THE NIGGER'S NOSE
The surgeons in France are doing most wonderful things and it must not
be forgotten, that along with all the awful phases of the war, with all
the pathos and the horror, there are many brighter incidents and many
humorous episodes.
For remember, the war today is just a national life. The whole existence
of these countries is thrown into the war and for the time being, that
is the natural course of life. So they live for war, the same as another
nation lives its existence for money, art, or anything else. The
individual's life goes on just the same, only the conditions are
changed.
And everybody is equal over there in the Allied armies. The English
gentleman is fighting beside the French negro, or Turko, as he is
called, and when wounded, lies in the next bed to him.
It's a wonderfully democratic arrangement.
One of those negroes amused me greatly. He was a big husky fellow with
kinky hair and thick lips, a typical negro, only he spoke French
instead of English. This French negro had had his nose shot entirely
off. I had previously helped carry him into the hospital and he was
indeed a dreadful sight to behold. A piece of shrapnel had got him and
he came very nearly "going West."
But the doctors took him and labored with him day after day, and week
after week. They took a piece of bone out of his side and some skin from
another place and by working, and grafting, and rubbing, they finally
brought out a new nose on the fellow, and he used to boast in front of
his black pals that when they got back to Africa he would have the edge
on all of them with those swarthy girls because his comrade's noses were
big and flat and he now had a better looking one in place of his old
flat one.
Many a little incident of a similar nature happens, both in the
hospitals and on the field, and the men even though badly "cut up" are
not all the time groaning; and the nurses even though very sweet and
gentle are not constantly weeping. They'd soon be shipped back home if
they were. They go about their work and do it, just as a doctor does at
home.
A good many cases of mutilation were found which were just as bad as
that of the negro, and which in the beginning seemed just as hopeless.
We carried in one British Tommy who had his entire lower jaw blown off.
He presented a fearful spectacle. He was put to bed and very carefully
prepared and treated to get his body into proper shape for the
operation. This required some days. Then those confident surgeons
started in on him. Day by day they built a jaw for him, taking a piece
from here and another from there and by skillfully massaging and rubbing
they by and by, got him fixed up, and then the most skilled dentists in
the world took him in hand and put in teeth for him so that today you
cannot discern that he was ever badly mutilated. All you can see is a
little mark from the left corner of his mouth and a very small scar from
the right corner. He lisps just a little also, as his tongue was partly
shot away.
In cases where the limbs are fractured, or where certain positions must
be maintained while the patient is lying in bed, a clever device has
been arranged.
A frame which holds up the several parts of the body is attached to the
bed, or is a part of the bed, and in this frame are many pulleys with
ropes and weights attached. When the wounded soldier who is all "broken
up" is laid in this bed, his arm is laid in a form, and the form is
lifted to the proper position and held there by the weight over the
pulley. Some positions are necessary for rapid healing; some are
necessary for comfort or for avoiding intense pain. By this arrangement,
invented by Dr. Alexis Carrel, any portion of the body can be lifted to
any height or angle and kept there as long as necessary. It is a very
ingenious apparatus, at the same time simple and of inestimable value.