On the Fringe of the Great Fight | Page 8

had been only eight men in the tent to be infected
should one man become ill with a communicable disease, there would
now be forty in each hut; and that in consequence we should expect a
great increase in illness from such diseases. And there was.
It began to increase as soon as the men got into the huts. These huts
were heated with stoves, and fuel was provided. Consequently the men,
before going to bed, got the stoves red hot, closed and sealed the
windows with paper, contrary to standing orders, and went to bed with
the huts overheated. When the stoves went out the huts cooled down
and the usual story one heard was of the men waking at three or four in
the morning cold and shivering. The heat also served to shrink the floor
boards so that the draughts came through and made matters worse.
Then the scare came. Prior to this the report of an odd case of
cerebro-spinal meningitis had not occasioned any concern. Under these
menacing conditions cases of the disease became more numerous and
when Col. Strange died of it uneasiness culminated in real alarm.
My proposed trip to Scotland for Christmas was postponed and instead
I was sent up to London to get an expert bacteriologist on the disease
and arrange to start a laboratory. The object was to see what could be
done in locating "carriers" of the disease germ, and thereby keep the
disease from spreading. Accordingly, on the day before Christmas, I
arranged with the Director of the Lister Institute for the loan of Dr.
Arkwright of his staff and for the necessary apparatus to equip a
laboratory at Bulford Cottage Hospital. It was a forlorn hope, but it was
the only thing that could be done to try to get this elusive disease under

control. I spent Christmas day in camp, and it was a melancholy day
indeed. The men were all well looked after, and for those in the
hospitals the day was made as bright as possible. It seemed years since
we had left Canada.
When we brought down the bacteriological apparatus by passenger
train a few days later we paid excess baggage on 780 pounds but we
got it through. It took five men to shove the trucks containing the boxes,
and we held the connecting train for five minutes at Salisbury Junction
until we made the transfer. This saved time, for the London people
would not guarantee delivery for five weeks.
The epidemic of cerebro-spinal meningitis proved to be a blessing in
disguise, for it educated both combatant officers and men as to the
necessity of observing certain simple precautions to prevent the spread
of any contagious disease; and it also showed them that when disease
once got out of hand it would be possible to put whole battalions hors
de combat. Col. Mercer kept his brigade moving about on the sod in
tents all winter, and as a result, there was very much less sickness in his
brigade than in the other brigades housed in huts.
Then nature came to our rescue, and took a hand in the game. The rains
grew less frequent; the sun put in an occasional appearance; training
was begun once more, and a rapid improvement was immediately
apparent in the men. Again the sound of singing was heard in the tents
at night and on route marches; and again one began to see smiling faces.
With the improvement in weather conditions, training went briskly on,
and the division began to rapidly round into shape.
Meanwhile the artillery and cavalry had gone into billets in the
surrounding villages, and were behaving splendidly. The people took to
them very kindly, and the men themselves looked so clean and happy
that it was difficult to realize that they were the same unkempt, dirty
individuals who had been seen not so long before wading through the
mud and filth of the plains.
All sorts of rumours were current. A favorite one was that we were to
go to Egypt to finish our training there. Another one whispered among

the staff was that we would shortly leave for France. The men worked
hard at their training, anxious to make good and get to the Front. They
had the old Viking spirit of adventure in their blood, and wanted to get
to the battle ground. We all knew that many of us would be killed, but
we all felt that it would be the other fellow--not ourselves.
After the laboratory had been started, the force had to a large extent
been reassured thereby that everything possible was being done that
could be done. When, with better weather, the sickness began to abate,
I obtained permission from our Surgeon-General to try to get the rest of