LETTERS FROM THE ITALIAN FRONT 



By Marchesa Louise de Rosales to Ethel Mather Bagg 



DEAR L : 

 Did I tell you some time ago of 

 two Sicilian peasants who had 

 never done anything but work the earth 

 before the war? Each has lost his right 

 arm, and has since learned to wood-carve 

 so well that both have been employed by 

 a great firm which manufactures fine fur- 

 niture and frames, and they earn seven 

 or eight francs a day. These two men 

 wanted to take me to the front, because 

 they feel I have so many precious things 

 to distribute, and they are enchanted with 

 the comfort bags. 



How can I thank you for your gen- 

 erous gift of the anesthetic novo caienef 

 It is thoroughly practical in those tiny 

 boxes, each one of which contains suffi- 

 cient for so many operations. I am tak- 

 ing it up to the front personally, and I 

 have put aside some rubber gloves to take 

 up also. 



Your rubber sheeting goes off this 

 week, all cut up into 90-centimeter 

 lengths, with four rings in the corners, 

 of metal. Thirty of the sheets went up 

 to the Trentino hospitals, in which the 

 Contessa is interested — a front where 

 there has been so much fighting lately. 

 Some I sent to Contessa I., a splendid 

 woman, one of the most active in Italy, 

 for her hospitals in Bologna and near 

 Gorizia. Others were sent to a new hos- 

 pital, where C. has friends among the 

 nurses and doctors and where there are 

 1,000 beds of half-ill and half-wounded 

 men. 



You cannot, I think, realize what a 

 luxury all rubber goods are here in Italy 

 and the joy they give. Mrs. M. is send- 

 ing me cases that are doubly precious, 

 for there are things on the list like cat- 

 gut or crinoline that simply can't be had 

 for love or money. 



I am now erecting two barracks for a 

 restaurant, where the officers can eat at 

 a fixed price and cheaper. The barracks 

 and the tables are going to be constructed 

 with my savings, and the walls are being 



decorated with the colored pictures of 

 the Domenica del Corriere. I am also 

 instituting a bath for the soldiers. All 

 the plans are ready. You will see how 

 nicely it is coming out. 



I hoped in your last letter to receive 

 the announcement that you had sent me 

 some gauze as protection against the flies. 

 It is very hot here, and the hospitals are 

 full of wounded. There are no venti- 

 lators, and these poor boys suffer from 

 the heat, and especially from the flies. 

 You will understand they cannot always 

 manipulate their hands, either because 

 they are wo'unded or because of being 

 tied in abdominal bandages ; therefore 

 they have no way of "shooing" away 

 these trying pests. The netting would 

 protect the soldiers, and so they could be 

 comfortable even in the daytime. 



In these days of feverish and exacting 

 work you will read that we are going for- 

 ward. 



Recently I organized a ceremony in 

 the graveyard — discourses and a funeral 

 mass. The school children strewed mar- 

 guerites on the tombs of the fallen heroes. 



In my recreation hut I have from 300 

 to 400 soldiers every evening. They are 

 happy. I give them a cinematograph 

 show ; then they play tombola, oca, domi- 

 noes, etc. I am arranging the marionette 

 theater and hope to have it ready soon. 



I cannot tell you how keen was my en- 

 thusiasm when I received your cases and 

 your dear letters. I had everything im- 

 mediately put in the little rustic room 

 ahead of mine, and we will distribute the 

 material where the greatest need is. 

 Everything is precious here. AYe are full 

 of work, and your tamarinds with this 

 heat and your iron frames to keep the 

 bed covers from touching the wounded 

 men are very practical. "Work is certainly 

 not lacking, and I assure you that I have 

 passed through a month which forever 

 will be impressed on my life. 



We are much exposed to shells, and 

 sometimes they wound the men at the 



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