We have had no more of the Austrian fireworks over here the last two days; I expect the Serbs, English and French quieted them down the other evening; we have plenty of large guns here. King Peter has a lovely palace, but it has been very much damaged. This afternoon I was allowed to go for a short walk, then I went to tea with one of the nurses who has had typhus. Nineteen of us went to her tea-party.
Friday, August 20, 1915.
Sister Barnes goes to Uskub to-morrow, so it has been arranged that she takes me with her to stay a few days before returning to Kragujevatz. We have had a nice wire from Lady Paget this afternoon, saying that she was sending to meet us. Every one is so kind to me; the doctors will not allow me to return to the camp until I have had another change. This morning I went to the fort, as I had not been anywhere; the commandant took us all over and showed us everything. We looked through glasses from the trenches and saw the Austrians on the other side; we could see the damage done by our shells on Semlin. We could see two monitors on the Danube; they are only allowed to move a few miles, otherwise we fire on them. We went into the trenches, but had to be careful not to be seen. We saw a large unexploded bomb; it was fortunate it had not burst; we also saw a small one which had gone right into a tree. The buildings round the forts are quite in ruins. At 4.30 the matron had a carriage for me and let me go to see the hospital they have got for babies; so many babies had died through neglect, so they have got this "Baby Farm," as they call it. It looks on the Danube, and you can see the railway bridge that went over to Austria, which was blown up by the Serbs. We had tea with a friend of mine, Miss Bankhart, and the doctor who has been attending me; we could not stay long as the carriage was waiting for us. I forgot to say at the forts we went under a dark tunnel, which goes under the Danube and lands one in Austria; it is blocked up part-way now. I hear the other three nurses from Kragujevatz returned this evening; they came to say good-bye to me but I was up at the Baby Farm. I leave for Lady Paget's this evening.
Saturday, August 21, 1915.
Sister Barnes and I left Belgrade at 6 o'clock; our coachman was a boy of thirteen. He took us along a forbidden road to Topschaite; we had to drive furiously on account of the snipers in the hedges on the river Save which we were skirting, and only fifty miles away. The horses went at such a speed that Miss Barnes' box took a flying leap off the carriage; the Jehu turned round and gazed as if we were to get out and pick it up. We left Topschaite station at 8. We had some interesting Americans who have a camp at Nish; their camp is called "Columbia" owing to the unit being chiefly made up from the university of that name. One specially interested us as he told us that an American Jew had inoculated him for typhus, a thing that we heard in London was quite impossible. He was a Dr. Plot from New York; he is only twenty-five years of age. We are told typhus is due to dirt, lice, and sanitary conditions, and it was introduced into Serbia by the Austrian prisoners. Among the other travellers who interested us was a man with a blue-grey hat, a khaki coat, red knickers and black top boots. He was very sorry for himself; his bull-dog had taken a slice out of his trousers. He carried a beautiful embossed sword. We arrived at Nish, which is a place that seems to be suffering from the seven plagues of Egypt, from flies, dust, dirt, smells, etc. We were told that the Serbs have brains like scrambled eggs, as they scatter their diseases all over their country. We arrived at Nish at 11 o'clock. We were taken to the rest house by the Americans. We visited the American camp, then went to the Serbian Red Cross office to get Miss Barnes' typhus medal. We left by the 8 o'clock train for Uskub, or Scoplie.
Monday, August 23, 1915.
We had a comfortable night in the train, arriving at Scoplie at 6 a.m. We saw a lot of buffalo and storks in the fields on the way. Lady Paget sent to meet us. We had breakfast and then went to bed. Lady Paget has Lord and Lady Templemore; they are the father and mother of Mr. Chichester who died a few days ago from typhoid. I shall be here about a week.
The change is doing me a lot of good here, and I am feeling quite better again and ready for work. I hope to return to the camp on Sunday evening, arriving at Kragujevatz early Tuesday morning. I have thoroughly enjoyed being here, and am quite in love with this place, it is so Eastern.
After breakfast Sister Barnes and I went to rest, had lunch and then went to the village in a carriage which was driven by Turks. We bought a lot of lovely things. This is the most ideal place in Serbia; it is like an Eastern village, and it is full of Turks, and the costumes are most picturesque. This has been a wet day; there is a large market held here every Tuesday. The train for Salonika left at 6 o'clock. I went down to the station with some of the doctors and Lady Paget; the latter was seeing Lord and Lady Templemore off. We met some of the Farmers' unit from Belgrade, who were passing through. We got home about 8 o'clock and I was sent to rest until luncheon. After lunch I went into the village to do some shopping with two of the nurses. Scoplie belonged to the Turks only two years ago; it is more Turkish than Serbian.
Wednesday, August 25, 1915.