statement of her case: she must simply go back home so as not to be a nuisance.
Curious, but one of the reasons why Barbara loathed21 the thought of her own surrender was the idea that if she turned back, she would have to face Dick Thornton in New York City. This thought had been in her mind all along. For one thing she kept recalling how bravely she had talked to Dick of her own intentions, and of how she had reproached him for his idle existence.
The worst of Barbara’s conviction was[208] that should she return a failure, no one would be kinder or more thoughtful of her feelings than Dick. Of course, she had not known him very long, but it had been long enough for her to appreciate that Dick Thornton was utterly22 without the ugly spirit of “I told you so.” But perhaps his sympathy and quiet acceptance of her weakness would be harder to endure than blame.
So it was a very pale and silent Barbara who walked out of the old stone convent that morning with her arm linked inside Eugenia’s. She was beginning to appreciate Eugenia more and to realize that her first impression of Miss Barbara Meade’s abilities, or lack of them, was not so ridiculously unfair as she had thought.
Certainly no one could be kinder than Eugenia had been in the few days between Barbara’s acceptance of her new work and the time for actually beginning it.
She kept looking at her now, feeling almost as one would at the sight of a frightened child. Poor Barbara was pretending to be so brave. Though she had not spoken again of her own qualms23, it[209] was plain enough to the older girl that Barbara was almost ill with apprehension24. Not that Eugenia believed she was afraid of the actual dangers that might befall her from going so much closer to the battle front. She suffered from the nervous dread25 of breaking down at the sight of the wounded and so again failing to make good.
The superintendent26 of the nurses, a splendid middle-aged27 woman from one of the big London hospitals, was also aware of Barbara Meade’s state of mind. For several days with all the other work she had to do she had been quietly watching her. Here at the last moment she had an impulse to tell Barbara to give up. After all, she was such a child and the strain might be too much for her. Then she concluded it would be best to let the girl find out for herself.
The contrast was odd between the two American girls who were answering this new call of war. Nona Davis did not seem nervous or alarmed. Not that she was unconscious either of the dangers or the difficulties. She seemed uplifted by[210] some spiritual emotion. She was like a young Joan of Arc, only she went forth to carry not a sword but a nurse’s “Red Badge of Courage.”
A little after daylight the four girls and two of the hospital surgeons left for the front. The two new ambulances had been taken directly to the field hospital where they were to meet them.
The night before news had come that there had been fresh fighting and help was needed at once. So one of the hospital automobiles28 had been requisitioned to transport the little party.
“We will be back by tonight with the wounded,” Nona Davis said calmly as she kissed Mildred Thornton good-by. “You are not to worry about us. I don’t think we are going into any danger.”
Barbara made no attempt at farewells; she simply sat quietly on the back seat of the car with her hand clasped inside Nona’s, and her eyes full of tears. Had she tried to talk she might have broken down and she was painfully conscious that the two English girls, Lady Dorothy Mathers[211] and Daisy Redmond, were staring at her in amazement30. It was hard to appreciate why if she was afraid of the war nursing, she would not give it up.
The first part of the drive was through country like that surrounding the Sacred Heart Hospital. General Sir John French had given orders that in every place where it was possible the agriculture of France should be respected. The crops must not be trampled31 down and destroyed, for the rich and poor of France alike must live and also feed their army.
So all along the first part of their route the girls could see women and children at work. They wore the long, dark-blue blouses of the French working classes, at once so much cleaner and more picturesque32 than the old, half-worn cloth clothes of our own working people.
It was all so serene33 and sweet that for a little while Nona and Barbara almost forgot their errand.
Then the face of the countryside changed. There were no peasants’ huts that were not half in ruins, great houses occupied but a[212] few months before by the wealthy landowners of northern France were now as fallen into disuse as if they had been ancient fortresses34. Here and there, where the artillery35 had swept them, forests of trees had fallen like dead soldiers, and over certain of the fields there was a blight36 as if they had been devastated37 with fire.
Then the car brought the little party to the spot where in the morning sunshine they caught the gleam of the Red Cross flag.
The place was a deserted38 stable sheltered by a rise of ground. To the front lay the British trenches, covered with thatch39 and the boughs40 of many trees; to the right and some distance off, hidden behind breastworks, were enormous long distance guns.
Also one of the surgeons explained to Lady Dorothy and Nona, who seemed most interested, that on the hill beyond the hospital where nothing could be seen for the denseness41 of the shrubbery, several of the officers had their headquarters and from there dictated42 the operations in the trenches and in the fields.
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The night before must have been a busy one, for as the car stopped behind the improvised43 hospital, soldiers in khaki could be seen staggering back and forth with the wounded, surgeons with their work showing all too realistically upon them. Then there were the sounds as well as the sights of suffering.
As Barbara Meade crawled out of the automobile29 she felt her knees give way under her and a darkness swallow her up. Then she realized that she must be fainting again.
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1
enrolled
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| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
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2
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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3
sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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4
trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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5
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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6
lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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7
barricade
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| n.路障，栅栏，障碍；vt.设路障挡住 | |
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8
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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9
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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10
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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11
havens
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| n.港口，安全地方( haven的名词复数 )v.港口，安全地方( haven的第三人称单数 ) | |
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12
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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13
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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14
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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15
chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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16
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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17
belle
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| n.靓女 | |
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18
lamented
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| adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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20
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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21
loathed
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
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22
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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23
qualms
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| n.不安；内疚 | |
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24
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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25
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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26
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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27
middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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28
automobiles
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| n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 ) | |
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29
automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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30
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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31
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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32
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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33
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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34
fortresses
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| 堡垒，要塞( fortress的名词复数 ) | |
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35
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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36
blight
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| n.枯萎病；造成破坏的因素；vt.破坏，摧残 | |
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37
devastated
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| v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的 | |
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38
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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39
thatch
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| vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部；n.茅草(屋) | |
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40
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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41
denseness
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| 稠密，密集，浓厚； 稠度 | |
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42
dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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43
improvised
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| a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
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