You ask me what night duty in a surgical ward on active service is
like. Well, imagine a huge square room, holding fifty beds, at present
occupied by thirty-three patients, the rest having been sent to the
base hospital for convalescents. We mount duty at 8 o’clock, and
finish at 7 A.M. next morning. Our work during the night consists of
attending to their personal wants, such as--one would like a drink of
hot milk, another cannot sleep, he is in pain--a shrapnel wound in the
thigh, and, unfortunately, he cannot turn over. So you have to look
at the dressing, see that everything is O.K., start a bit of a yarn
about anything, until he or you get fed up. Get him a drink, and, in
all probability, the next time you have a look at him he is asleep: _A
Hospital Orderly_.