.iiliiligiiiiil iiiliiiiiiiiiilil^ iiiiiiiffiiiitliliiitS THE SCOTTISH WOMEN'S HOSPITAL AT THE FRENCH ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT THE SCOTTISH WOMEN'S HOSPITAL AT THE FRENCH ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT By ANTONIO DE NAVARRO WITH FIFTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON ! GEORGE ALLEN U UNWIN LTD. RUSKIN HOUSE 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C. i First published in igij {All rights reserved) p aa TO THE "DAMES DE ROYAUMONT" IN ADMIRATIOM OF THE GENTLE AND GIGANTIC WORK ACHIEVED BY WOMEN'S HANDS AT THE ABBEY OF ST. LOUIS 1914 TO 1917 10 FOREWORD So impressed was the writer on his first visit to the Abbey of St. Louis by its architecture, history, and romantic surroundings, that he determined to create spare moments in his own Red Cross work in France and compile a brochure on the distinguished habitation of the Scottish Women at Royaumont. Particularly did the idea include (for the reader) a reconstruction from ancient plans and documents of the superb Abbey Church demoHshed by order of the Commune in the year 1791. Subsequent visits brought him into contact with the Hospital there estabhshed, and this created an instant diversion. FamiHarity wdth the perplexities of transformation, an intimacy with the numerous patients, and an ultimate comprehension of the remark- able scientific, administrative, and benevolent achieve- ments of the Staff, dimmed earher interests, made clearly imperative a history of what had been accom- plished by the first hospital in France conducted entirely by women. The necessary material has been contributed by Dr. Agnes Savill, without whose valuable and varied help a record of the Hospital could not have been undertaken. This finished, the original impulse of compiling a history of the Abbey returned with all the force of suspended intention, and with the added necessity of framing the Hospital in its own surroundings. Not to confuse the reader and still keep him conver- 8 FOREWORD sant with necessary historic, architectural, archaeologic, and ecclesiastical details, all the resources of com- pression have been used to confine indispensable material within a limited space. This has entailed the amassing (and temporary abandonment) of exhaustive data which would have interested the scholastic mind ; but as the primary object of the volume is a presentation of the Hospital achievements of the Scottish Women at Royaumont, those more interested in the Abbey will be wiUing to await a later comprehensive history of St. Louis' " beloved foundation." I have purposely avoided long quotations and foot- notes, not to entangle the narrative. The many authori- ties consulted, French and English, are easily accessible to those who would care to enter a field of extensive research. A staccato mode of expression has been deemed advisable in order to give pace to the enumeration of a multitude of facts and developments without which an intelligible history of the Abbey and Hospital would be im.possible. The book has been composed and written under harassing interruptions : whenever work among the French wounded permitted ; often in the small hours when the mind was more needful of rest than of the pen-pricks of a literary obligation. A. DE N. CONTENTS THE ABBEY CHAPTER PAGE I. ORIGIN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE ABBEY — YOUTH OF ST. LOUIS . . . . -IS II. DESCRIPTION OF DESTROYED ABBEY CHURCH — CONSECRATION — MARRIAGE OF ST. LOUIS AT ROYAUMONT . . . . .21 III. ''THE LEPER OF ROYAUMONT " — ST. LOUIS' FIRST CRUSADE . . . . . -30 IV. FOUNDATION OF A LIBRARY AT THE MONASTERY — VINCENT DE BEAUVAIS . . . .40 V. PROSPERITY OF THE ABBEY — ST. LOUIS' SECOND CRUSADE — HIS DEATH AND CANONIZATION . 44 VI. CAUSES OF THE DOWNFALL OF ROYAUMONT — HUNDRED YEARS WAR .... VII. CIVIL WAR IN FRANCE — SERIOUS RESULTS TO ROYAUMONT ..... 50 59 VIII. INTRODUCTION OF THE COMMENDATORY SYSTEM AT ROYAUMONT — PRAGMATIC SANCTION — COffCORDA T — LAST REGULAR ABBOT . . . .62 IX. DECADENCE OF ROYAUMONT — FIRE, I760 — LAST COMMENDATORY ABBOT — ABBATIAL RESIDENCE DEMOLISHED — DAWN OF THE REVOLUTION . 69 9 10 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAOB X. SALE OF THE ABBEY AND LANDS BY ORDER OF THE COMMUNE — VIOLATION OF ROYAL TOMBS — BODIES REMOVED TO SAINT-DENIS — LIBRARY PILLAGED — BELLS DISMANTLED . . • 7^ XI. DEMOLITION OF ABBEY CHURCH BY ORDER OF THE COMMUNE — INTRODUCTION OF A COTTON INDUSTRY IN ABBEY BUILDINGS — ABBEY BOUGHT BY OBLATE FATHERS — SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAMILY IN POSSESSION . . . . 8o THE HOSPITAL I. PREPARATIONS — START FOR FRANCE . . 89 II. ARRIVAL OF PIONEER PARTY IN FRANCE AND AT ROYAUMONT . . . . -97 III. FIRST TRANSFORMATION OF THE ABBEY INTO A MODERN HOSPITAL — APPOINTMENT OF A GESTIONNAIRE ..... lOI IV. FIRST VISITE d'iNSPECTION — CONDEMNATION OF A GREAT PART OF THE WORK ACCOMPLISHED — A REORGANIZATION DEMANDED . . IIO V. TABLEAUX — REORGANIZATION — NAMING OF NEW WARDS . . . . . .118 VI. REORGANIZATION FINISHED — SECOND VISITE d'iN- SPECTION A COMPLETE SUCCESS — ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST WOUNDED .... 132 VII. THE GARE RiOULATRICB — CHAUFFEUSB* . . I30 VIII. NURSES — ORDERLIES .... I38 IX. CHIEF CLERK ..... I44 CONTENTS II CHAPTER X. l^kxEMENTS . XI. MEALS XII. SURGERY XIII. X-RAY DEPARTMENT XIV. RUSHES OF WORK . XV. OPEN-AIR TREATMENT XVI. DISCIPLINE . XVII. RECREATION XVIII. PATIENTS AND PERSONALITIES XIX. " GOOD-BYE " PAOB 153 159 163 169 173 178 187 212 APPENDIX . AUTHORITIES CONSULTED 220 ILLUSTRATIONS THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT REFECTORY .... BALLIVIERES PAVILION A RAMPART OF POPLARS QUEEN MARY WARD A FLEET OF CARS . LABEL ATTACHED TO EACH WOUNDED SOLDIER BLANCHE DE CASTILLE WARD OPERATING THEATRE OPEN-AIR TREATMENT ON THE TERRACE . CLOISTER WARD IN WARM MONTHS IN THE CLOISTERS . AN ORDERLY CLOISTER .... Facing page 13 16 76 80 128 136 136 142 156 169 301 201 208 208 212 M i? THE ABBEY CHAPTER I ORIGIN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE ABBEY — YOUTH OF ST. LOUIS "It is our wish that the proceeds of the sale of our jtwels and crowns be devoted to the erection of a new Abbey of the Order of St. Victor." The last wish of the expiring Louis VIII at the Chateau de Montpensier was the germ which gave birth to the building of the Abbey of Royaumont. Seven centuries later it was to be transformed into a British hospital for the care of French wounded. At the death of the French King in the year 1226, his son, Louis IX (St. Louis), had attained the age of eleven. Until his majority, ten years later, his mother, Blanche of Castille, governed the kingdom of France as guardian of her son and of his royal patrimony. Remarkable for her beauty, her dazzHng complexion won for her the name of Dofia Blanca. Clever, pious, resourceful, her strong character proved a valuable adjunct to her son's remarkable quahties of mind and heart. It was an age of plots, insurrections, calumny, and open war, the Crown's great vassals endeavouring by every means to seize once more the independence and power which had been effectually disputed by Philip Augustus. Blanche successfully resisted all their attempts, at one time with open and persevering energy, at another dexterously, with all the tact, address, and allurements of a woman. On the attainment of his majority in the year 1236, she transferred to her i6 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT son a power respected, feared, but still encompassed by turbulent vassals. It is popularly believed that St. Louis owed his extraordinary sanctity to his mother. There is no evidence of the fact. Although she exercised an alert supervision of her son's religious education, she did not possess the enthusiasm, sympathy, religious scrupu- lousness, in fact any of those " grand moral impulses which are characteristic of Christian piety." Of delicately chiselled features, Louis inherited the brilliant complexion of his mother ; from the Counts of Hainault, his fair, glossy, abundant hair. His handsome presence, after a refined and gentle style, spoke more of moral worth than of the great physical strength with which he was endowed. Although elegant in his tastes, he was fond of amusements, games, and the chase in all its branches. He affected fine clothes and magnificent furniture. In those early days it was the habit of the Prankish kings to renounce their town palaces for the more pri- vate attractions of their country habitations, there to transact affairs of State and to administer local matters sur place. When in the year 1228 the site of the new Abbey had been located in the Valley of the Oise, Blanche and St. Louis took up their residence at the neighbour- ing Chateau d'Asnieres, there to direct its prospective construction. After the purchase of the lands of Cuimont, belonging to the Priory of Saint-Martin-de- Boran, Louis granted a Royal Charter of vast impor- tance to the monastery in embryo, and changed the local name of Cuimont to Regalis-Mons, or Royaumont, an appellation whose etymological signification has mystified many inquisitive historians. This Charter, bearing date 1228, comprehended not only extensive landed properties, appurtenances, tolls, exemptions, and contributions from neighbouring domains, but the right to circulate without question over land and wate [ 11 RFl-KCTORV. ITS ORIGIN AND CONSTRUCTION 17 throughout the kingdom. During these excursions all property bought, sold, or transported for the profit of the monaster}^ was to be free of tax. The word of a monk and the oath of an Abbey servant were to be accepted wdthout question. Five years later, in emulation of their sovereign, a number of Louis' most powerful nobles freed the Abbey from all the tolls and taxes to which they were entitled. In the year 1231 the French King granted a second Charter, and thereafter for successive years additional grants flowed from private sources and from the royal treasury. The material welfare of Royaumont was thus to all human judgment made secure. Gifts, grants, exemptions, signed by nobles, sealed by royal hands, all appeared to ensure an unextinguishable perpetuity to the new Abbey. Of all ecclesiastical foundations in France, few monasteries equalled in liberality and magnificence its royal heritage. St. Louis' largesse was not concerned alone with its spiritual enrichment, but with the prevention of all financial anxieties that might disturb the peace of its conventual life. Two objectives were in his mind : that the new monastery should become a seat of learning and agricul- tural activity, and the Abbey Church a mausoleum for the interment of the members of his immediate family. Time realized for him both ambitions. Although it was the express wish of Louis VIII that the Order of St. Victor should be estabUshed at the new Abbey, his executors decided otherwise. Inti- mately acquainted with the deceased monarch's objec- tive, they elected in favour of the Cistercian Order, then the most powerful and respected rehgious founda- tion in Europe. The Abbey of Citeaux thus became the mother-church of Royaumont. The date of the first building operations is severally assigned by docu- mentary evidence to 1228 and 1230. Seven years were occupied in the first constructions. As was f^ THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT generally the case in the early days, the monks allotted to religious houses in the making not only directed the erection of their monasteries but participated manually in their construction. Royaumont was no exception to the rule ; St, Louis himself on many occasions performed the duties of assistant-mason. It must have been a scene of singular interest in those early forest days : the cowled religious in their white habits building their monastery, the young figure of the King in royal mantle and pointed scarlet cap carrying, as did the monks, litters charged with stone and cement. A thirteenth-century chronicle informs us that such was the King's interest in the work that in due course he enlisted the co-operation of his younger brothers. St. Louis, Alphonse Comte de Poitiers, Robert Comte d'Artois, Charles Comte d'Anjou — a procession of princely masons filing in and out the scaffoldings, carrying cement and quarried stone, hurrying on the house of God. The enthusiasm spread quickly to the King's attendant nobles, who eventually joined the distinguished company. Before long the royal builder grew restless at the loss of time entailed in reaching Royaumont from Asnieres, and hurriedly constructed for his habitation on the spot " a building in the large court, which was still to be seen there at the beginning of the seventeenth century." A resident then within the confines of the embryonic monastery, he was able to assist at daily Mass, participate in the Rule of the Order, and after the hour of tierce co-operate with the builders in their manual labours. This enthusiasm was not of a precocious nature, but grew and lasted until his death before the walls of Tunis, his second Crusade as lamentable a failure as his first venture to free the Holy Land from the Infidel. The Abbey of Royaumont is situated in the Valley of the Oise, 35 kilometres from Paris, 12 from Chantilly. The plan of the buildings — fine examples of thirteenth- ITS ORIGIN AND CONSTRUCTION 19 century Gothic architecture — follows the Cistercian convention. They are in a remarkable state of pre- servation, all except the great Abbey Church, which was dehberately pulled down by order of the Commune in the year 1791. The architect is believed to have been Pierre de Montreuil, who at a later date constructed for St. Louis the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, built to enshrine the Crown of Thorns which the French monarch had acquired from Baldwin II, Emperor of Constantinople. Even in their present condition the cloisters are arresting and distinguished. What they must have been with their original clustered columns, tierce- point arcades, and tympanum rose-piercing — dividing like lace-work the quadrangle bays — must be left to a capable imagination. Deprived now of their deHcate ornamentation, the \videned bays have assumed a dignity more in harmony with the exterior austerity of the monastic buildings. Two features of special interest are the Royal Cell at the end of the Monks' Dormitory (inhabited by St. Louis on nights when he took part in the Divine Ofhce) and the adjoining Chapel of the King. The remaining fragment of the latter was one of two groined bays ending in a circular apse (facing east). Together with the Abbey Church it was pulled down by order of the Commune in the year 1791. For outstanding beauty the Refectory takes premier place among the monastic buildings : an edifice of extreme architectural perfection. It would require the brush of a painter to portray the first view of this exquisite dining-hall as one descends the six steps from the Cloister. A writer's palette could not provide the necessary pigment. Forty metres long, thirteen wide, five slender columns support the high vaulted roof of twelve groined bays. The effect is one of in- credible airiness and grace. If one might say so, there is something pathetically beautiful in the row of frail monoliths supporting serenely the heavy superstructure. 20 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT At the southern end, nine long pointed windows divided by mullions and capped by large roses contribute a jewelled light to the otherwise shadowy apartment. A restored Reader's Pulpit adorns the western wall — at its base a running frieze of fig-leaves, the arms of St. Louis en ecusson forming a support for the desk. The Refectory is famous for the fact that the King ministered there to the nourishment of one hundred and fourteen monks seated at two long tables — the upper board accommodating the Abbot, Prior, and distinguished guests. Here it was that St. Louis served with his own royal hands the hot dishes from the (still existing) hatch in the western wall communi- cating with the kitchen, tasted the wine, and, when not in accordance with his own standard, ordered a better vintage, more worthy of the professed men of God. King, Benefactor, Crusader, Saint : a simple labourer helping to build the Abbey, washing the feet of the poor on Maundy Thursday, here a servant to the humble rehgious of his beloved Abbey. Apart from its beauty in detail, what strikes most the visitor to this radiant Refectory is the delicacy and refinement of its ensemble. Supporting columns become the pendants of groined arches, a variegated sunhght carpets the floor with the lace-like tracery of the nine pointed windows. In its Gothic architecture, emble- matic of hands joined in prayer, the architect has in its uprush of lines conceived a spirituality which sub- limates the purpose for which it was intended. In addition, Science has forsworn traditional aloofness and become the handmaid of structural art. By locating an outer thrust upon the walls, the frail central pillars have been relieved from their responsibility of supporting the pressure of ceiHng and roof. I 4 Free from intrusive footfalls, standing alone within the embrace of its silent walls, one feels in the presence of some exquisite spirit sanctuaried in stone. CHAPTER II DESCRIPTION OF DESTROYED ABBEY CHURCH — CONSE- CRATION — MARRIAGE OF ST. LOUIS AT ROYAUMONT All historians are in agreement with Guillaume de Nangis that the Abbey Church of Royaiimont was one of the finest specimens of thirteenth-century Gothic ecclesiastical architecture in France. The fagade, in its ensemble, resembled that of Saint- Jacques-la- Boucherie at Paris, the tower of which still exists. The two most imposing features of Pierre de Montreuil's " Masterpiece of the Oise " were the magnificent per- spective of its great windows and the loftiness of its nave. An idea of its soaring altitude, " a nave which both astounded and alarmed by its colossal height and boldness," may be estimated when it is realized that the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris exceeded that of Royaumont by only four feet. The church was in the form of a Latin cross, and in its totality measured 105 metres in length. It was composed of the nave, a transept with aisles, and a rounded choir surrounded by an ambulatory. There was none of the characteristic heaviness of Burgundian Cistercian churches — the influence of the elegant Gothic style of the Ile-de-France having triumphed completely. Now that the memorable edifice has disappeared, a descriptive reconstruction of it will be due to the reader. The nave, flanked by aisles, was composed of nine bays, which were separated by thick cylindrical pillars. 