LETTERS FROM THE ITALIAN FRONT 



67 



and sailors and some American sailors ! 

 You can't think what a sensation that 

 gives me. A woman working there spoke 

 as though they expected a number of 

 Americans soon. 



I am sending you some post-cards. 

 The Capitol Museum is closed, but Ma- 

 nolo had it opened one Sunday morning 

 and brought some of his pupils to see the 

 statues. These pupils look quite happy 

 and normal in the photo ; as a matter of 

 fact, they are all minus legs and one has 

 lost a hand besides. They are learning 

 to draw and carve, and Manolo means 

 to lead them in practical directions, so 

 that they can use their talents indus- 

 trially and earn a good living. Some are 

 highly gifted. 



Mother and I have been spending the 

 afternoon at the new club for English 

 and American soldiers and sailors, and 

 talking and chatting with some fine Irish 

 and English sailors today. 



This is the anniversary of Italy's dec- 

 laration of war. I will write later and 

 tell you of the procession we are going 

 to see in a moment. It is nice that this 

 great national fete day should be prac- 

 tically on my birthday, the 24th ; but I 

 think the first shot was fired on the 25th. 



Seventy-five shipwrecked Englishmen, 

 many officers among them, are expected 

 any day now in Rome. Mother and I 

 are going to help receive them. We do 

 not know whether they have just been 

 shipwrecked or whether some days ago. 



NURSES UNDER FIRF, 



I shall be relieved when Dians arrives 

 safely in Italy. The inclosed letter may 

 interest you ; it came tonight from Sita. 

 She has nursed a good deal in Milan since 

 the war, and last Christmas was at the 

 front, among some of the very worst 

 cases ; some she could not talk or tell me 

 about, they were so terrible. The worst 

 case she spoke of was under a tent, so 

 shot to pieces he could not be moved at 

 all. She had just to sit beside this heap 

 of human shreds and do what she could 

 to help and comfort him during those last 

 terrible moments. I hope she will keep 



up her strength, so as to stay on now, for 

 she is doing very good work, I imagine, 

 and the hospitals with women have so 

 many details attended to that are neg- 

 lected in those which have only men on 

 the staff. 



Contessina di R. left her hospital, 

 where comparatively little was going on, 

 and went to Gorizia for this advance. 

 During the worst part of the fighting she 

 worked three days and three nights with- 

 out changing her clothes. Her hospital 

 was struck, and she moved the wounded 

 to cellars which were fire-proof, as the 

 building had been a bank. She slept, 

 after the rush the first night, in an old 

 castle. This also was struck by the Aus- 

 trians in the night, and the unoccupied 

 wing was demolished. A splendid, brave 

 girl; no nerves! She said the noise of 

 the bombardment was deafening. 



The Alpini on the Dolomites mostly 

 live in the valleys below and their wives 

 mend their socks. A little wool saved 

 many men's lives the other day. It was 

 reported to camp hospital in X, 4,800 

 feet high, that some wounded had been 

 caught in a snowstorm at an Alpine pass. 

 The road was blocked, the temperature 

 many degrees below zero. We phoned 

 through the mountains for the Alpini, 

 and promised to rig every man in new 

 socks, scarfs, and woolens who would 

 bring back a wounded soldier. The men 

 disappeared and nothing was heard of 

 them for eight hours, when, one by one, 

 they returned, each carrying a wounded 

 man on his back, so that not one was left 

 behind. Don't you think that was a price- 

 less bundle of wool ? Such feats happen 

 daily. Nobody here knows what those 

 men are enduring, and the spirit that 

 keeps them up we can never repay. 



Our Surgical Dressing Committee has 

 been splendidly organized now by the 

 Contessa di Robilant. We are in one of 

 the most beautiful old palaces of Rome, 

 one in which the German Emperor was 

 once entertained, and expressed great 

 envy of the ball-room, saying that he could 

 never return the hospitality in any room 

 in Berlin that could compare to this! 



