The terrible truth about Serbia

following day he sent down to the “Erin” at Salonika for the flag, which
I was delighted to give him, and a Red Cross flag as well.
On my return to Djevdjelija I looked for the doctor and the two
nurses – I had telegraphed that I was coming. Alas! not one of them
was there. Dr. Donnelly had died the day before, and the two nurses
were down with typhus. The day before Dr. Donnelly died he told Dr.
Hodge, who was in attendance on him, that if he did not get better he
wanted his body to be rolled in the American flag and the Red Cross
flag which had been received a few days previously from the “Erin.”
His wishes, of course, were carried out. At the same time that he gave
this instruction he wrote a letter to his wife in Brooklyn, and letters to
friends in New York, and asked that they should be given to me to post.
This I did, and also sent a letter of my own to each of them, explaining
the sad circumstances of the doctor’s death. No man could give his life
in a more heroic way than he did in trying to relieve the sick and the
suffering.
When the full history comes to be written of the noble effort the
few devoted volunteers who were now in Serbia have been able to make,
it will form one of the brightest pages in the history of humanitarian
devotion. Gently nurtured women, who have never before been forced
to face with the squalor of death and disease, are working night and
day in the hospital at Nis. One of these is the sister of a marchioness.
Another has taken charge of the cooking arrangement, and yet another
is in command of the laundry.
Of the hospital unit sent out by the Scottish Branch of the National
Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, two members of the staff have
died – Sister Louisa Jordan and Miss Margaret Neil Faser, well known
as captain of the Scottish Ladies' Golf Team.
The people in all the towns, in the villages and hamlets, are undismayed.
They have performed miracles against their enemies. They
conquer when all the world mourned that they were beaten. ''We will
conquer again'' is the feeling in the heart of every man, from King
Petar to his peasants. Everyone is helping to keep the nation free. The
ladies, though untrained, are working in the all too few temporary
hospitals; the poor women are doing the men's work in the fields and
in the farms, so that the soldiers may have bread. The children – boys
and girls from eight years of age – are working everywhere. I saw little
children who have been locked out of their school, which are now hospitals,
helping to make cartridges and filling shrapnel shells with bullets.
They are courageous and confident, because of their belief in the
power and goodness of the British people.
Typhus – which is quite distinct from typhoid – is a desease that
one cannot be inoculated against, and it is carried by vermin. It is
therefore absolutely necessary that hundreds of thousands of garments
should be destroyed and replaced by clean clothes. It is also imperative
that the victims of this highly contagious disease should be isolated,
and the medical men working in Serbia consider that wooden huts or
tents are absolutely essential.
Serbia is quite unable to cope with the disease. There is not a
tithe of the hospital accommodation necessary. Serbia has no trained
nurses, athough the ladies of the country are almost without exception
helping in the hospitals. It has not a tithe of the drugs or disinfectants
required. It is short of sheets and blankets. It cannot provide clothes
for the hudreds of thousands who are wearing garments that should be
burned. Its supply of doctors is nearly exhausted.
The most urgent needs are tents, wooden huts, sanitary materials,
beds and bedding, drugs and medical stores, milk sterilizers, but
above all doctors and nurses.
The number of letters I receive from women offering their personal
services is touching. Many of these offer to go out at their own expense;
others only ask for the cost of the journey and their keep; they do not
require salaries.
Several women have written saying they quite understand the difficulties
and dangers of the work, but that they are fully prepared to
lay down their lives if necessary. One of them writes: ''I am old enough
to appreciate the nature of the call, but I do not fear death – indeed, I
would gladly give my life if it would help the brave Serbians.” ;~ Another
says: “I don’t mind the chance of death if I can be of any service.”
This is, I think, a splendid tribute to the spirit of our countrywomen.
(…)