22 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT These columns were crowned by capitals decorated with crockets and carved foliage. Above the top of the columns, nine circular decorated openings {oculi) penetrate the blank wall for the introduction of light above the lean-to roof of the cloisters. A succession of closely serried windows of immense height and width (divided by mullions into two smaller openings and capped by a rose) furnished dazzHng light and ornament to the long North aisle. Transept. — The vault over the crossing of the transept was surmounted by a central belfry resting on four piers, lozenge-shaped in plan, and flanked by columnar shafts. The most striking peculiarity of the church was that the two arms of the transept were built on different plans. The Southern arm was provided with one aisle ; the Northern contained two. The latter extended over one bay of the North aisle. Southern Arm. — The end-wall is pierced on the left by a small low door surmounted by a segmental arch. Above are the traces of the mantling which formed the background of the monumental tomb of Henri de Lorraine, Count d'Harcourt, now preserved in the neighbouring Church of Asnieres-sur-Oise. Below is a door-opening, which leads to the present Chapel of the Sacred Heart. On the opposite side (in the portion of the wall which is still standing, towards the corner near the Harcourt tomb) there is a small door-opening of the thirteenth century, having a tympanum decorated with a trefoil supported on two corbels. Nothing but this very small portion remains of the East wall. A sheaf of five columns attached to the middle of the West wall of the South arm carried the springers of two pointed vaults. This was likewise the case in the aisles. All the bases, the shafts of columns, and the capitals now to be seen in the nave, choir, and transepts have been placed in their present positions since the destruc- THE ABBEY CHURCH 23 tion of the edifice. The bases in general are approxi- mately on their true sites ; but the columns and capitals have been disposed at random. A certain number could not have belonged to the church, but are prob- ably remains of the monastery. In the upper part of the West wall are small windows with a filling in of tracery of the dimensions of the triforium openings. A rebated respond and four shafts still remain in posi- tion. Millin mentions a fine staircase descending into this transept from the dormitory. It also figures on the old plan. This was probably the Renaissance flight of steps which was constructed in the year 1672. The Night Ofiice ended, it must have been a memorable sight : the kingly figure, lantern in hand, mounting this hanging stairway to his cell (an ascending spark in the solemn darkness), one hundred and fourteen shaded lanterns of the monks crawling along the softly echoing floor to the sacristy door. North Transept Arm. — The stair-turret at the north- east corner of the North Transept, with the abutments of transept walls attached to it, is the best preserved portion of the ruined edifice. The turret measures 40 metres in height ; its rectangular plan with canted edges narrows to a regular octagon at its final story. The spiral staircase is a fine piece of coursed ashlar work, which explains, perhaps, its wonderful state of preservation. It is surmounted by an octagonal spire. The finial is composed of lateral crockets surrounding a central stem which springs from an annulet. At a distance it has the appearance of a fleur-de-lis. In the end wall of the transept arm are the remains of a circular window. In the centre is a many-lobed rose surrounded by a series of circles : a feature of Burgundian churches. Between the rose and the windows ran a gallery with a balustrade of quatrefoil tracery, disposed in the thickness of the wall. Above this are to be seen the remains of a large pointed 24 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT window. On the jambs are little engaged columns of extreme elegance. Apse. — The foundations of the apse are in a rare state of preservation, and are fully exposed to view. The groundwork of the chevet consists of two concen- tric bands joined by rays intersecting the radiating chapels, the entire plan producing the effect of a wheel. In front of the central chapel, which was slightly deeper than the others, a rectangular mass of masonry (still visible) probably supported the Altar of Relics — altare de retro. The site of the Choir is indicated by a depression i8 metres long by lo metres wide, bounded by the internal circular line of the foundations of the semi- circle and the foundations of the transept. The straight part of the choir was flanked by double aisles, as shown in the early plan. Furniture. — Millin gives some details of the church furniture. The choir was separated from the nave by a grille of ordinary design, remarkable as a piece of forged iron, bearing, in medallions, the sceptre, the hand of justice, the nails, and the crown of thorns. The woodwork of the stalls was of fourteenth-century work, with fern-leaves carved on the panels and below the misereres. Of the fifty-six upper and thirty-eight lower ones, only a few remain. These are now pre- served in the choir of the Church of Asni^res. The main altar, 6 metres long, and of baroque ughness, must have been the one discordant feature in the fur- nishing of an impeccable edifice. It is at present lodged in the Church of Viarmes.^ Several of the great windows ' Since the "baroque" (decadent Renaissance) did not appear in French architecture until the latter part of the rei/^n of Louis XV, it is obvious that this was not the original thirteenth-century main-altar. Its disappearance may have been a consequence of the disastrous fire of 1760, when the tower fell in, smashing all beneath it. THE ABBEY CHURCH 25 representing princes of the House of France were still in existence during the last century. Their discovery might be facilitated by existing drawings executed by Millin and Gaigni^res. The four bells of the principal belfry, which had replaced those melted by fire in the year 1760, were taken down in 1791 by order of Dom Poirier. An idea of the interior effect of the church may be gathered from the words of an eminent historian : " A triumph of Gothic art, which must have dehghted the heart of St. Louis. A monument whose physical composition seemed but a spiritual raiment. A brilliant light flooded through the countless great windows, over one hundred in number, of the pointed style of the thirteenth century. These jewelled openings, exquisite examples of what are known a.s fenetres rayon- nantes, measured 36 feet in height by 12 in width. The Southern transept was pierced by one 36 feet high, divided by three small mullions, and surmounted by a large rose- window." It will be realized from this description that the most striking feature of the church was the prismatic illumina- tion which flooded through its countless windows. The slender intersecting masonry of the walls seemed but the bars of a veritable cage of light. And such was the effect of airiness, that the vaulting of the roof appeared to be supported alone by the pilasters of clustered shafts which sprang from the capitals of the central columns. Exterior. — The exterior aspect of the church is princi- pally known by two drawings of the Clairambault Collection in the MSS. Department of the Biblioth^que Nationale, and by an old engraving by Avehne giving a bird's-eye view of the Abbey. The main entrance to the church comprised a great central doorway, flanked by two smaller ones. A small raised porch (reconstructed about the year 1650) 26 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT stood in front of the fagade. It was decorated with crosses of Lorraine and fieurs-de-lis. Externally, it opened out in five arches, the central one of which corresponded to the great doorway. It was covered by three pyramidal roofs. The first story of the fa9ade was occupied, as at Longpont, by a row of narrow pointed-arched openings, surmounted by an enormous rose-window. Above this, a balustrade of open quatrefoil marked the base of a gable having a many-lobed pierced opening. This was crowned by a cross. At the southern angle was a graceful stair- turret, crocketed and finialed — a counterpart of its companion, already described, at the Northern end. Simple Cistercian gargoyles still project from the abutment piers of the church at the height of the aisle- cornice. In the upper part of the nave, above the lean-to roof of the aisles, were long, narrow, lancet- headed window-openings, one in each bay. The six- teenth-century belfry replaced an earlier octagonal fi^che of wood. Viewed from the north, the ensemble of the Abbe}^ Church revealed itself in a majestic coup-d'ceil : its im- mense length, its serried ranks of magnificent windows, turrets, gables, roses in profusion ; finally, the super- imposed flying-buttresses flanking the outer walls, encircling the apse. If these " sentinels of security " were of indispensable support to the walls that were but windows, their airy contact with the great building must have produced an effect of radiant perpetuity. The Abbey Church was named Notre-Dame de Royau- mont for the reason that, according to Chapitre XXI des Anciens Instituts de Citeaux, all the early Cistercian monasteries were dedicated to the Virgin. Although the initial outlay for the construction of the " monaster e et eglise" was covered by the proceeds of the sale of the crowns, jewels, and gold plate of the founder, Louis VIII, its ultimate cost is computed MARRIAGE OF ST. LOUIS 37 to have reached the sum of cent mille livres pari sis, or eleven millions one hundred and thirty thousand one hundred and seventy-two (11,130,172) francs. The immensity of this sum (which included large contribu- tions from St. Louis) may be estimated when it is reahzed that, whatever the price of materials, the pay for monkish labour in the thirteenth century was ridiculously small. St. Louis finally assigned to the Abbey the yearly sum of five hundred Hvres for its maintenance and that of its rehgious. The original number of monks, twelve, with a resident abbot, was in due time increased to sixty, finally to one hundred and forty. Of the interior beauty of the church, Tillemont says : " St. Louis enriched it with ornaments corresponding with its vastness and splendour, uniting to his pious ardour all the youthful love of magnificence, juvenile ardens casto amore. It was said at the time that none but a king could have constructed such an edifice." If the combined beauty and importance of the monas- tic buildings at Royaumont represented a love-offering of St. Louis to Almighty God, Pierre de Montreuil's token of admiration for his patron found expression in a frequently recurring architectural feature com- memorative of the name of the royal builder. Louis, 7ieuvieme du nom — nine chapels adorned the Abbey Church, nine oculi penetrate its southern wall, nine windows fret the lower fagadc of the dormitory, nine bays range each side of the cloister quadrangle, nine windows encase the Southern end of the Refectory. Un temoignage delicat, mais durable comme la pierre. The first event of importance to grace the finished Abbey Church was the marriage of the young King (in the year 1234) to Marguerite, daughter of Beranger IV, Comte de Provence, " the most noble, the most beautiful, and best educated princess in Europe." The succeeding year contributed an ecclesiastical ceremony 28 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT of even greater local interest : the consecration of Notre-Dame de Royaumont. It was a memorable day, for it commemorated offi- cially and ceremonially the completion of a work which benefactors and builders had pushed on with all the eagerness of vigorous faith. On the festal occasion the surrounding districts became depopulated : Asnieres, Viarmes, Beaumont, Boran, Gouvieux, Seugy, Fran- conville, Precy, Luzarches, le Lys, Creil, Saint Leu, Noisy, r Isle- Adam contributed the greater portion of their inhabitants. These were increased by enthusi- astic numbers from further afield. To the young King it was perhaps the crowning event of his life. Years of impatient working, waiting, were at an end ; before his eyes rose the monument of his imagination. The supreme moment was at hand when by the act of consecration he was to offer a peerless gift to Him whom he loved so well. A ceremony of almost national importance — Louis' enthusiasm spent itself in prepara- tions of vast proportion, conjuring up all that pomp and circumstance could contribute to the great occasion. The entire Court was summoned, and responded enthusi- astically. All were present : Blanche de Castille and the princes her sons; Marguerite, the young Queen- Consort, whose grace and modesty gave lustre to an already distinguished throne ; Isabelle, the beloved sister of the King ; the Conn^table Amaury de Mont- fort ; the Grand Chambrier Barthel^mie de Roie ; the elite of the nobility ; the Abbots of Citeaux, Clairvaux, and Saint-Denis; the Papal Legate, arrived from Rome to represent the Father of the Church of which France was the daughter — all in gorgeous robes gathered round the royally accoutred St. Louis. At the appearance of the royal cortege the great Abbey door swung open, and one hundred and fourteen white-robed monks ranged themselves in two serried lines on either side of the porch. Bartholomee, first MARRIAGE OF ST. LOUIS 29 Abbot of Royaumont, bearing the pastoral staff and attended by a number of representative abbots, walked slowly up the " white aisle," followed by the consecrat- ing Archbishop. Hands crossed on breast, heads bent, they bowed before the advancing vanguard of prelates, then slowly followed into the heart of the great church. St. Louis, radiant, bejewelled, surrounded by his dazzling Court, then entered. A great throne of damask and gold, situated in the Sanctuary, awaited his arrival. Jean Archeveque de Mytilene placed the seal of con- secration upon the divine habitation, dedicated " a wonder of Christian art " to the honour of the Cross, to Notre-Dame, and to the Saints. Solemn High Mass then followed. " It was a scene of pompous solemnity," says a well- known chronicler. The white-robed monks occupied the richly carved stalls, the glittering Court and knights emblazoned with the royal arms filled the nave and side-aisles — the entire structure ablaze with light and religious enthusiasm. There is no record of the music which must have played an important part in the great ceremony, but St. Louis' love of the art of melody, and the fact that his Sainte Chapelle became ten years later the cradle of the first conservatory of music known to the Western world, warrant the supposition that the embryonic elements of that choir, which later astonished Europe by its highly trained singing, must have participated in the ceremony of consecration at the Abbey of Royaumont. CHAPTER III "the leper of ROYAUMONT "— ST. LOUIS' FIRST CRUSADE After the laying of the foundation-stone of Royaumont, the greater part of the youth of the young King was spent at Asnieres, directing operations, imbuing all with a purity of intention and spirituality which were eventually to become the greatest heritage of the monastery. It has been justly said that his influence on the growing Abbey, and the influence of the Abbey on the character of the young monarch, were a combin- ation of felicitous circumstances which achieved rare benefits to both. From the year 1240 until the death of St. Louis in 1270, the splendour of Royaumont was at its height. The year following the consecration of the Abbey Church recorded many agricultural develop- ments. " Numerous flocks of cattle and sheep were to be seen on the hill-sides " ; important farm buildings were erected to accommodate growing harvests ; the munificent gifts of land were respected by conscientious cultivation. The resources of the Abbey were developed for the propagation of religion and learning, for the succour of the poor of the district, and for the mainten- ance of the monastery hospital. The riches of Royau- mont grew rapidly ; but a litany of bells interrupted daily the remunerative labour of hands for the spiritu- alizing influence of prayer. A special feature of the monastery was its large 30 "THE LEPER OF ROYAUMONT" 31 Infirmary, destined not only for the suffering members of the commmiity, but for those of the surrounding districts. Although the sick and the poor of the French capital attracted the King's constant s^^mpathy and generosity, it is at Royaumont that we make acquaint- ance with the innumerable acts of dehcate ministration which reveal the tenderness and humility of St. Louis' heart. :Menial acts, but strangely in conformity with kingly dignity. " On the morrow " — always on the morrow of any great civil or war enterprise, when the dictates of his heart had the right of utterance and attention, fresh from a victorious subjugation of restive barons, crowned with the triumphs of Taillebourg and of Saintes, pre- occupied by complex responsibilities, " an lendemain de la victoire, du desastre," he was always at Royaumont. Once across the courtyard of the Abbey, his first object was to visit the Infirmary, to gather about him there the physicians, and to exact from them a minute report on the condition of each of the sufferers. With his own hand he felt their pulse, wiped away the dis- tress of suffering faces, by his engaging gentleness and kingly presence recaptured the courage of faltering hearts. Tillemont tells us that there were " strange sufferers who lived in the hospital of that Abbey " ; among them a leper, Frere Legier by name. Leprosy had made such ravages in France during the Middle Ages that many Iproseries were febunded for the isolation of the social outcasts. The leper was transported to the hospital in a litter, the body covered by a black shroud, the Libera sung over him as if already dead. Before long " the leper of Royaumont " became the adopted child of the King. At each visit to the Abbey, his first remark to the Abbot was, " Let us go and visit our patient." Together they would enter the isolated apartment. Standing for a moment before 32 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT the hideously disfigured face of Frere Legier, the King, with tenderest voice, would question him about his condition ; then, on his knees, cut the food, and with his own hand feed the unrecognizable creature. The most delicate viands were produced to tempt a mori- bund appetite, and, the meal ended, soothing words would flow at generous length from the lips of the King. For that day, at least, physical pain was moderated by the remembrance of the loving devotion of his infirmarian — a king of France. Contemporary writers furnish full details of these meals, but a possible repulsion to the reader will justify their omission here. To the King, progressive detach- ment from self had resulted in the spiritualization of his every act, and ministrations distasteful to the ordinary mind partook for him of the nature and sublimity of works of mercy. It will be a temptation to the reader to suppose that St. Louis' repeated and prolonged visits to Royau- mont were at the sacrifice of some of his many obliga- tions to the State. Nothing could be more erroneous. If the ecclesiastic and the monarch were one and the same person, the duties of each were in such harmonious balance that there was never any embarrassment of their separate responsibilities. In addition to his partici- pation in the Divine Office and to his daily visits to the Infirmary