170 Sportsmen Parsons in Peace and War 



His first letter sent home after reaching France is dated — 



" July 10th, 



" No. 23 General Hospital, 



" Etaples." 



In this he says : 



" For the first time I am allowed to say where I am." He 

 then goes on to explain that he is Chaplain of a hospital with 

 one thousand one hundred and sixty beds, and that he had 

 arrived after much travelling, at 11.30 p.m., and found no bed 

 anywhere, so arranged a shake-down in an empty hut, sleeping 

 in his valise on the floor, and found he possessed more bones in 

 his body than he had hitherto been aware of, but did not sleep 

 badly and felt rather like the street-arab whose grace after a 

 small meal was, " I could have eaten more, but thank God for 

 what I have had," " for I didn't think I should sleep at all." 

 The letter continues, " I could write you miles, but I have 

 promised to go and write letters for men in the hospital," then 

 adds, " I want a gramophone and as many tunes as you can 

 get for the men in hospital." 



July 12. — " I have a little office in the main tin building 

 where I am now writing, and have quite a nice little wood-and- 

 ean vas hut five feet by ten. I sleep on the floor in my valise 

 . . . The Commanding Officer is a Colonel Harrison, who was a 

 Doctor in the Guards. After to-morrow there will be only one 

 other English officer here ; the rest are all Americans from 

 Chicago. . . . The nurses also are Americans. 



" The objection to this place is that the camp is on sand. 

 There has been a high wind and everything has just been full of 

 sand, ink included. One is a long way from the war, but realises 

 it more here. My hut is not fifty yards from where all Red 

 Cross trains come in. Two big trains full of wounded came in 

 yesterday. The men are awfully good and plucky ; some of 

 Uieir wounds are awful. One boy showed me a bit of shrapnel 

 nearly two inches long that had been cut out of his middle. 

 Another boy had a bullet clean through his face and is not a bit 

 the worse for it, no pain, and eats like a Trojan." 



July 14.—" All the appliances here are very good and up- 

 to-date. We have a beautiful operating-theatre. X-ray room, 

 photographic studio, etc. My postman is a Yorkshire miner. 



