Observations of an Orderly

Observations of an Orderly - Some Glimpses of Life and Work in an English War Hospital

Some passages from Observations of an Orderly have appeared, generally in a shorter form, in The Spectator, The New Statesman, The Hospital, The Evening Standard, The National News, The Dundee Advertiser, The Daily News, and The Daily Mail. The author desires to make the usual acknowledgments to their editors. The sergeant in charge of the clothing store was curt. He couldn't help it: he had run short of tunics, also of "pants"except three pairs which wouldn't fit me, wouldn't fit anybody, unless we enlisted three very fat dwarfs: he had kept on asking for tunics and pants, and they'd sent him nothing but great-coats and water-bottles: I could take his word for it, he wished he was at the Front, he did, instead of in this blessed hole filling in blessed forms for blessed clothes which never came. Impossible, anyhow, to rig me out. I was going on duty, was I? Then I must go on duty in my "civvies." It was a disappointment. Your new recruit feels that no small item of his reward is the privilege of beholding himself in [Pg 20]khaki. The escape from civilian clothes was, at that era, one of the prime lures to enlistment. I had attempted to escape before, and failed. Now at last I had found a branch of the army which would accept me. It needed my services instantly. I was to start work at once. Nothing better. I was ready. This was what I had been seeking for months past. ButI confess itI had always pictured myself dressed as a soldier. The postponement of this bright vision for even twenty-four hours, now that it had seemed to be within my grasp, was damping. However! The Sergeant-Major had told me that I was to go on duty as orderly in Ward Wan officers' wardat 2 p.m. prompt. I did not know where Ward W was; I did not know what a ward-orderly's functions should amount to. And I had no uniform. I was attired in a light grey lounge suitappropriate enough to my normal habit, but quite too flippant, I was certain, for a ward-orderly. Whatever else a ward-orderly might be, I was sure that he was not the sort of person to sport a grey lounge suit. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 17655
Author: Muir, Ward
Release Date: Feb 1, 2006
Format: eBook
Language: English