and supervision of monastic matters, he transacted at the Abbey national affairs with equal fidelity — in the speaking quietude of the cloisters maturing problems which demanded the aid of meditation and prayer. There is no recorded evidence of the fact, but it is more than probable that the years spent in planning his first Crusade had close relation with his many visits to Royaumont during that troubled time. Perhaps never before had there been such an alarming menace from the Infidel. What in the preceding Crusades ST. LOUIS' FIRST CRUSADE 33 had assumed the character of adventure and invasion, now became a matter of defensive necessity. Circum- stances called for immediate action ; Louis' religious zeal was an earnest for the regeneration of crusading integrity. It is probable that Louis imbibed at the Abbey provocation sufficient to formulate a final plan of action, sufftcient to overcome the determined opposition of his mother, of his royal consort, and that of his powerful nobles. On a miraculous recovery from what appeared to be a mortal illness, he commanded that his bed and raiment should be invested with the red cross ; and from that moment, despite all argument, never swerved from his purpose. Once recovered, and attended by his faithful Queen, he sailed with a mighty host for Cyprus, there to await his brother Alphonse Comte de Poitiers, and take possession of immense stores already dispatched. The Crusade, its aims, its tragic vicissitudes, are a matter of history. The writer's duty is not to consider all its details, but to concentrate the reader's attention on such individual acts of physical and spiritual heroism as will illumine the character of the founder of the Abbey of Royaumont. The enterprise of 1248 was not simply a war, an expedition, but objectively in Louis' mind an attempt to found a French colony in Egypt. It was believed at the time, and with some truth, that in order to conquer and take permanent possession of the Holy Land, Eg3^pt would be a necessary point d'appui. On the Friday preceding Pentecost the great fleet sailed from Cyprus. Joinville tells us : " This was a thing most beautiful to behold, for it appeared as if the sea as far as the eye could reach was covered with the sails of vessels, which were to the number of eight hundred, as well large as small." But misfortune was already in waiting. Once in the offing, a violent 3 34 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT storm dispersed the fleet Those not swept on to the coasts of Syria were obliged to put back to port. The fortunate arrival there of the Duke of Burgundy and William of Sahsbury, attended by two hundred English knights, consohdated the scattered forces, and again without delay the reinforced squadron set sail. At sunrise of the fourth day the shores of Egypt loomed into sight. Advancing in order of battle, anchor was cast within a league of the coast. Again Joinville says : " It was a most imposing spectacle, the sea covered with ships over which floated the banners of the Cross, the coast lined with all the powers of the Soldan." The Mussulman fleet, laden with soldiers and machines of war, defended the entrance to the Nile. Hurriedly the Christian leaders assembled in council. Many advised deferring the attack until the vessels which had been dispersed by the storm should rejoin them ; but Louis, of contrary opinion, argued a conse- quent moral advantage to the enemy, insisted upon immediate attack ; finally, sword on high, leaped into the surf, followed by his eager knights. A momentous conflict ensued ; the infidel forces were routed, and by nightfall Damietta was in the hands of the Christians. A pause then followed : a period of prolonged inaction which damaged irreparably the moral of the crusading forces. Enthusiasm in its victorious ascendancy cut suddenly short, a reaction set in while awaiting the arrival of the Comte de Poitiers. Personal rivalries dismembered the collective aim of the expedition ; disorder, rebellion, licentiousness became the order of the day. The ultimate arrival of Louis' brother restored disci- pline, reanimated the moribund objective of the enter- prise. The important point at issue was now the siege of Alexandria, or of Cairo. Robert Comte d'Artois, representing the headstrong youth of the army, insisted upon the latter. Louis, himself but thirty-three years ST. LOUIS' FIRST CRUSADE 35 of age, backed the hot-blooded young knight. That decision, historians agree, sounded the death-knell of the Crusade. The successful passage of a country which had already proved fatal to Jean de Brienne on a preceding Crusade was a colossal undertaking. A sufficient number of boats was wanting, a futile building of dams and roads followed, an entire month was consumed in reaching Mansoura but ten leagues distant — the pitiless Bedouins, hghtly clad and horsed, meanwhile harassing their progress with flaming " Greek-fire," ^ the tropical heat making insupportable the Christians' heavy coats of mail. Infuriated by the prostrating delay, the Comte d'Artois followed by fifteen hundred knights dashed recklessly into the town. One and all perished. Like a whirlwind Louis then charged the Saracen forces. Seated upon a great steed, shoulder-high above the rest, a gold helmet upon his head, a great German blade in his right hand, he mowed his way through the infidel ranks. The struggle then became general. From all sides the Saracens closed upon the Christians. The Comte d'Anjou on the Cairo road, attacked by two troops of Bedouins (a-foot, a-horse), on the point of decimation, Louis single-handed dashed through the enemy forces — his charger's mane aflame with Greek- fire — and plucked him bodily from the m^l6e. For a moment the Comte de Poitiers was a prisoner, the next moment rescued ; the Sieur de Brian^on could not hold his ground but by the aid of the Due de Bour- gogne's catapults fired across the river ; Guy de Mon- voison was in flames ; the battalion of the Count of Flanders with difficulty held in check the invading numbers. Repulsed, disheartened, Louis alone preserved an unbroken nerve. Joinville tells us : " We were all lost that day had it not been for the King. ... No ' A secret compobition of bitumen, sulphur, and pitch. 36 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT longer a monk but an unconquerable warrior, he per- formed feats of incredible valour. ... At one moment six Mussulmans surrounded the invincible Louis. Scat- tering his antagonists, he put them all to flight." At the sight of their leader's prowess the discon- certed forces regained their courage, the conflict took on new life, and by nightfall the Christians were masters of the field. Both banks of the river remained in their possession. Their terrible losses, however, reduced them after successive engagements to a state of defence. The Saracens, spurred on by the timely arrival of their new Sultan at Mansoura, took on new courage, trans- ported powerful boats on their shoulders, launched them on a tributary of the Nile below the Crusaders' camp, decimated their flotilla, in the end cut their principal communication with Damietta. It was a fatal moment for the Christians. For St. Louis — in and out his subconscious mind chased the thought of his royal spouse at Damietta, at any moment a possible victim of barbaric violence. Simultaneousl}/, an appalling epidemic of scurvy and dysentery broke out. Famine was already rife, the Christian camp was littered with dead and wounded, effective burial became impossible. The plague in- creased daily ; Louis' courage alone bulwarked an entire army against invading despair. Disaster at hand, against his will he finally entered into negotiations with the young Sultan — and failed. Stricken himself at last, he sounded the order of retreat — retreat for an army decimated by wounds and disease, himself barely able to sit his horse. The wounded he con- signed to boats upon the Nile — floating barges of mourn- ing and misery — himself sick unto death, against all supplication, rode falteringly in the thinned ranks of his rearguard, there with his remaining strength and presence to defend the fragments of his shattered ST. LOUIS' FIRST CRUSADE 37 forces. Arrived at Minie-Abou-Abdallah, he could go no further. A truce was requested, then frustrated by the cry of a false zealot : " Knights, give up your arms ! The King commands it ! Do not be the means of his death ! " ^ The strain already at breaking-point, all believed, all laid down their arms. The King him- self, helpless upon his bed, was made a prisoner. The oriflamme, together with all the standards, fell into the hands of the enemy. St. Louis' Christian heroism during his captivity struck with astonishment and respect his Moslem jailers. His serenity of mind, even in the stress of disease, disaster, and threatened torture, filled the infidel heart with unfamiliar admiration. On his bed of agony, he conducted calmly the details of surrender and ransom. His wealthy knights attempted to negotiate their own release. The King objected. " Leave the conditions to me. It is my wish that none should with his per- sonal possessions buy his deliverance. I will undertake the ransom of all ! " His preoccupation was that if his wealthy knights were capable of buying their own release, the poorer members of his forces would succumb to their poverty. Perhaps the greatest proof of a harmonious detach- ment of the two individualities which made of him both ascetic and monarch found expression in the final conditions he proposed for general ransom. " I will give five hundred thousand livres - for the deliverance of my people, and Damietta for my own release. It is not within the dignity of a king of France that his freedom should be bought at the price of gold." It is more than probable that these conditions of kingly dignity and generosity, communicated to the astonished Sultan, conduced to the ultimate safety of St. Louis' beloved spouse at Damietta. ' According to M. dc Wailly, the siun would amount to ^405,280. " M. dc Wailly is quoted by IIu^band in his Hislory oftJic Crusades. 38 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT Three days after the knowledge of the captivity of her husband, Queen Marguerite gave birth to a son, whom she surnamed Tristan. At that time of alarm- ing danger in a barbarian country, it was her custom to have an aged knight sleep at the foot of her bed. One evening, shortly before the delivery of her child, she knelt before the retainer of eighty years, and im- plored him that if the town were taken he would kill her before the first vSaracen entered her room. " Set your mind at rest, Gracious Lady," answered the old knight ; " I had already determined upon the deed." When the King's conditions of ransom and surrender were accepted and the Saracen chiefs demanded guaran- tees, St. Louis offered himself as hostage for the entire Christian army. The same courage and abnegation marked the four succeeding years during which he remained in Egypt and in the Holy Land. The unexpected death of his august mother, Blanche of Castillc — an irreparable loss at a time when sore with humiliation and defeat — finally recalled him to France. It will be remembered, the spectacular start of the Crusade from the island of Cyprus : eight hundred vessels laden with the flower of Western chivalry, " the sea as far as the e^^e could reach covered with Christian sails." Six years later, fourteen vessels alone carried back to the shores of France all that remained of the warriors of the Cross. It was a tragic return, fraught with the perils of the sea, haunted by memories of failure, humiliation, irreparable losses — thousands of Christian prisoners left behind in the hands of the Infidel. It was a tragic figure — the invincible Louis pacing helplessly the deck of his vessel, the buffeting waves hammering the tender heart of him who took upon himself the full responsibility of failure and disgrace. ST. LOUIS' FIRST CRUSADE 39 The sight of his native shores, which should have shone \\ith the victory of Cross and crown — the tomb of his beloved mother awaited him there ; internal dissension, Henry of England plotting within his dominions ; vanished thousands, who would have swollen the ranks for impending national defence, lying helpless in their distant Syrian graves. CHAPTER IV FOUNDATION OF A LIBRARY AT THE MONASTERY — VINCENT DE BEAUVAIS One of the remarkable qualities in the character of St. Louis was his tenacity of purpose. Once determined on a line of action, he never swerved from his objective. Principle controlled his impulses, personal motives had rare play in his activities. A serenity of mind kept his interests — duties all — in separate order ; trial, disaster even, were never allowed to defeat their con- summation. The precarious beginning of a crusade at Damietta did not obstruct the donation there of his Baronnie de Roupi to the Abbey of Royaumont ; on his return to France, the catastrophe of the Eastern expedition, the shock of his mother's death, the quelling of the insurgent risings which had occurred during his absence, did not prevent the beginning of fresh exertions at his beloved monastery. Unfortunate experiences served him but as object-lessons for occasional retrospect, cleared the way for prospective enterprise. Apart from Louis' early efforts in extending the crown's dominions, stamping out feudaHsm, initiating a new era of justice, law, beneficence, morals, and munici- pal reform, his deep interest in the arts, belles-lettres, and general education as a means for the moulding of a new France, was ever uppermost in his mind. On his return from the Holy Land, where he had observed the collection of libraries by Eastern potentates, he determined to follow their example and found similar 40 FOUXDATIOX OF A LIBRARY 41 institutions for public use in France. The restoration of order within his kingdom an accompUshed fact, the moment seemed opportune for the inauguration of his philanthropic intention. Roj-aumont offered a milieu for the reahzation of a retarded project. Mediaeval monasteries were seats of learning, sanctuaries of precious volumes, ministries of education ; it was Louis' wish that the increased scientific activities of the Cistercian houses during the thirteenth century should be manifested in abundant measure at his beloved Abbc}'. The obligation imposed by the Benedictine Order on their religious, of occupying themselves outside their community life with external work — agricultural, liter- ary, scientific, or artistic — had in view the wholesome maintenance of all the activities of the human mind. The same may be said of the Cistercian foundation, whose Rule was a hteral reading of that of St. Benedict. It may therefore be accepted that, in accordance with St. Louis' express objective, the new Abbey's many years of growing prominence should have resulted in achievements of an extraordinary nature. It is a regrettable fact, however, that circumstance has deprived us of material proofs from which to esti- mate the comprehensive labours at the royal Abbey. ^ The development of agriculture found expression in a high cultivation of the vast Abbey lands, medical science grew iu importance with the King's special interest in the local infirmary, h3'gienic measures were carefully evolved despite salubrious local conditions. But of literary or scientific activities, one important work alone reveals the intellectual achievements at Ro5'au- mont during the entire span of its existence. This lacune may be accepted as a proof of the loss of priceless historical documents. Joinville, in his ' The Carfulaiic de Royauinonl supplies interesting and important facts, but a vast ground is left unrecorded. 42 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT Life of Saint Louis, speaks of the King's voracious love of books, of his lavish expenditure on the copying of manuscripts, of his testamentary donation on the eve of his second Crusade of a part of his personal library to his " beloved foundation." The libraries of monas- teries were the treasuries of man's recorded efforts and attainments ; Royaumont could have been no exception to the rule. It was a crushing responsibility for one individual to have to represent the scholastic evolution of an illustrious foundation during a period of five hundred years, but the task seems to have weighed lightly upon the shoulders of Vincent de Beauvais. Perhaps the most eminent scholar of the thirteenth century, his burden may be reahzed by a comprehension of the nature of his monumental Speculum Majiis, compiled at the Abbey-of-the-Oise. This Grand Miroire or Bihliotheque de I'Univers consists of ten great volumes, containing eighty books, subdivided into 9,885 chapters, and is a compendium of the total knowledge of the thirteenth-century world. It is obvious that the compilation of such an encyclo- paedia could not have been achieved by the efforts of a single brain. Safe it is, therefore, to conjecture that an important part of the collaboration in the work associated with the Abbey of Royaumont was accom- plished by the rehgious of that monastery to which he was attached. It is not clear at what date Vincent de Beauvais became known to the French monarch, but it is a matter of record that from the year 1254 the eminent scholar and St. Louis were constantly in each other's company at Royaumont, then " a seat of learning and study." The first part of the Speciiltim Majits is the Speculum Naturale. This consists of thirty-two volumes, divided into 3,718 chapters, and treats of theology, psychology, physiology, cosmography, physics, botany, zoology. VIXCEXT DE BEAUVAIS 43 and mineralogy. The second part, Spcctdiim Doc- tyinalc, composed of seventeen volumes (2,374 chapters), treats of logic, rhetoric, poetr}-, geometry, astronomy, instincts, passions, medicine, jurisprudence, and the administration of justice. The third part, Speculum Historialc, in thirty-one books and 3,793 chapters, brings the history of the world to a.d. 1250. A fourth part. Speculum Morale, appears in some editions, but its authenticity is open to doubt. It will thus be seen that Louis lost no opportunity of reaUzing his early dream of founding a library. Providence seemed to have conspired with the French King for the achievement of his great object. An under- taking which in the natural order might have consumed a century in the making, was accomplished by the capacity and direction of a single mind within the space of ten years. In the compilation of the colossal work, " one of the most prodigious tours de force in the realm of hterature," he was largely assisted by the enthusiasm and largesse of his royal patron ; and, as was usually the case, the King's example was seconded by the wide interest and generosity of his friends. CHAPTER V PROSPERITY OF THE ABBEY — ST. LOUIS' SECOND CRUSADE — ills DEATH AND CANONIZATION The event of greatest importance after Louis' return from his disastrous Crusade was the Treaty of Abbeville (1259). The French King's sacrifice of certain terri- tories in the domains of Saintonge and Guienne — an equitable restoration condemned by contemporary and later historians — was met by the renunciation of pre- tended rights in Normandy, Anjou, INIaine, Poitou, and Touraine by the English King. It was a period of prosperity. " France breathed again ; agriculture flourished." Louis' many enter- prises progressed successfully, " the noble and saintly attitude of the Abbey of Royaumont was reaching a high level." A beneficent peace had allowed the French King to occupy himself with internal reforms ; already he had introduced legislative and administrative measures which were a notable emancipation from feudal conditions. It was always the habit of St. Louis to visit in person whatever parts of his kingdom demanded his presence, there to study local matters and to administer affairs sur place. His visits to the Abbey were of constant occurrence : written records have been preserved of his many visits ; a number of his decisions and ordon- nances are dated from Royaumont. If it was the intention of the French monarch to create at his beloved foundation a seat of learning and 44 PROSPERITY OF THE ABBEY 45 study, it was also his ambition to make of it a haven of peace, hoUness, and charity. The King's spiritual aims were not tardy in fructifying. Local history affirms that, according as the activities of the Abbey developed, the example of its monastic virtues mani- fested itself exteriorly among the inhabitants of the surrounding districts. \'otive chapels were erected, indulgences obtained, pilgrimages organized, ten suc- cessive Popes promulgated bulls extending over a period of seventy years confirming and enlarging the abbatial possessions. Finally, the Holy See constituted itself parental guardian of the Abbey. How futile proved to be these pontifical bulwarks against later profane invasion will be the subject of a later chapter. Hospitality was a special feature of the Abbey, and manifested itself in elastic form. The laws of enter- tainment in religious houses included not only the reception of guests, a welcome for the errant poor, but (in later years) an obligation on the part of Royaumont to lodge the hunting equipages of the French kings. For his night's lodging and sustenance the beggar was perhaps obhged to ring the bells and sweep the abbatial church ; guests and royal hunters, on the contrary, had the run of the Abbey grounds and surrounding forests. The Co pie moderne du Cartulairc de Royaumont mentions prolonged visits to the Abbey of several of the successors of St. Louis, among others those of King John (celebrated for his captivity in England), of his wife, his eldest son, and of their attendants, " during which times the buildings rang with the baying of hounds and the shrieking of hawks." These visits became so frequent and of such duration that the religious were obliged at last to beg a cessation of what was prejudicial to the dignity of the Abbey. After the abandonment by Louis of his first Crusade and his return to France, the fate of the Christians in the East had gone from bad to worse. Syria had been 46 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT invaded by the Moguls, Egypt was threatened by the Tartar Khan ; the progress of the Moguls created the greatest terror in all the nations of the West. The remembrance of a land in which he had so long dwelt, and the hope of avenging the honour of the French arms in Egypt, once more absorbed the mind of Louis IX. Although weakened in health, he did not hesitate to solicit privately the apostolic permission of Clement IV for a second Crusade. Convoking an assembly of barons, nobles, and prelates on the 23rd of March 1267, he entered the Louvre where the great parliament of the kingdom was assembled, bearing in his hands the Crown of Thorns. In an instant all realized the King's intentions, " The determination of the King of France created a lively sensation throughout Europe, and revived in men's minds the little that remained of the old enthusiasm for the Crusades." The succeeding three years were spent in preparations for another holy war. As religious zeal was then not sufficiently strong to make men forget their personal losses in the Crusade of 1248, a number of the French nobles who had "taken the Cross" entertained great fears of being completely ruined by a second enterprise. Louis generously undertook to pay all the expenses of their voyage and to maintain them at his own cost during the war. The date of departure was fixed for May of the year 1270. In February 1269 King Louis made his last will and testament. One of the clauses ran as follows : " We bequeath to our dear spouse, Queen Marguerite, 4,000 livres ; to our Abbey of Royaumont, 600 livres {d' argent). The books of which we may die possessed in France, with the exception of those in use at the Chapel, we bequeath to the freres prechciirs et aux frhes mincurs de Paris, d I'Ahbaye de Royaiimoyit, et aux freres prhheurs de Compiegne." The executors appointed were Etienne Bishop of Paris, Philippe ST. LOUIS' SECOND CRUSADE 47 Bishop of Evreux, and the abbots of Saint-Denis and Royaumont. It will be noticed that among the legatees the Abbey of Royaumont was second only to his beloved Queen. The further gift of books was a final proof of his attachment to his " beloved foundation," a last effort to consummate his early project of enriching the Abbey with an important library. The failure of Louis' second Crusade is a matter of history and needs no recital here. Chateaubriand, in his Itmeraire de Paris a Jerusalem, says: " Prosperity seemed at once to abandon St. Louis the moment he turned his face to the sea ; as if, not by feats of arms, but by the example of superb courage in adversity, he was destined to conquer the wonder and admiration of the Infidel." Arrived at Tunis, pestilence promptly set its seal of disaster upon the expedition. After seeing the majority of his forces stricken with the fell disease (including the King of Navarre, the Pope's delegate, and his own son Tristan, born at Damietta during his first Crusade), Louis himself fell a victim. But, despite his manifold sufferings, each day found him visiting the sick and dying, fortifying the camp, showing an undaunted front to the enemy, sitting before his tent and there dispensing justice, as had been his custom in the early days under the famous " Oak of Vincennes." Before long, extreme weakness forced him to his quarters, where he realized the nearness of his end. The entire army was in a state of mourning ; the soldiers, disre- garding their own sufferings, losses, impending disaster, walked about in tears, imploring of Heaven the preser- vation of their beloved King. " The dying soldiers dragged themselves from the hospitals, crawled among the ruins to approach their adored monarch." Requesting at last Extreme Unction, Louis, with a supreme effort, made the responses " with a voice as strong as if giving orders on the field of battle." Then, 48 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT says an ocular witness : " From Sunday at the hour of none, till Monday at tierce, his mouth never ceased, either day or night, to praise our Lord, and to pray for the people he had brought to that place." Nor did he forget to intercede for the spiritual welfare of his infidel enemies. The words " Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! " were often upon his lips. On August 25th (1270) he breathed his last. As his soul prepared for its eternal flight, faint words were heard : " O Lord ! I shall enter Thy house, and shall worship Thee in Thy holy tabernacle ! " Death, which exposes with impartiality the failures and achievements of men, brought into relief the hidden acts of the King, added an increased lustre to those of public prominence. No longer of this world, his fidelity to the duties of ruler, cenobite, philanthropist. Crusader, revealed itself in a nimbus of glory which led to his ultimate canonization. " vSt, Louis had con- tributed to the French nation a reign great and fruitful enough to have ensured him the undying gratitude of his people." To Royaumont, to France, his loss was irrepar- able ; to the outside world — all Europe clamoured at the gates of Rome for the sanctification of his name. After Louis' death, prayers and Masses were said at the Abbey for the repose of his soul, and a formal petition was made to the General Chapter for permission to establish at Royaimiont a yearly anniversary in memory of its founder. These testimonies of apprecia- tion and gratitude were supplemented by several tablets on the walls of the church, which were to per- petuate in stone the more important acts in the life of the King. They comprehended the erection of the Abbey, the details of his many visits, his first Crusade, the translation of the Crown of Thorns and other relics to the Sainte Chapelle, his second Crusade, and his lamentable death before the walls of Tunis. The mural records have now disappeared. ST. LOUIS' DEATH AND CANONIZATION 49 These acts constituted, as far as has been discovered, Royaumont's piibUc tribute to the memory of its founder. A more eloquent testimonial was manifested by the wide influence of the dead monarch over the hving members of the districts which surrounded the Abbey. " A provincial patriotism manifested itself." Not only were the Abbey and royal castle especially attached to the memory of the King, but every object associated with his name or possession. Even sepulture within the monastic enclosure was solicited " because of the odour of sanctity left there by St. Louis." It may be said that while the greater part of the thirteenth century and the first quarter of the fourteenth were dominated by the commanding figure and memory of the King, Royaumont attained a degree of supreme material importance. The years that ensued introduced unfortunate events and consequences, and the Abbey- of-the-Oise followed impotently the course of its destiny. The spiritual status of the Abbey developed also in abundant measure after the death of the King. Louis' hohness and liberahty became the stimulus for an increasing piety and generosity at Court and in the country at large. So edifying had been his example, so great the love and respect he had engendered in the hearts of men, that his memory proved to be a legacy of Christian perfection to the entire Western world. During his lifetime the pulpits of Europe had rung with his eulogy ; after his death the civilized world demanded his canonization. For a period of twenty-eight years four successive Popes occupied themselves with the preliminary details ; finally, by order of a bull pro- mulgated by Boniface VIII, Louis, ncuviemc du noni, became Saint Louis in the year 1297. The same bull fixed the 25th day of August as his feast-day, to be held in perpetuity. CHAPTER VI CAUSES OF THE DOWNFALL OF ROYAUMONT— HUNDRED YEARS WAR After tlic death of St. Louis, the enlargement of the Abbey and its further development continued apace. The intentions of the holy founder met with a prompt and continuous response at the hands of generous successors. Philippe III, Philippe IV, Louis X, Philippe V, Charles IV, confirmed and added to the Abbey's possessions ; the Holy See paid its tribute to the de- parted " man of religion " by the addition of numerous papal bulls. A succession of kings affected the Abbey as a place of frequent sojourn in imitation of their saintly predecessor ; the practice continued until the reign of Philippe de Valois. For the best part of a century after the death of St. Louis the integrity of the Cistercian Order was main- tained by a scrupulous fidelity to its early spirit of reform. This was ensured by the General Chapters, which obhged the heads of the monasteries to repair every twelvemonth to Citeaux for general convocation, and by the yearly inspection of each establishment by " visitors " appointed by the mother-houses. It will thus be realized that whatever happened to cause a deterioration of community life must be looked for either in a relaxation of religious fervour, in some insolidity of Rule which Time duly exposed, or in those outer irreligious movements which set at naught the justice of corporate conscience and the permanence of vested rights. 30 CAUSES OF ITS DOWNFALL 51 Five causes were responsible for the downfall of the Abbe}' of Royaumont : a decline of the early spirit of reform in the Cistercian Order, incessant conflicts between the Papacy and the kings of France, the Hun- dred Years War and the Wars of Religion, the abuses of the Commendatory System, and the depredations of the French Revolution — a succession of disasters from which no human institution could issue successfully. Before the expiration of what may be termed " the first epoch " of Royaumont, a condition of affairs had arisen which resulted in long and grave conflicts between the Papacy and the kingdom of France. At the end of the thirteenth century, Boniface VIII attempted to assume the role of dictator of national affairs in France, and by virtue of mediaeval tradition threatened to depose the French King. Philip the Fair unswerv- ingly resisted papal interference. The climax was reached in the year 1303 on the excommunication of the French monarch. It seemed the dawn of a new era. Boniface considered his position impregnable by virtue of the European theory of the omnipotent power of the Pope in matters political — a state of affairs already on the wane. Phihp, in following personal motives, gave nascent voice to new ideas which were eventually to restrain the powers of the Holy See. Such were the conditions, in brief, which in their final acute form rent the peace of Royaumont. F'aithful subjects of Rome, loyal citizens of France, and tenants of an Abbey founded and endowed by St. Louis who represented kingly authority, the position of the French religious was one of supreme trial. Confronted by opposing sovereignties, they were suddenly called upon to decide between the Father of their Country repre- senting the temporal power of the kingdom, and the Father of the Faithful in whose hands rested all spiritual authority. The issue became one of Patriotism vcrsiis Catholicism. As a consequence we see the perplexed S3 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT clergy endeavouring b}^ an untenable neutrality to conform to the contradictions of opposing authorities. Although the old spirit of detachment and hoUness reigned undisturbed within its precincts, the Abbey of Royaumont felt the first tremor of an impending menace which ran through all the monastic foundations of France. The destructive antagonism of Church and State had penetrated its leafy sohtude ; a grandson of its saintly founder, himself a benefactor, was one of the disgraceful combatants. Councils were convened at Compidgne in 1304, later at Senlis in 1318, to stem the tide of civil insurrection, but in vain. The blow had fallen. It was impossible to arrest a movement that had already attained public proportions. The old order of things was crumbhng ; a reactionary tide against ecclesiasticism had set in ; Royaumont was to feel its effect in her " second epoch." The rehgious fervour of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries had secured the siJic qua non of monastic perfection, and a plentiful supply of aspirants to com- munity life. While the throne of France, during the first half of the fourteenth century, suffered from a succession of monarchs of varying character and per- sonal interests, the abbatial chair of Royaumont was occupied by ecclesiastics whose sole object was the spiritual welfare of the Abbey. Eleven successive abbots had, by their objective fideHty, contributed to its peace and perfection ; others were to follow ; after which — the counter-tide, and eventual dismemberment. The second half of the fourteenth century witnessed a dechne of the early Cistercian fervour, and a conse- quent forfeiture of the spiritual raison d'etre of the order. Irregularities, interior revolt, resentment of episcopal authority, and the irreligious consequences of vast material possessions led ultimately to the clamour of Crown and public for comprehensive reform. In this the monasteries themselves lent individual voice. CAUSES OF ITS DOWNFALL 53 The Cistercian ideal originated in a revolt on the part of reformers against the then dominant type of Bene- dictism, of which Cluny with its accumulation of wealth and vast worldly possessions was the great embodiment and example. The reformers aimed at bringing back simplicity, poverty, and labour, and strove to attain it by a Uteral interpretation of St. Benedict's Rule. To avoid further deterioration, an elaborate system of centralized power was formulated in the Cistercian Carta Charitatis.^ The first fathers of Citeaux refused to acknowledge any necessity to adapt the details of the Rule to the altered conditions of a later age, and failed to recognize that St. Benedict wrote his Rule for country people, for Goths of the sixth century, and primarily for Central Italy— though from some expres- sions he uses it may be gathered that he contemplated the extension of the Rule to countries in which different conditions prevailed. He wrote for independent houses. not for an Order — a conception which first appears in the West with the eleventh century. It was the success and rapid spread of Cistercian reform which proved its undoing. Wealth, due to the favour of the mighty in all lands, brought with it dis- astrous consequences. The monasteries became com- mercialized ; the monks, the greatest farmers and wool merchants in Europe. With the advent of material prosperity, the primitive spirit disappeared. The visi- tation of the widely spread monastic houses and the yearly attendance at the General Chapters, especially by the more distant Abbots, became a matter of great difficulty ; wars, and the horrors they entailed, added to the embarrassments of primitive means of loco- motion. The history of all religious Orders shows that when a reform becomes settled, its heroic age comes to an ' Constitutions respecting llic govcrnmeiit:il regulations of the Order. 