the first gruesome sight, which made both
Barry and myself ashamed of our nationality.
Scores of wounded soldiers lay about in different
parts of the station-building, waiting
their turn to be moved into hospitals already
dreadfully overcrowded. One man, with
terrible wounds, said he had been waiting for
weeks for new bandages and treatment. The
British Government by its damnable blockade
has prevented even the medical necessaries
being sent in : our own soldier prisoners have
suffered because of this barbarous conduct,
and tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have
died in agony because no doctor had the means
of alleviating their suffering and misery. As
I looked at these poor suffering men, I wondered what sort of row the Jingo press would
have set up had the Germans committed such
a dastardly act as this, and I also wondered
what had become of the international Red
Cross. I think, before any of us give another
penny to such organisations, we should first
of all require an undertaking that the Red
Cross societies will put all their resources at
the service of all who need them, whether in
time of civil or of racial wars.
We were able to inspect some very fine drawings and pictures painted on the interior walls of the stations, though here, as everywhere, it was inspection of people that interested me most. I had been warned before