.March, 1918 C. U. C. P. ALUMNI JOURNAL dp 



FROM "OVER THERE" 



Base Hospital No 8. 

 American Expeditionary Force, France. 

 Dear Mr. Costelo : — . • 



Having just finished my Christmas Dinner, an exceptionally good one and to 

 ■which I did full justice, I think the best use I can make of my time is to write 

 a letter telling you and all the fellows at the store, how happy I have been made 

 by the beautiful remembrances. We have a large Christmas tree in the center 

 of our court yard ; last night it was ablaze with colored electric lights, very 

 attractively trimmed, and they sang Christmas carols around it. I wish you 

 could see the really fine dispensary we have here, it is one of the best depart- 

 ments in the hospital, many think it is the finest. I naturally think so and so 

 does Dycoff, who is here with me. We are the only ones in the dispensary and 

 have no one over us except the Majors and the Colonel. The building taken 

 over for our hospital was a large Normal School, built of granite around a large 

 court yard. It is heated ; we have electric lighting, very comfortable quarters, 

 shower baths, in fact everything that makes for our comfort. We were given. 

 the room that was originally used as the library, for our dispensary, and we fitted 

 it up according to army regulations so as to stock for 10,000 people. 1 drew 

 the plans for the shelving, dispensary counter, lighting, etc. They were accepted, 

 and the army engineers put things in shape. Our windows open on this beautiful 

 court yard that reminds me of the one in the Apthorpe on Broadway. Most of 

 our physicians have had a chance to go to the front. They go in detachments, 

 that is, four or five physicians and eight or nine nurses go and stay for two or 

 three weeks and when they return another batch goes. They are stationed di- 

 rectly behind the first line trenches and give aid to the fighting men. 1 had a 

 letter from one of the fellows from the front describing the ceaseless cannon fires 

 and trying to sleep in the sand barracks and saying if one did not like his bunk 

 in the sand shelter he could try sleeping in one of the ambulances, provided he 

 could stand the odor. Major McKermon gave me your packages; he is certainly 

 a wonderful man with the most magnetic personality and has the best feeling and 

 respect of every man in the unit. Personally I am extremely grateful for the 

 many favors he has shown me and we are all delighted that he was given charge 

 of his specialty on the entire front. It is most interesting to watch the natives 

 about here, their wooden shoes make such a noise that one hears them for half a 

 mile, the sound being similar to that made by hitting an empty barrel \vith a 

 baseball bat. Besides, there is the noise of their heavy two wheeled carts. The 

 usual age of the working women here must be nearly a hundred. It is not an 

 uncommon sight to see a grey haired woman of eighty or over pushing a wheel 

 iaarrow loaded with market produce. The roads are very good, made of stone 

 and cement, are very hard and wear out one's shoes very rapidly. I have had 

 all of mine hobnailed to save them and I see many of the officers have done the 