54 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT end ; and, like all human institutions, it tends to a downward course unless its laws rest upon a sound basis. St. Benedict legislated for a family ; the Cistercians militarized his Rule, and gave it a rigid interpretation contrary to its spirit. In common with the other houses of the same Order, Royaumont succumbed eventually to the decadence of Cistercian rule. It may be said, however, that, thanks to the infusion of the saintly vitality of its founder, its disintegration proved a prolonged affair. But if the early Cistercian spirit found longer residence in the Abbey-of-the-Oise than in most of the French foundations, its vast material possessions proved to be a source of constant menace. Feudal law and custom had invested, if not imposed, upon all holders of large estates the seigneurial respon- sibility of exercising civil jurisdiction within their dominions. As a consequence, heads of religious houses fell into the category of feudal lords. Here was a field which led far from religious interests, deep into the tangle of civil and political compromise. It will be remembered that St. Louis' first charter to Royaumont in the year 1228 (and others that followed) embraced not only the grant of lands adjacent to and distant from the Abbey, but exemptions and rights throughout the kingdom which demanded the abiding agreement of separate owners of property. The continuous posses- sion of these lands, the civil administration of justice in connection with them, which included even punitive measures, a free passage through private tenements possessing local tolls, was a difficult and complex matter at a time when each lord was a king within his own domains. Disputes, conflicting rights, national, private, civil, papal, episcopal, continually arose ; the administration of religious estates became an absorbing care which led ecclesiastics far from the main purpose of their vocation. THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR 55 In the end these harassing responsibiUties resulted in a corresponding relaxation of conventual rule. The death of Louis X and Philip V had left serious problems to the State ; the decease of Charles IV with- out male issue brought Capetian succession to an end. The kingship of France passed to the House of Valois, but the process of translation revived the aspirations of Edward III, reawakened the dormant pretensions of England to the throne of France. Troublous days were in prospect ; Royaumont was to feel the effects of the impending storm. With PhiHp of Valois (1328-50), the successive asso- ciation of the French kings with the Abbey-of-the- Oise came to an end : their personal interest, benefac- tions, abo\'e all, their frequent sojourns, which, in creating a trait d' union between crown and church, had extended an influence for good to the nation at large. The legacy of St. Louis' kingly example, eagerly accepted by his successors, had achieved an increase of monastic welfare and national spirituality: the warring world was now to suppress the unbroken liaison for all time. Spasmodic returns to a royal precedent which had extended over a period of one hundred years occurred fitfully at later times, but the " vessel of the Church " was at last to navigate the waters of adversity un- attended by royal pilots or patrons. Although the General Assembly of the year 1328 had declared in favour of the House of Valois, the English King did not for a moment desist from affirming his right to the throne of France. Assuming the French arms quartered with those of England, Edward proclaimed himself King of the French nation. His subsequent landing on the continent began the Hundred Years War. The invasion of Normandy an accomplished fact, the enemy forces turned their efforts against le Beau- vaisis, " established themselves generally in the Abbeys of the Oise." At the moment of the episcopal visit 56 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT to Royaumont of the Bishop of Beauvais in the year 135 1, the spiritual integrity of the Abbey, despite the turmoil of foreign invasion, was still intact. Unlike the Abbey of Saint-Germer and the monastery of Saint- Lucien, Royaumont had not yet suffered at the hands of the enemy. Her hour of affliction was not far distant. From 1355 to 1360 France was destined to suffer not only the invading presence of the Enghsh within her own dominions, but a civil insurrection which resulted in the pillage of villages, chateaux, churches, and abbeys — notably in the valleys of the Oise. " Charles le Mauvais," King of Navarre, a perfidious descendant of Louis IX, profiting by a time of national trial, in- flicted upon a stricken nation the further torment of a third candidature for the French crown. Baulked by Salic law, " the demon of France " still insisted upon his right to the throne. Traitor, marauder, he did not hesitate for the accomplishment of his sinister aims to join forces with the English. The first blow to the peace of Royaumont was at hand. Three English armies were within the French dominions ; disaster upon disaster was to be the fate of the stricken nation. The surrender of Calais follow- ing hard upon the catastrophe at Crecy ; the sudden appearance of the Black Plague, which devastated Pro- vence and Languedoc ; the English triumph at Poitiers ; the revolt of the States-General against royal misrule ; the depletion of the Treasury ; the imposition of onerous taxes ; the conflict between Charles the Bold and the young Dauphin ; the final explosion of peasant resent- ment against the nobility (La Jacquerie) — an insurrec- tion of demagogic fury and widespread destruction — all plunged France into the throes of chaos. Mean- while, the English forces, fresh from their successive triumphs, awaited in the South the opportune moment of total dismemberment — the French King a prisoner in the hands of the Black Prince. Justice, wisdom, THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR 57 patriotism, religion non-existent — what of the serenity of Royaumont ? What of the security of its monastic possessions ? Shivered by the cataclysm of the outer world, all that remained there of peace was the spiritual reward of its one hundred years' tenacious rule — the lamp of faith burning serenely through the night of national calamity. France was in anarchy ; the inhabitants of Boran (3-^ kilometres distant from Royaumont) had joined the Jacquerie ; Creil (17 kilometres away) became the headquarters of the infamous alliance of the Enghsh and Navarrais. Having razed to the ground the monastery of Froidmont, sacked the Abbey of Ours- camp, outraged Compiegne, burned Venette, captured Pont-Sainte-Maxence and Creil, " laid under contri- bution all the country which lay between Beauvais, Senhs, and Beaumont," the Enghsh descended the course of the Oise, and reached at last the Abbey of Royaumont. A troop of marauders, half English, half Navarrais, stormed the outer gates, demanded a large sum of money, threatened to destroy the Abbey, butcher its inmates, unless the sum demanded were paid on the spot. The fate of the Abbey at stake, its destruction threatened, the smoking ruins of Ourscamp, of Froid- mont, still before their eyes, the terrorized community surrendered at last to the tyrannous demand. L'histoirc du Diocese de Beauvais informs us that eventually the English " took Royaumont under their protection." The same document affirms that the Abbey was " devoted to the Enghsh." Whether this signal exception was the result of monetary contribu- tions or due to a special sentiment of Edward (him- self of French blood on the part of his mother) for St. Louis' monastery, it is difficult to determine. A royal act, dated June 1359, granting pardon to the religious of Royaumont, " suspected of having bought the security of their Abbey by the payment of supplies 58 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT and moneys to the enemies of the nation," would seem to prove the former. Per contra, a later manuscript chronicles the destruction of the Baromiie de Roiipi by the P^nglish : a possession, it will be remembered, granted by St. Louis to Royaumont during his first Crusade. Without concerning ourselves with the manifold details of a war which lasted one hundred years, it will be realized that the devastating va-et-vient of invad- ing armies across the Ile-de-France, and their deliber- ate destruction of property, brought to a disastrous end the cultivation of vast Abbey lands which consti- tuted the principal source of monastic revenue. Not only did this course of events suspend abbatial income, but injured progressively the fecundity of the land itself. Worse still, the turmoil of the outer world taxed the peace of community life to critical limits. A relaxation of monastic rule to meet the abnormal exigencies of the times — intermittent at first, persist- ent as the war dragged on its hundred years — eventu- ally affected two vital necessities for conventual life : regularity and religious fervour. Devastation damaged material resources, agitation attenuated the voice of religious enthusiasm. The security of communities hung in the balance, the supply of aspirants for monastic life diminished in number and succession. CHAPTER VII CIVIL WAR IN FRAXCE — SERIOUS RESULTS TO ROYAUMONT The fifteenth century was but a prolongation of the miseries that had afflicted the French kingdom during the preceding sixty years. In Paris, and in other large towns, abbots and abbesses, clerks and religious paced the streets in search of the necessaries of life ; in the kingdom at large, family dissensions, village factions, brigandage ran riot. The English King had installed himself in the vicinity of Paris, and there spent his time pillaging and burning the houses of the bourgeois, " cutting off their food supplies in order to precipitate their revolt." It is true that the great reign of Charles V stemmed the tide of national destruction, ameliorated financial and agricultural conditions, and ultimately drove the English from the French kingdom. But the still gaping wounds of a dismembered nation demanded a period of prolonged convalescence. This was not to be. The deplorable quarrel between the Bourguignons and Armagnacs, the death of Charles V, " le sauveur de la France," the disgraceful Regency that followed, the madness of Charles VI, plunged anew into internal dissensions a country just beginning to recover from the mutilation of merciless years. France was lacerated in all her institutions ; the religious houses bore a great share of national adversity ; Royau- mont was a grand blesse. The role of Gilles de Cupd, elected Abbot of the Oise foundation in the year 14 19, was that of a restorer of 59 6o THE ABBEY OF ROYAUiMOXT abbatial dereliction. His task was one of serious magnitude. In truth, there was morally and materi- ally much to claim his immediate attention. The Cistercian Order en maase had fallen into such sore straits that its head was obhged to solicit papal author- ity to erect chapels in the barns of its monasteries, to allow the dispersed monks to use portable altars for celebrating Mass in the " chateaux et fort er esses " where they had taken refuge. The Abbey lands, in common with those of the surrounding districts, had been devas- tated by invader and revolutionary alike. The condi- tion of Royaumont at that time was of so deplorable a nature that on the representation of its abbot, the General Assembly of Cistercians at Citeaux voted a subside de charite to save the foundation of St. Louis from total ruin. Hardly had Gilles de Cupe made his act of fidelity than internal dissension gave way before a renewal of the war with England. The land- ing of Henry V at Harfleur with an army of 30,000 men on the morning of August 14, 1415. was a coup de foudre. It was quickly reahzed that a nation dis- membered by anarchy and misrule was not a capable antagonist against the most formidable expedition ever yet sent from English shores. The triumphs of the Enghsh King, the humiUations of the French nation, have been the subject ahke of dramatist and historian, and need but brief recital here. The capitulation of Harfleur, the victory at Agincourt as before at Crecy and Poitiers (penalties of faulty manoeuvres on the part of the French forces), culminated with the espousal of Henry V with the French princess and his ultimate assumption of the crown of France. ^ The nation fell to English rule ; Royaumont became an Enghsh possession. Gilles de Cup^ submitted to English domination by ' Henry V was crowned King of France at Paris on November 27, 1431- SERIOUS RESULTS TO ROYAUMOXT 6i an act dated 142 1, but obtained from Henry, now King of France, several recuperative diplomcs which reveal some of the causes which had led to its material and spiritual decadence. In all the districts which surrounded the Abbey, tradition has preserved " a memory of the English," and to this day a particular field on the slope of the hill near Asnieres which leads to Viarmes is known as the " English Cemetery." To add to its vicissitudes, the Abbey Church was struck by lightning in the year 1473 and its roof and impressive tower destroyed. Four successive abbots laboured for many years on its material restoration, and in the end succeeded. Externally, Royaumont had resumed its perfect state ; internall}', it continued to await impatiently a regenera- tion at Citeaux which would restore its own spiritual integrity. The collective reform of the Cistercian Order did not, alas ! keep pace with the gradual re- establishment of material conditions at the Abbey. Under the rule of Dom Guillaume III Sale, surnamed de Briiyercs, which extended over a period of thirty diligent j^ears (1508-37), Royaumont was to record her last forward movement. Twenty-fifth in the line of succession, he was the last of its regular abbots. Wise, energetic, of irreproachable character, his years of unsparing effort were a grim determination to con- summate the re-establishment of abbatial integrity before the advent of a Commendatory System of mal- administration which was eventuall}^ to achieve con- ventual degradation. His persistent work, despite its seeming futilit}', maintained without hesitation until his death, is a rare example of the duty of sustained endeavour irrespective of consequences. His reward was the ultimate re-establishment of an earl}' monastic dignity whicli stood out as a distinguished protest against an impending disaster deserved, perhaps, by other less unassailable communities. CHAPTER VIII INTRODUCTION OV THE COMMENDATORY SYSTEM AT ROYAUMONT — PRAGMATIC SANCTION — CONCORDAT — LAST REGULAR ABBOT Commendatory abbots were secular ecclesiastics who held abbeys by grant and not by title ; in other words, they were not the elect of their own communities, and held office contrary to monastic rule. They had their origin in a system of commendation prevalent during the eighth and succeeding centuries. Originally they were temporary trustees, appointed to administer the estates of an abbey during a vacancy for the benefit of the foundation ; but in process of time they retained the office for life and claimed a portion of the revenues for their personal use. The practice began to be seri- ously abused in the eighth century, when the Anglo- Saxon and Prankish kings assumed the right to set commendatory abbots over monasteries that were occupied by religious communities. In numerous cases these " abbots " were laymen, vassals of kings, or others authorized to draw the revenues and manage the tem- poral affairs of monastic establishments in reward for military services. Often, worthless individuals were appointed, who frequently brought about the temporal and spiritual ruin of the monasteries. During the twelfth century the selection of laymen as abbots was abolished. In the fourteenth century a recurrence of this abuse manifested itself, and for years numerous Popes endeavoured in vain to stamp out the pernicious 62 THE COMMEXDATOUY SYSTEM 63 system. In France it continued to flourish with dis- astrous result until the Revolution. The general secularization of monasteries in the beginning of the eighteenth century " destroyed the evil with the good." The spiritual dechne of monastic zeal and the turmoil of civil insurrection and foreign wars contributed favour- able conditions for the imposition of a system which had no religious origin. " The wealth of the monas- teries was tempting, and they fell an easy prey to the great in Church and State. Kings, nobles, cardinals, and prelates obtained nominations to abbeys, and absorbed revenues of houses in which they felt little interest, and which too often they allowed to go to ruin. Vocations naturally fell off, and communities were reduced to a mere handful, living on a pittance grudgingly doled out to them by the ecclesiastics or laymen who claimed to be their commendatory abbots. . . Whilst the revenues of most of the Benedictine houses abroad were appropriated by sovereigns, pre- lates, and nobles, in England none of the abbeys fell into the hands of commendatory abbots, until, as a single exception, Wolsey obtained possession of St. Albans. Even this monastery at the Cardinal's death fell back for the last days of its existence into the hands of a regular abbot." ^ In common with other religious houses, the Abbey of Royaumont gradually succumbed to the disastrous consequences of the commendatory system. During the reign of Francis I the scandalous practice was introduced for the first time of selling public appointments or offices, an abuse that ate into the heart of the judicial body itself. Money was of dire necessity to the Crown ; any means was considered legitimate for its acquisition. Regular methods were ■ A Sketch of Monastic Constitutional History, by Francis Aidan, Cardinal Gasquct. 