Show Kathleen Norris Says days What Hospitalized Veterans Need Bell Syndicate Features i y 7 f 11 They Th y let lef me hold Ih the baby while they Ibey did the Ibe dishes By KATHLEEN NORRIS NORRISA NORRISA I IA FEW weeks ago in a A midwestern city I was given a lift to my hotel by a charming young matron who apologized for the crumbs and peanut shells that littered the back of her carThe carThe car The boys love them she explained The boys Soldiers she said Boys from the hospital Life cases But But bread bread and peanuts Oh those she said laughing Those are for tor the ducks and the elephants They feed them at the zoo That was all I heard then The rest I got at the hospital itself from the superintendent of nurses Little Mrs Brown she said Yes she is very faithful There ought to be a hundred like her But she Is the only one She is the only one the nurse went on who comes regularly and takes our boys driving She takes them where they want to go to see seethe seethe seethe the sights from rom the mountain or outto outto out outto to the zoo and the lake If they want to see a special show she takes them there Christmas Day she and her husband himself wearing a a Purple Heart Heart had had three to dinner they played pencil games afterward and the lucky three haven't stopped talking about it yetI yet yetI I r dont don't have to tell you said nurse Williams that the authorities authorities author ties and the Red Cross do everything everything everything every every- thing they can But that is Impersonal impersonal impersonal imper imper- of course A boy is taken to the dentist or a block of opera or concert tickets are carefully dis- dis dis Magazines are sent in Christmas is well But all that is impersonal and you dont don't know how these boys hunger for personal contacts Why Mrs Brown tells me that sometimes they are all chattering together like children Happier In Hospitals You see lots of our boys are so maimed or so disfigured that they dont don't want to go home The contrast between what they were young were young and strong and happy just a few years ago and ago and what they are now now blind blind lame ame painful paint to look upon upon upon-is Is too much for them They come back to the hospital on some pretext another another an an- other operation more treatments they are happier here But they long for friends friends who never knew them in the old days friends who will take them as they are are We have one boy here herc who often Is asked to one of at the humblest homes of ot the city for a Sunday din ner nero A humble home yes CS but with witha a mother and father and boys and girls in it They make him one of them for just a few happy hours every week he knows they like him The first time he be went he came back breathless They let me hold the baby while they did the dishes he said over and over Everyone inthe in inthe n the hospital knew that these good pi plain a hi people trusted him and that the baby wasn't frightened by the poor patched face After Arter our talk Mrs Williams let me look into a n ward But I cot couldn't stand that long It wasn't that the boys were dreadful or frightening nothing like that It was that they were so normal just lonely boys amusing themselves with old magazines maga tines games and the radio Thin I wistful boys bandaged boys philosophical philo boys and embittered boys boy I 1 wl T TJ J J I They gave I to so 0 mu much b 3 1 Si SMALL fALL FAVORS While IV bile veterans in ill government govern govern- ment hospitals receive excellent excellent excellent excel excel- lent medical care good food and clot clothing bing they have other needs that no institution can provide This is a chance to enjoy normal human buman contracts trips trips to the movies and alai parks dinners in happy homes It 11 is up to the people living within reach of these hospitals to do what they can cau to make the lotof lotof lot lotof of these heroic young men I easier says Miss Norris j j I In a recent visit to a midwestern midwestern mid mid- I western city she met mel a woman who was doing her bet part This young matron goes regularly regularly regu regu- to the hospital takes themen the themen men out in her bel car for long i drives to parks zoos nearby lakes and mountains But Bill she is the only one that comes the I told Norris bead nurse Miss fiss I Nearly every woman could do something for these men melZ who have lost so much continues continues con con- J Miss fiss Norris They appreciate ap ap- small favors little pleasures that almost anyone can provide An invitation to dinner on oz a holiday a ticket to toa toa toa a play or concert a chance to participate in a family gathering gather gather- jug ing will relieve the monotony of their lives It is not lot all one oue way either concludes udes Miss fiss Norris There is a rich satisfaction satisfaction satis satis- faction f action in conferring small favors fa vors on these homeless veterans They have given more for us and our safety than those who fell They risked their lives for us and though those lives were not taken they were as surely destroyed as if 11 they had been And now we forget them Take Care of One or Two Near you there is very probably a hospital for maimed and invalided men This is not a request that you attempt to amuse the hundreds of the them still in their glorious twenties who are whiling away the long days and weeks as mere names on charts their hopes their futures gone As hundreds as a mass they have good food care clothes everything everything every every- thing that organization can do But Butas Butas as individual men they long for per per- personal personal contacts for friendship in some same home where their own personalities personalities personalities per per- can find a little sion Their enthusiasm for tor even the simplest sort of home life will touch you to the heart Their gratitude for forI I friendship which friendship which after all is one of the priceless and precious things of will lle life will repay you a thousand times tunes over for every minute you give them No dont don't attempt to do it for tor hundreds hundreds hundreds hun hun- do d it for two Do It for tor one Ask the head nurse for tor one who is convalescent whose term in the ward is s nearly up if you like Then if the experiment is not a success you know he soon anon will be discharged from the hospital anyway By that time you'll know a few more you'll have found the one who needs just what your family can give him and whom you need U If youve you've a vacant chair let him nil fill it While these boys are hospitalized hospital hospital- and friendless and lonely that vacant chair at your table and mine mino is surely an unspoken rebuke |