We went shopping this morning and came home through the park. After
lunch we rested till 2.30, then went for a picnic as it was one of the
nurses' birthdays. We did not go far, only to the top of the hill, but
the view round was magnificent, the lights and shades so perfect. Just
before we started for our picnic, Mrs. Berry, who had been spending
the week-end at our camp, arrived back with one nurse to take me back
to the camp. They came by train; Dr. Berry and another of our nurses
came by car. We heard some very sad news, and this was that one of the
nurses was dead, Nurse Ferris, a strong healthy girl of twenty-five
years of age. She was to be married in September. She was taken ill
just about a week before me with typhoid. It does not say much for
inoculation. Nurse Ferris was a good nurse; she had a bright cheerful
manner and was always the same. She knew Serbian better than any one
in the camp, and could sing the Serbian anthem. It seems strange that
she should have picked up Serbian in this manner and then be put to
rest in the country. It seems she died on Sunday afternoon at 3
o'clock. She was taken to the mortuary in the town and then laid to
rest on Monday. She had a large military funeral. All the staff from
our camp went, all the Government officials and the units from the
other hospitals, and all the doctors from these parts who had come
over to Kragujevatz for the doctors' conference. They had a band and
she was buried near the other nurses who had died from the Scotch
Hospital at Kragujevatz. She was only put into a temporary grave as,
when the war is over, the Government will erect a monument to all who
have died. Dr. Dearmer conducted the service. The last I saw of Nurse
Ferris was the night before I came here. I went to have a peep at all
our poor invalids. When the poor girl saw me she looked up and smiled
and waved to me. I little thought it was the last time I should see
her. Nurse Ferris and I always had little jokes together when she came
to meals; she was beloved by all in her ward. It seems this is the
first English service that has been conducted in a Greek cathedral;
the prince gave his consent and sent his secretary.
[Illustration: A child having an abscess removed outside the
Operating Theatre.]
[Illustration: Lady Cook and Austrian prisoner orderlies at Mrs.
Stobart's camp Hospital, Kragujevatz.
_Face page 64._]