64 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT fully utilized ; dishonourable channels were dignified by royal approval. Civil and judicial sources exhausted, Francis turned his financial eye upon the Church. By the Pragmatic Sanction, his predecessor, Charles VII, had secured to the French Church the right to elect ministers of the Christian faith. By an abrogation of this decree, Francis detected a means of converting Church treasure into national revenue. After persistent and autocratic pressure upon Leo X, aided by the machinations of an unscrupulous Chancellor, he wrested from the Pope the notorious Concordat of 15 16, which invested in the Crown the right of nomination to bishoprics and other great ecclesiastical offices and benefices. Francis was not long in taking advantage of the ten French archbishoprics, eighty-three bishoprics, and 427 abbeys, which by the new papal decree were auto- matically at the mercy of the Crown. By the begin- ning of the fifteenth century a great number of the French monasteries were succumbing to profane vora- city, and the process of monastic reform had been blocked by the Commendatory System, On the death of Guillaume de Bruyeres, the Abbey lost for all time the right of electing its own abbot. For twelve years the abbatial chair remained vacant ; in the year 1549, ^^8^. Matthew de Longuejoue was appointed its first ahhe commendataire. Honest, just, of rare good sense, born of a parhamentary family, holder of high administrative offices under Francis I and Henry II before his espousal of the priesthood, he brought to Royaumont all the material advantages of a successful homme d'affaires. Despite these sound qualities, it was but natural that his advent at the Abbey should arouse the outraged dignity of the rehgious there established. Although the commendatory abbot had no voice in the spiritual affairs of the monastery, the presence of Mgr. de Longuejoue — not a member THE COMMENDATORY SYSTEM 65 of the Order, in reality an intruder who inaugurated the frustration of monastic appointments — was actively and persistently resented. This fact alone, reasonable on the part of the community, detached from any maladministration, will inform the reader of the spirit of rebellion which invaded the monasteries with the new order of things, and which eventually destroyed that interior peace so indispensable to conventual life. The last commendatory abbot of St. Louis' " beloved foundation " was the Abb6 de Ballivieres, Almoner of Louis XVL Selfish, proud, worldly, his crowning act of vandalism at Royaumont was to destroy the abbatial residence which for five hundred years had sheltered all the abbots of the monastery. Between these two " sacerdotal pillars " ran a period of 233 years : all representing, with varying interludes, a career of progressive disaster. A retrospect of these years will be a mournful experience, one that will justify a hurried consideration of only their outstanding events. Five worthless abbots victimized the Abbey after the death of Mgr, de Longuejoue ; civil and rehgious wars depleted its treasury by relentless taxation. A period of rehabihtation followed, Phihppe Hurault Bishop of Chartres (sixth commendatory abbot), an ecclesiastic of irreproachable virtue and administrative ability, achieved in his twenty-six years of faithful rule a complete re-establishment for the second time of its early spiritual and material integrity. The two succeeding tenants of the abbatial chair were too occupied at Court to attend to their monastic charges. The community took advantage of their beneficial indifference to maintain its recovered ecclesiastical probity. The year 1635 contributed an unexpected honour to the Abbey-of-the-Oise. The crying demand for a comprehensive Cistercian reform had reached culminat- 5 66 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT ing point ; a solemn conference was convened at Royau- mont. Cardinal Richelieu, to whom the Cistercians had offered the title of " Perpetual Administrator and Restorer of the Order," was invited to take the chair. The eminent statesman repaired to " his Abbey of Royaumont," and cardinal results were prophesied. To the astonishment of all, the conference was a com- plete disappointment. " On ne saurait caracteriser trop s^verement la tournure grotesque que Richelieu donna a la conference de Royaumont." Richelieu's successor. Cardinal Jules de Mazarin, was appointed commendatory abbot of Royaumont in the year 1647, and reigned until 1650. There is no evidence that he ever appeared at the Abbey during his three abbatial years. The agitations of the regency of Anne of Austria were sufhcient to engage all his time and attention. His absenteeism, added to that of his predecessor, afforded further opportunity for fruitful independence on the part of the community. For reasons best known to himself. Cardinal Mazarin resigned in the year 1650 in favour of Prince Alphonse-Louis de Lorraine, son of the great French warrior, Comte Henri d'Harcourt. One of the vagaries of the Commendatory System may be reaUzed when it is stated that Prince Alphonse de Lorraine was but seven years old when elected Abbot of Royaumont. The absurdity of such a choice is made evident by the fact that the old warrior-father was soon after appointed administrator of the revenues of the Abbey during the minority of his son. With the advent of Prince Alphonse-Louis was inaugurated a dynasty of commendatory abbots repre- senting the illustrious House of Lorraine. Two distinct groups will detach themselves for notice during this long reign : the monastery, pursuing its independent life of religion and reform, the 7naison ahhatiale, which was to take upon itself a lustre of social importance. The Comte d'Harcourt, surnamed " Cadet-la-Perle " THE COMMENDATORY SYSTEM 67 — youngest scion of the House of Lorraine, distinguished in appearance, a pearl always in his ear — found a congenial peace at Royaumont after a life of tempestu- ous years. In his Memoires, Saint-Simon speaks of the Abbey as d'Harcourt's " pleasure-house." Like Charles V, the old captain sought the refuge of the cloister for his last years, there to mend a heart bruised by disappointment and ingratitude. His residence at the logis abbatial coincided with the formation there of a salon ; not as at Pontigny, where conservative limits were not observed, but in accordance with sound and distinguished restrictions : "a Httle of the world, a bit of the Church." The forty years' reign of the Abb6 Prince de Lorraine marked a period of patrician tenancy ; and if discordant with the rehgious atmosphere of the adjacent monastery, the attitude of an irreproachable aristocracy made atonement for the anomaly. Many personages in the world of art and letters frequented the salon, where music and intellectual conversation were the order of the " evenings." Peace, harmony prevailed. " Con- versation was indulged in, discussions were not allowed." The Comte d'Harcourt occupied himself assiduously with the welfare of the manse abbatial, and inspired certain embellishments. Tillemont and de Gaigni^res report in the seventeenth century " the recent dis- appearance of the logis de Saint-Louis." Although this date coincides with the Harcourt reign, it is difficult to believe that such an act of vandaHsm could have entered the mind of one so conservative and respectful of his monastic surroundings.^ The " Master of the Horse " of France, who had been the glory of the French arms under Louis XIII, and was termed by the King " my right arm," died at the • One of the four existing plans of the ensemble of the Abbey was dedicated to "Son Altesse Serenissime Mgr. le Prince de Lorraine, Abbe de Royaumont." 68 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT Abbey in the year 1666. A victim of political intrigue during the later years of his life, his death caused an instant revival of national regard. His obsequies took place at Royaumont — " the walls of the basilica draped in black, studded with the cross of Lorraine." No funeral eulogy was pronounced. " There was something even better : the regret of an entire nation." Alphonse-Louis Prince de Lorraine reigned at the Abbey for twenty-three years after the death of his illustrious father. In the year 1668 the salubrious district of the Beau- vaisis was visited by a pestilence which claimed many victims. In the fields surrounding the Abbey tem- porary cabins were erected for the isolation of the infected. A number of the apartments in the monastery "hotels" were transformed into lazar-houses, and were placed under the charge of the nuns of Notre-Dame. By an Act of Parhament these religious were considered a source of danger, and under threat of punishment it was forbidden to approach them nearer than forty paces. The last quarter of the seventeenth century left its disfiguring mark on the architecture of the Abbe5\ According to the writings of a visitor, the commendatory abbots, more occupied with their own welfare than with that of their trusts, had allowed the buildings to degenerate to such an extent that experts of the time estimated the dilapidations to have reached the high figure of 80,000 hvres. The vandalism of seventeenth- century restorers, added to the indifference of the abbots, resulted in an introduction of Renaissance work discordant with its Gothic character. CHAPTER IX DECADENXE OF ROYAUMONT — FIRE, I760 — LAST COM- MENDATORY ABBOT — ABBATIAL RESIDENCE DE- MOLISHED—DAWN OF THE REVOLUTION If the singular devotion of its first commendatory abbot was a source of welfare to the Abbey of Royau- mont, the views and practices of his successor, Mgr. Fran^ois-Armand de Lorraine, exposed acutely the dangers of an untenable system. A confirmed Jansen- ist I — his reHgious principles were in direct contradiction to those of the community which he represented. To make matters more irregular, Mgr, de Lorraine was not only Abbot of Royaumont, but of the Abbeys of Notre-Dame de Chastelliers and of Saint-Faron — in contravention of ecclesiastical law. To the Abbey of Chastelliers he had been appointed at the age of fourteen. One can thus again imagine the conflict of interests at " the beloved foundation," a hopeless anomaly which was to last as long as the new system prevailed. Mundane abbots — clerical or civilian — who held ecclesi- astical appointments in return for services rendered to important patrons, reflected the interests and vagaries of their worldly benefactors, imposed a defamation on abbeys whose concern was the propagation of religious doctrine. To avoid the enumeration of abbatial incongruities and the historic and philosophical details of a hundred ' A heresy of the seventeenth century. C9 70 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT agitated years, it will be sufficient to state that the Abbey of Royaumont, in the throes of alien domination, was exposed to the disintegrating influences of the outer world. The doctrines of Montesquieu, Voltaire, Buffon, Rousseau, Diderot, and the Encyclopedists resounded in the cloisters ; the peace of its monastic life was constantly menaced. Deprived of a spiritual head, robbed by voracious " abbots," she awaited but the horrors of the Revolution to consummate her downfall. Possessed of one hundred and eighty monks in the thirteenth century, the number had diminished to twenty or thirty, two hundred years later. The Cartulary of the Abbey reveals the fact that during the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries the number of monks never exceeded twenty or twenty-five. At the time of the " Commission of Regulars " in the year 1768, the community was composed of seventeen monks alone. A mournful procession of vanishing numbers. This pathetic decadence is prophetically portrayed by the utterance of an early abbot at a General Chapter : " Who is it who cannot discover and be astonished at the superfluity of our houses ? Regarding their struc- ture, one might suppose that Daedalus himself had built them ; regarding their size, they might have been erected by the hands of giants ; regarding their splen- dour, they are of Solomonian magnificence." On a tempestuous night of April 1760 the lofty spire of the Abbey of Royaumont was a second time struck by lightning. A terrific crash, and all was aflame. Terror-stricken, the helpless monks shouted distractedly for help — human or divine ; paralysed, they stood watching the cormorant fire devouring their beloved minster — the great bell-tower a scarlet spectre in the black night, the gargoyles vomiting streams of phosphorescent lead from the Abbey roof. A seething furnace — the thunder of the heavens rivalling the roar FIRE, 1670 71 of the flames. Suddenly — a crumbling of supporting vaults, and the great tower plunged through the roof into the nave below, A geyser of flame burst exult- ingly into the night, silhouetting the scorched trees, illuminating the horrified faces — and all was over. Within the church, among the graves : the distin- guished debris of a national monument, the jewelled windows for a moment alight with the glow of dying embers. It was a night of pyrotechnics and mourning. From Boran, Viarmes, and Asnieres the alarmed inhabi- tants had hurriedly sped, only to reach Royaumont for the entombment of a ruined Abbey Church. The damage was grave : six of the great bells and the tower-clock melted, the tower decapitated, the sculptured interior battered by crashing masonry. In the uproar and confusion, the flames had communi- cated with the monastery library, where many of the archives were consumed. Dom Abel Bolle (prior at the time), bewildered but not paralysed by the disaster, set immediately to work with sacrifice and public appeal on his heavy task of restoration. Twelve months later, Notre-Dame de Royaumont had reassumed her thirteenth-century physiognomy. A plate attached to the wall of the Southern Transept, above the sacristy door, recorded the dates of the foundation, conflagration, and restoration of the church : i^idificat, ann. 1228. Comburit, ann. 1760. Restaurat, ann. 1761. Alarmed by the destruction of priceless abbatial records, determined to anticipate future loss, Dom Abel Bolle's first duty after the reparations of 1761 was to compile a manuscript inventory of the title-deeds of the Abbey. Three years were occupied in the compo- sition of the Inventaire dc la Manse Convcntuellc de ^2 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT Royawnont. (Preserved in the archives of Versailles.) This important work was followed by a second immense manuscript in folio of three hundred pages : Extraits des titles dchus du I' et du 3*"* lot, suivant le partage fait le 29 De'cembre 1702. A third volume in quarto repre- sented an abridged version of the famous Cartulaire de Royaumont. These combined manuscripts consti- tute an invaluable detailed history of the Abbey from early times. In the year 1782, the Abbe de BalHvidres, already Abbot of Borneval, was appointed to the abbatial chair of Royaumont. He was its last commendatory abbot. Born of an aristocratic family, almoner of Charles IX, his passion for games, society, and a mania for building, occupied his entire attention during his reign at the Abbey-of-the-Oise. Although of undoubted intelhgence, he did not seem to realize the destructive advent of the Revolution now close at hand, but indulged in extensive construction at the Abbey when the matur- ing spirit of the time pointed tragically to demohtion. If the commendatory anomaly had driven the last nail into the coflin of Cistercian reform, a cataclysm was brewing in the outer world of France which was to revolutionize the foundations of her social system. Impoverished by endless wars, exasperated by the vanities and excesses of autocratic rule, it was to be no longer the great and the people alone who were to struggle for the control of national affairs. A middle class had sprung into prominent existence which, by force of its unrealized energy and neglect, was destined to initiate with tragic suddenness a destruction of antiquated social traditions. A new and brutal era was at hand. The de-Christian- izing movements had taken root ; the secularization of rehgious orders was an accomplished fact ; crowned- heads were to exchange state-coaches for tumbrels ; * ' Rough carts which transported kings and nobles to execution. LAST COMiMEXDATORY ABBOT 73 the voice of an outraged nation was to guillotine the insolent pride of a degenerate aristocracy. Louis XIV, XV, and XVI paid successive visits to Chantilh' (the neighbouring palace of the Cond^s), where princely fetes were organized in their honour. A journey from Paris had then assumed a double objec- tive : Chantilly with its superb chateau, statues, gardens, pieces d'eaii ; and Royaumont, " ancienne demeure dc Saint-Louis." And so it became the fashion for people of note not only to frequent but to accept of the proverbial hospi- tality of the Abbey-of-the-Oise : "the abbey where visitors were so magnificently entertained." A blot in its visitors'-book occurred in the year 1763, when the Abbe Provost, the poetic and adventurous author of Manon Lescaut, came there to draw unexpectedly his last breath. The surgeon of the Abbey was hastily called, to find him stricken with apoplexy ; and consider- ing the patient already dead, proceeded at once with an autopsy. At the first deep incision, the unfortunate abb6 regained sudden consciousness, only to die from the gaping wound. In 1783, one of the Russian dukes paid his respects to the Abbey ; during the succeeding year Gustavus III of Sweden made an extended sojourn. The room which he then occupied was designated thereafter " The apartment of the King of Sweden." The self-esteem of the Abbe de Ballivieres — a fre- quenter of the Court at Paris, of the salons of Versailles and Chantilly — became in time so inflated that he determined to demolish the thirteenth-century residence abbatiale — a habitation which had sheltered with honour the monastery abbots for five hundred years— and build for himself an abode commensurate with his com.forts and importance. The splendour of Chantilly had intoxicated his nostrils : the odour of sanctity within the abbatial residence was not sufficiently piquant for his worldly appetite. The present Pavilion Florentin 74 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT was the embodiment of his insolent ambition for archi- tectural immortality. Five years were consumed in its construction ; and according to the estimate of its celebrated architect, M. le Masson, nearly a hundred and seventy thousand livres were spent during that time. At Paris and in the surrounding country, exten- sive contracts were made with the most prominent sculptors, wood-carvers, metal-workers for its interior and external embelHshment. Nothing was to be spared for a habitation worthy of the " Seigneur de Royau- mont." To defray these enormous outlays, I'Abbe de BaUivieres considered himself justified in selling the Abbey's Hotel de Royaumont at Paris in the Rue de la Tour, a "hotel" where the abbots on their monastic sojourns had lodged since the thirteenth century. A smaller residence, also at Paris, " Lc Petit Hotel de Royaumont," was likewise sacrificed for the same purpose. It would seem that these lavish and dishonourable expenditures on the part of the abbe were but a reflection of a general and criminal selfishness which was soon to arouse the exasperation of an outraged nation. An ominous menace was in the air, a presage of some irresistible dislocation fast coming to a climax. Its imminence was felt by all. Those whose lives had been a surrender to unrestrained indulgence — the momentum of confirmed habit drove them helplessly on to their doom. The Abbe de BaUivieres was putting the finishing touches to his palace at Royaumont at the moment the Revolution was preparing its finishing touches to a monarchy that had trampled upon the rights of its citizens. France was on the brink of a precipice ; those who had created the yawning gulf were on its outer edge — the people behind. On July 14, 1791, the blow fell, and with all the fury and suddenness of a thunderbolt. The taking of the Bastille, the proscription of feudalism, the capture of the King and Queen at Versailles, their translation to DAWN OF THE REVOLUTION 75 Paris attended by a furious mob, were the affairs of a moment. The hounds of war were loose, their fangs already in royal flesh. Whatever benefits were ulti- mately to accrue from the popular outburst against existing conditions, torture, wholesale murder were before all to slake the thirst for destruction. A baptism of blood must first purge France of her official criminals. And Royaumont ! CHAPTER X SALE OF THE ABBEY AND LANDS BY ORDER OF THE COMMUNE — VIOLATION OF ROYAL TOMBS — BODIES REMOVED TO SAINT-DENIS — LIBRARY PILLAGED — BELLS DISMANTLED To the bitter end the Abbey of Royaumont with its sadly reduced community of ten rehgious struggled with dignified tenacity against the persecutions of a revolutionary world. It was the prevaihng custom for great congregations to assemble on feast-days at the Abbey, there to testify with the religious their undiminished loyalty to an unchanging Sovereign. La Toussaint ^ of 1789 was no exception to the rule. On the evening of November ist, the day preceding the decree of the National Assembly declaring all religious possessions national property, the commemor- ative service of " All Souls " at Royaumont seemed but a service funehrc for the imminent decease of the French monasteries. The following day the " Act of Spoliation " was made public. In the month of October of the next year all rehgious vows were suspended. On November 14, 1790, an expert from Paris appeared unexpectedly at the Abbey to make a valuation of the monastic properties. The preposterous total of 194,413 livres was adjudicated as their value. The irony of such an estimate may be realized when the fabulous ' All Saints' Day. 76 BALMVIliRES PAVILION. SALE OF THE ABBEY AND LANDS 77 sums expended in the thirteenth and succeeding cen- turies are recalled. Two months later, seals were affixed to the monastery ; and by that official act of tyranny the " beloved founda- tion " of St. Louis became a chose piihliquc. With precipitate disrespect the Assembly appointed May 9th, 15th, and 31st for the sale of the Abbey and all its possessions. The first " lot " consisted of the church, its grille, the stalls, main altar, paintings, and tombs ; the poultry- yard, the cells of the religious, the cloisters, the refec- tory ; the small and large gardens, the reservoir with its pieces d'eaii, the kitchen, workshops, and library. In addition were the " e'tangs en can, ct r osiers " and twenty-six acres in the territory of Viarmes. " Lot 2 " included the new BalHvieres palace, the guest-house, and twenty acres of land, forest, and coppice situated in different districts. Then followed the disposal of the buildings, mill, lands, etc., in the outlying country. Fortunately, Royaumont — helpless in her ecclesias- tical dignity — was spared the humiliating blows of the auctioneer's hammer. The entire property was bought by the Marquis de Travannet, owner of extensive property in the neighbourhood, and friend of the Abb^ de Ballivieres. The relics, in great part bestowed by St. Louis, were translated to the parish church of Asnieres. Then followed a disgraceful scene : a heated dispute between the municipal authorities of Viarmes and Luzarches for the possession of the monastery paintings and statuary. May 15th was selected for the auction of the church panelling and sacred vessels. The sale of the Abbey and its dependencies had fortunately been dignified by a purchase en bloc. The sacred chahces, patens, cruets, monstrances, processional crosses, and candelabra were dishonoured by promiscuous dispersal. 78 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT More desecration was yet to come. The Mayor of Asni^res, following the brutal precedent of his brethren of Viarmes and Luzarches, insolently presented himself at the Abbey, and from sealed cabinets extracted three large cases of precious documents. The Library was next broken open. From its contents, fifteen cases were filled with books, five others with sacred ornaments from the sacristy. It was a day of confusion and robbery. Rare volumes, fifty priceless manuscripts (some antedating the thirteenth century) were thrown into awaiting carts; the great cathedral bells loaded in disgrace on two groaning trucks. Clarions of Christianity, for five hundred years ringing faith- fully the hours of prayer ; now unhung, their occupa- tion gone, on their way to liquefaction and eternal silence. A greater humiliation was yet in store. On July 27, 1791, two representatives appointed by the National Assembly arrived at Royaumont for the exhumation of the distinguished bodies interred there and their translation to the Abbey of St. Denis in Paris — already in the hands of the revolutionaries. Also for the appropriation of " precious volumes " » from the monastery Library. After exhumation, " the remains of the princes and princesses were deposited in temporary lead and wooden coffins, after being wrapped in winding-sheets and carefully labelled. Dom Poirier a took them with him by road the same day to Paris." The journey to the capital en voiture, attended by the remains " in winding-sheets," constitutes a proof of the ecclesiastic's sense of duty and power of en- durance. In the crypt of the Abbey of St. Denis may still be ' The debris of the Royaumont Library are now preserved at the BibHotheque Nationale de la Rue Richelieu. " Archivist of the Abbey of St. Denis. VIOLATION OF ROYAL TOMBS 79 seen the plaque bearing the date and the names of the bodies deported from Royaumont. Their burial at the royal mausoleum was but of short duration. Sepulchral desecration was already at work there, popular fury yet unslaked demanded further outlet for revenge. Three days were consumed in the demolition of the graves at " The Tomb of Kings/' fourteen in the violation of their contents. Kings, queens, princes, abbots, chamberlains, nobles, warriors, patriots, to the number of one hundred and thirty-three, were thrown pell- mell into a common quicklime-pit, there in medley confusion to atone to an upstart Republic for the " royal impositions " of eleven hundred years The Royaumont bodies were of the number. CHAPTER XI demolition of abbey church by order of the commune — introduction of a cotton industry in abbey buildings — abbey bought by oblate fathers — sisters of the holy family in possession Monsieur l'AbbiS Henri-Elenore le Cornut de Ballivi^res never set foot within the walls of his sumptuous Pavilion Floreniin. The advent of the Revolution inspired the advisability of his presence elsewhere. An intimate of the family of Polignac, his disappearance from Royaumont coincided with the precipitate flight of the members of that household from Paris. If he left behind him an uninhabited palace which was to perpetuate his name, that same name was to be further scandalized by his omission to settle his accounts with the architects and decorators of the ItaHan mansion before his departure from the Abbey-of-the-Oise. An " abbatial " oversight. A fugi- tive from justice, he died in exile and misery either at Diisseldorf or in Poland, about the year 1795. It would seem that the Abbey's litany of agonies had reached its extreme limit by the violation of its tombs. Worse ignominy was yet to come. On August 14, 1792, Chantilly received the terrifying news that the " Marseillais " ^ were on their way to the ' A band of adventurers, "the scum of the populace" of Marseilles, who in their riotous peregrinations stormed Aix, Aries, and later attacked the Tuileries at Paris. 80 A KAMPAkT 1)1 I'ol'LAk'S. DEMOLITION' OF THE ABBEY CHURCH 8i palace of the Grand Conde. Starting from Paris, these riotous brigands, increasing their number with blackguards from intervening cross-roads and villages, drunk with Uquor from countless wineshops cii route, reached " gorgeous Chantilly " ^ the following day. Two thousand four hundred ruffians staggered before the palace gates. The first sight of the princely habita- tion, the home of aristocracy and wealth, fired them to uncontrolled fury. Battering in the outer grille, the great horde charged through the coiir d'honncitr, entered pell-mell the house, in the twinkhng of an eye sacked or destroyed all its contents. After inflaming their into.xication with priceless wines from the cellars, they hurled into carts the Hnen, silver, furniture, pictures of the palace, and placed triumphantly on the pile the mutilated bust of " The Great Conde." Then a riotous return to Paris. Soon after, the Marquis de Travannet, purchaser of Royaumont, received orders to destroy the Abbey Church. His response — though he might have tempor- ized with the authorities by using the minster for profane purposes while awaiting a lull of revolutionary zeal — was a prompt agreement with ofticial instructions. It was a time of looting and sacrilege, a situation of breathless irony : Revolution versus Temples of Religion. Standing there in all her ecclesiastical dignity, Notre- Dame de Royaumont offered to vandal violence the stamina of monumental authority. It was to be a conflict of [jhysical forces : the fury of iconoclasm against the masonried prowess of five hundred j^ears' endurance. The issue was not certain. At first the puissance of explosives failed. The Abbey Church weathered serenely the discharge of deeply laid mines. A cessation of hostilities was called to formulate a more effectual plan of destruction. During the interval, a second order for demolition came from the Commune ' Chantilly was soon after turned into a prison. 6 82 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT at Paris. The outrageous business was then resumed with doubled fury. Science having failed, means of ignominious simplicity were called into action. The great central pillars of the Abbey nave were sawn diagonally ; massive chains were attached, which ran through doors and jewelled windows ; vandal work- men, sober oxen tugged with savage purpose. At last — an ominous groan of masonry, a shiver of tottering columns, and with a stupendous crash the entire edifice fell in, burying beneath it all the contents of the " beloved foundation." A salvo of flying fragments amid shouts of diabolical triumph, and nothing re- mained but the outer walls — raised to heaven in protest at the outrage. Silent in her superb resistance, her death-agony passed, Notre-Dame de Royaumont lay buried in the irreparable debris of her broken majesty. The petrifying effect of this act of barbarism on the faithful inhabitants of the district is left to the imagina- tion of the reader. The ready means of sacrilege, M. le Marquis de Tra- vannet, a maker of money and the possessor of a large fortune, did not hesitate in the year 1812 to allow his brother, the Vicomte de Travannet, to install a cotton- industry in the dormitory of the monks. A portion of the ruins of the Abbey served for the necessary transformation. The present new walls of the Eastern cloister fa9ade reveal the heartless derangement required for the introduction of a business enterprise at the monastery. The staff of the new industry was com- posed of English workmen and EngHsh prisoners, the latter drawn probably from those captured by Bona- parte at Toulon, later from those gathered during the occupation of Holland by the French Army. The presence of the Travannet family at the Abbey was of short duration. Denounced by a servant, the Marquis and his brother were arrested in the year 1813 and deported to the St. Lazare prison. Thanks to the THE COTTON INDUSTRY 83 intervention of his wife — lady-in-waiting to Madame Elizabeth, sister of Louis XVI — to that of his sister- in-law, and of his faithful friend, ^I. Rameau (ancestor of the famous French contrapuntalist), the Marquis escaped the guillotine at the fall of Robespierre and regained his liberty. The result, however, of his rude experience was the cause of his death two years later. The industrial family did not occupy, as one would have expected, the sumptuous Ballivieres palace — still clamouring for a host ! — but the guest-house of the monastery. After the death of the Marquis de Travannet, the cotton-industry failed. The Abbey with all its mechani- cal equipment was sold in the year 1S15 to M. Joseph Vander Mersch, a cotton magnate of Belgium, who imported three hundred Flemish workmen to run the Travannet plant on new lines. Under his able direction the enterprise developed rapidly, and before long proved a financial blessing to the district. Spiritually minded, married to a distinguished English lady, it is difficult to believe M. Vander Mersch capable of initiating a commercial business within the precincts of a religious house ; but having found a plant of his own industry already established at Royaumont, he took advantage of the opportunity, and by so doing benefited a district sorely impoverished by revolutionary zeal. It was also his ambition to secure the monastic buildings in the possession of a single proprietor, thus to safeguard their imperilled existence. Under the new regime the business developed rapidly. M. Vander Mersch was the first inhabitant of the Ballivieres palace ; and during his sojourn at Royau- mont the " Pavilion Florcntin " became a centre of all that was distinguished in art, science, and letters. Homme d'affaires, homme de salon, he endeared himself to all. The distinguished atmosphere of his habitation attracted in succession such notabihties as the Russian 84 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT Prince Labanofi, the Due de la Tremouille. the Princesse de Coneghano, Horace Vernet, M. de Montalembert, M. Thiers, Hal6vy, M, Masson, and many others. The renown of the saIo7i spread with decorous rapidity, including in its ever-widening circle the most reputed names of the capital and its neighbouring chateaux. One of the most interested activities of the Belgian proprietor was to collect with care and architectural knowledge many of the portable debris of the ruined Abbey Church and to replace them, as far as possible, in their original positions. This duty of respect and reparation soon spread to the inhabitants of the dis- trict, finally to the outer world of religion, art, and archaeology. In a short time a further cult manifested itself. It became the fashion to make pilgrimages to the destro3^ed minster ; by a vogue of sentimental devotion to make atonement for a national act of desecration. From the ruins, the village of Royaumont was enlarged, and a number of pavilions erected within the Abbey enclosure for the accommodation of dis- tinguished visitors from the capital, where the cult had taken root. Among the first to make a lengthy sojourn was the unfortunate Hortense, future Queen of Holland. To a devastated tabernacle she brought the ruins of her own stricken life. This strange but opportune movement proved a providential influence which gradually refined the local irreligious sentiments of the Revolution, and prepared the way for an eventual re-installation of religious at the Abbey in the year 1865. But before that date, Royau- mont was again, with traditional vicissitude, to suffer in her hien-etre. The early death of M. Vander Mersch was followed by an unexpected and rapid decline of the cotton industry. Deprived of its capable head, the business faltered, then failed completely. The sudden disappearance of the " father of workmen " proved also a death-blow to all the admirable movements SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAMILY 85 in the surrounding country of which he was the impel- ling spirit. It was a period of unexpected bereavement, of disheartening inactivity : a penitential price, imposed, perhaps, for future benefaction. On the feast of St. Louis, August 23, 1865, through the intervention of the distinguished Mgr. de ^lazenod, Bishop of Marseilles, the Abbey was acquired by the Oblate Fathers, who established there a missionary college for their Order. What must have been the joy at the " beloved toundation " on that day, the feast- day of its saintly founder, wo\dd be difftcult to imagine. History informs us that the incoming religious were in an ecstasy of joy at being chosen as the humble instru- ments for such an unmerited honour. The mutilated stones of the Abbey— had they possessed the ability of reconstruction, Notre-Dame de Royaumont would have risen from her ruins to honour the memory of her beloved founder. The Oblate Fathers spent five useful years at Royau- mont ; then, for financial reasons, were obliged to sell the Abbey to the Sisters of the Holy Family, of Bordeaux, who instituted there an Orphanage and a Novitiate. They acquired the property by purchase in the year 1880. But relentless fate, yet unsatisfied, was to "inflict a further blow on the Abbey-of-the-Oise. The occupation of the monastery by religious was but a bubble tenancy, a mirage of early ownership. In consequence of the separation of Church and State in the year 1905, the Sisters were obhged to abandon their new home. It was then sold by order of the Govern- ment to Monsieur Edouard Gouin, already proprietor of the BaUivieres palace. Thus ends the history of the Abbey : one hundred years of spiritual and temporal majesty ; five centuries of hounding adversity ; the greater span of its exist- ence, a dignified struggle against the profanities of a dislocating world. 86 THE ABBEY OF ROYAUMONT But she is still there — Notre-Dame de Royaumont — seated by the winding Oise, " bloody but unbowed," a monument of undying faith, a victim of human caprice. As if in atonement to an ill-treated Founder, a world- war that has contained a Revolution in its every hour has now transformed the Abbey into a Hospital for the care of French wounded. St. Louis — from his celestial cloisters, how grateful must be the Paladin of France to the " Dames de Royaumont," reviving at his beloved foundation in superabundant measure the old monastic practices of mercy and hospitality ! THE HOSPITAL CHAPTER I PREPARATIONS- -START FOR FRANCE To the average civilian the outbreak of the European War burst with the suddenness of an earthquake. The inertia of the first days of incredulity was quickly succeeded by eager offers to help — to the limit of human endurance. But each individual had to face the bewildering problem : wliat services could be offered that would best assist the country in her hour of affliction ? Fortunate were the young men of the nation, for they had a definite call. Fortunate also those engaged in work concerned with the manufacture of material of w'ar. More favoured, even, the members of the medical and nursing professions, whose technical training was alread}^ an earnest of safety and repair for the yet unwounded soldiers. All of these were qualified to play an immediate part in the gigantic scheme of military organization. But the vast un- trained numbers, unskilled even in the process of dis- covering where, and how, their patriotic eagerness could best be utilized ! Pathetic was their condition of uncertainty ; particularly that of the able-bodied young women, willing, capable, but ignorant of how best to satisfy their humane longings. But it was not long before the numerous organizations of women throughout the country came opportunely to their rescue. Throughout the nation, more than in any other country of Europe, women were already playing a useful role in municipal life, and with a betterment 8g 90 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT of the conditions of their communities as a consequence. The growing importance of their pubHc work had led to the formation of large associations organized on lines that ensured the utilization of the full working capacity of their members. Prominent among them were the several vSuffrage Unions. The unpleasant notoriety of one society which promulgated militant doctrines served at least to draw attention to the majority of law-abiding constitutional societies throughout the kingdom. The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, of which Mrs. Fawcett is President, decided, on the advent of the war, to set aside its propaganda and devote all energies and resources to the assistance of the nation in its hour of supreme need. Every member of the Union received a schedule of questions, and this proved to be a most useful guide to the working capacity of the Society as a whole. Meanwhile, it had become evident that the Army Medical Corps and Red Cross arrangements for the wounded would be taxed to their utmost powers to cope with the surgery and nursing on so gigantic a field of battle. In this work Great Britain was especially fitted to contribute important assistance. Supreme among the occupations of woman stands the art of nursing, and the excellence of the English nurse has been a matter of universal recogni- tion. We owe it to the genius of Florence Nightingale, to her practical brain and clear-sighted idealism, which, despite the " passionate heart," refused marriage and the happy limitations of the domestic hearth to follow the call of a more comprehensive duty to humanity. Since her great example, thousands of women have left comfortable homes for work which in its routine details is as mechanical and trying as the labour of any ordinary domestic. Before the first month of the war had passed, a number of schemes were started for the formation of hospital PREPARATIONS 91 units officered by women. The Women's Imperial Service League was early in the field, and promptly organized such a hospital and dispatched it to Antwerp. The history of its work before the bombardment and surrender of the city, and the subsequent flight of the entire staff, are already well known. Under the auspices of the Croix Rouge Fmfi^uise, Dr. Louisa Garrett Anderson and Dr. Flora Murray organized and maintained by private subscription a military hospital of 100 beds in Paris (Claridge's Hotel), where excellent work was carried on from the middle of September 1914 to the end of the succeeding January. By the month of November (after the battle of the Marne) the struggUng line had gradually receded to the North, and the wounded were sent to Paris in rapidly decreasing numbers. In consequence, the medical staff at Claridge's Hotel, feeling that their services were no longer urgently required in Paris, founded a branch at Wimereux, near Boulogne. This was promptly recognized by the English Roj-al Army Medical Corps, and rations and supplies were dispatched to them by the Government. Dr. Garrett Anderson and Dr. Flora Murray were then requested by the British authorities (in February) to undertake the management of a military hospital of 500 beds in London. This organization began its work early in May at Endell Street, Covent Garden, with a medical staff of fourteen women, comprising a doctor in charge, a chief surgeon, a chief physician, eight assistant surgeons, a pathologist, an ophthalmic and a dental surgeon. Early in August, only a few days after the outbreak of war, the Scottish Branch of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (N.U.W.S.S.) formulated a plan for supplying and maintaining two complete hospital units of one hundred beds each, to be oflicered entirely by medical women. A Committee was 92 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT appointed for the working out of this scheme, the moving spirit of which was Dr. Elsie IngHs, of Edinburgh. Her enthusiastic and generous heart spared no pains in getting together a personnel and equipment which would be of value wherever need was most urgent. In the beginning, many harassing obstacles had to be surmounted. The services of the two hospitals were first offered to the Scottish Red Cross and to the War Office. Both replied that they had at that time adequate medical provision, and would not require the assistance of women in the capacity of military surgeons. It was then suggested to Dr. IngHs that her scheme might be acceptable to the x\lHes, whose long Hue of battle had thrown a sudden and enormous strain upon the resources of their medical organizations. The Scottish Federation thereupon offered their hospitals to the Croix Rouge Fran^aise and to the Serbian authorities. The Vicomtesse de la Panouse, President of the Comite de Londres de la Croix Rouge Fran^aise, welcomed the proposal, and gave great assistance in furthering its progress. About the same time the Serbian Government accepted the offer of a hospital, and arranged to provide a suitable building and rations. The important preliminaries were thus far successful ; but trying work remained to be carried out before Dr. IngHs bade farewell to the first unit, which started for France early in December 1914, and to the first Serbian unit, which sailed before the year had ended. Long before 1915 had elapsed, the original modest proposition, which had represented 200 beds, had developed and included two hospitals stationed in France and three in Serbia, aggregating over 1,000 beds. The Scottish Women's Hospitals, as these units were entitled, remained under the control of the Com- mittee which had been appointed by the Scottish Branch of the N.U.W\S.S. To the office of this Com- mittee, in St. Andrew's Square, Edinburgh, streamed PREPARATIONS 93 a steady flow of subscriptions, both in money and gifts. These resources came at first from the members of the N.U.W.S.S,, but eventually the merits of the Scottish Women's Hospitals won such widespread recognition and approval that the names of non-suffrage and anti- suffrage individuals of both sexes figured on the long list of generous donors. In the autumn of 1914 no one could have foreseen this ultimate triumph. To send out the first hospital to Serbia had taxed Dr. Inglis's endurance to severe limits. Unforeseen obstacles and delays were constantly occurring, as would be expected when the heavy equipment of a modern hospital had to be conveyed to the other end of Europe during a war which had already appropriated many of the available means of transport. Again and again the date of departure was unavoidably postponed : the Admiralty could not supply the neces- sary transport, the many stores could not be guaran- teed safe arrival, etc. ; but eventually the first unit sailed in December. The tragic death-roll among its members, and the sad destiny of its heroic grapple with the irresistible typhus plague are now a matter of history. In May, a second unit was sent to Serbia, equipped with tents for the open-air treatment — the only method able to cope successfully with the fell disease. On their journey out they were held up for a week at Malta to nurse the Englisli wounded arriving there in numbers from the Dardanelles. During the course of the year {1915), the Committee undertook to staff a Serbian hospital of 300 beds at Lazarovatz and a new unit was also formed at Madlanovatz.^ The history of the initial steps which led to the success- ful installation of the French unit may now be out- ' Since the ribovc was written, the Germans have overrun Serbia. Some of the members of the unit escape! by trekking over the hills in mid-winter. Dr. Elsie Inglis and Dr. Alice Hutchison, with their staffs, reached England after a term of imprisonment. 94 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT lined. As already stated, the sj^mpathies of the Vicomtesse de la Panouse had been enlisted in Dr. Elsie IngHs's work, and she spared no effort to find a suitable habitation for a hospital in France. Dr. Alice Hutchison, whose labours in Bulgaria during the Balkan War had rendered her an invaluable assistant in the choice of a suitable position for a hospital, was sent to France and Belgium to report on the different sites which had been suggested to the Edinburgh Com- mittee. She found that in many places in Belgium and in France there was urgent need for individual doctors and British nurses. A typhoid hospital was required at Calais, and Dr. Depage, the famous Belgian surgeon, persuaded her to remain there and organize one for that purpose, under the auspices of the Croix Rouge Beige. Ten Scottish fever nurses reached Calais within forty-eight hours after Dr. Hutchison's tele- gram. Such good work was performed, that the rate of mortality in the Scottish Women's Hospital proved to be the lowest in the town. In consequence. Dr. Depage expressed his intention of visiting England as soon as the war was over to learn the secret of the training system of British nursing. Owing to the efftcacy of typhoid inoculation, the epidemic did not extend as widely as had been feared, and by the spring Dr. Hutchison found herself free to go out in charge of the second unit of the Scottish Women's Hospital destined for Serbia. In the early months of the war, the French hospital arrangements had been inadequate to cope with the overwhelming rush of work in the North, where the enemy's attack and advance through Belgium had not been expected. British medical assistance was therefore imperatively required in that part of France and in Belgium ; and for the moment the Scottish Women's Hospital was endeavouring to discover a base where the demand was most needed. It was PREPARATIONS 95 found that practically every building in the hard- pressed northern area near the coast had already been appropriated for military or medical purposes. After much consideration the Abbaye de Royaumont {placed at the disposition of the French Red Cross by the owner, M. Edouard Gouin) was accepted by the Organizing Committee in Edinburgh. The proximity of Royau- mont to I\I , the important military evacuation station, was the determining factor in the decision to start the hospital in that locahty. During the months of October and November, each member of the potential staff of the first French hospital unit had lived in a whirlwind of expectancy and telegrams. Feverish inquiries as to the destination of their future work had ehcited only vague repUes ; negotiations were being conducted with regard to sites near Furnes, Ypres, Dunkirk, and Chantilly. The latter, it was thought, might be too far from the firing-Une ; Furnes, too near. Eventually it was decided that Royaumont was to be the destination. Suspense was at last at an end, but only a few days before the date of starting from England. All the members assembled on the evening of Decem- ber 2nd. Dr. Elsie Inglis had arranged to meet every one at dinner and to conduct them afterwards to a farewell address at the home of Mrs. Fawcett. In the early hours of the succeeding morning, before six o'clock, everybody would be up, and the long-anticipated journey would begin. It was the dominating thought of all : that they would at last be able to do their share in assisting those who were exposing their lives in the great struggle for humanity. Imagine the consternation when Dr. Inglis's first words announced the fact that the date of the journey would have to be postponed, the Red Cross Society having received a telegram that day requesting a delay until the necessary quahfications of each member of the unit should be received. Obsessed by this fateful 96 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT telegram, the unit listened to the farewell eloquence of Mrs. Fawcett and Miss Maude Royden, doubtful if they would ever be considered deserving of the good wishes so earnestly expressed for their future. The subsequent hours, however, passed quickly. Dr. Inghs worked with untiring energy and to such good effect that she was finally able to dispatch the Royaumont unit from Folkestone on the morning of December 4th. The personnel consisted of seven women doctors, ten fully trained nurses, eight orderlies, and three chauffeuses, under the direction of a head surgeon. Miss Frances Ivens, of Liverpool. The equipment for one hundred beds had already been dispatched from Edinburgh. CHAPTER II ARRIVAL OF PIONEER PARTY IN FRANCE AND AT ROYAUMONT That 4th of December was a day of unforgettable storm. The party crossed to Dieppe over a Channel lashed by furious winter winds — an interminable journey of seven hours. La Ville Lumievc was reached in darkness, fourteen hours after the start from Victoria Station. Paris had then more the appearance of a provincial town than of the gay metropolis of Europe. The streets were perhaps more brightly ht than those of the Zeppehn-haunted London of early days, but the traffic was not more than that of a sleepy country town. What struck particularly the EngHsh visitor was the absence of the usual large advertisement-placards and the silence of the streets. Hotels, trains, 'buses, underground stations, and cafes were notoriously short of men of military age ; women were already doing their work. In the quiet thoroughfares most of the pedestrians were in deep mourning. The first day was spent in hard work by the Chief Surgeon, who interviewed the authorities of the Red Cross, railway officials, etc. The proprietor of the Abbayc de Royamnont, M. Edouard Gouin, was a prominent member of that branch of the Croix Rouge Frangaise known as the Secours aux Blesses Militaircs. A meeting with him was arranged for the early after- noon. Almost his first words informed her that he 7 97 98 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT had wired the previous day advising the unit to post- pone its departure from England — a telegram which had only reached London when the unit was already on the Channel. He explained that although his private apartments in the western wing of the Abbey had been placed at the disposal of the small advance party of five, which had arrived a few days previously, the accommodation being limited, there would not be beds sufficient for the additional twenty-eight. He stated also that soldiers were billeted on the premises, and that all available space in the farm and stables was already occupied. The situation, discouraging as it was, was rendered all the more hopeless by the fact that the hospital equipment had not yet arrived. The Red Cross officials had undertaken to put pressure on the railway authorities in order that it should be at Royaumont at the earliest possible moment, but no news could be obtained as to when it would reach Paris. What to do in the meantime ? The imperturbable Chief disarmed all doubts as to the capability of the Scottish women to deal with the unexpected dilemma. With her usual resourcefulness, she decided to purchase that very afternoon (a Saturday) ten straw mattresses and blankets, and travel down with a few specially selected, robust members of the party to see the Abbey and form an opinion as to the possibility of converting it into a modern hospital. M. Gouin, rising to her level, agreed to send down his architect and all the workmen procurable in a land already depopulated by conscription. Immediately after leaving the Red Cross headquarters, the Chief Surgeon searched the large shops of Paris for bedding materials which could be used by the pioneers until the equipment arrived from Edinburgh. The evening was spent in planning future arrangements. Anxiously did those left in Paris on the Sunday await the report which Dr. Ivens would bring on her ARRIVAL OF PIONEER PARTY 99 return that evening ; and great was the reUef at her first exclamation that " no matter what the obstacles, all must be overcome. The charm of Roj'aumont makes it imperative that we should succeed." It was decided to send down daily parties of two or three, each carrying their own bedding : mattresses and coverings which would afford temporary protection from the cold, draughty stone floors of the cells, and yet cost next to nothing. The cheapest of ordinary paillasses were dismissed as expensive luxuries ; even flock was pronounced a rich man's prerogative, in com- parison with the grass mattresses which were finally selected. These had a coarse brown jute cover and smelt pleasantly of hay. The consternation of the hall-porter of the hotel may be imagined when the first batch arrived from the shops in a bulging taxi-cab. At each purchase of a new instalment the prospective sleepers would delightedly roll them up and carry them across the road to the Gare du Nord to catch the early morning train — all rejoicing at being the chosen ones to brave the first hardships of an embryo hospital. Fortunate were those who possessed sleeping-bags or hold-alls which resisted the damp of the Abbey floors. With all available cloaks and skirts heaped upon the beds, they passed shivering nights ; in the early morning waking to find everything dripping with moisture. Yet, strange to say, no illness resulted from the trying experiences of that memorable week. Some described it as a weird dream from which, every hour, they expected to wake. Until the equipment arrived on the 1 2th, the company used utensils borrowed from the kindly villagers and tradespeople. Another diffi- culty in those early days was the inadequate stock of provisions obtainable. Both Viarmes and Asnidres were small, and had carried on very little trading since the general exodus in August and September before the advancing German tide. Milk and other produce 100 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT were obtained from the farm in the Abbey grounds, but vegetables and bread were not at first forthcoming. A supply of the latter continued for a considerable time to be a stubborn problem. In less than a week the entire party had reached Royaumont. And strange as it must have seemed to an already much-tried community, the equipment actually arrived from Scotland just in time to save the last five members from sleeping on the floors. No one will ever forget the first glimpse of Royaumont. The chill grey sky of December did but enhance the mysterious beauty of the ancient Abbey, set in the peaceful valley of the Oise and surrounded by undu- lating country of historic forests. CHAPTER III FIRST TRANSFORMATION OF THE ABBEY INTO A MODERN HOSPITAL — APPOINTMENT OF A GESTIONXAIRE It is well that in accordance with Divine ordination the compHcations of important undertakings are not at first realized. Under contrary conditions, it is safe to believe that the transformation of an abandoned thirteenth-century abbey into a modern hospital would have been one of many possibiUties unattempted. To relate how much has been achieved by the hospital at Royaumont since it opened its abbatial doors would be incomplete without a proper consideration of the herculean task of its installation. If " The Ladies of Royaumont " are agreeable to a record of their medical and surgical labours, they will perhaps bear with the writer in washing to chronicle as well the stubborn and bewildering physical difficulties that had to be over- come before the venture became a possibihty — a task for giants, accomplished by the hands of women. In order to realize fully the nature and importance of the achievement, it will be necessary to remember that the Abbey was without light, heat, or water. It had been built to conform with monastic requirements ; it had been dislocated by industrial installations ; was uninhabited for ten years, and represented at the moment the progressive results of mutilation and abandonment. Light, heat, water— ordinary require- ments of domestic Hfe — what could a hospital achieve without these fundamental necessities ? Furthermore, 102 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT a spring-cleaning to remove the accumulated deposit of ten years was first in order before the after-considera- tion of such luxuries as light, heat, and water. The task, considering the dimensions of the Abbey and its overwhelming disorder, was an undertaking fit to choke the serenity of a family of vacuum cleaners. And there were but women's hands to undertake the work ! Women's hands, but happily women's courage and enthusiasm to ensure its success. In two weeks the poisonous dust-storms had abated, the faithful workers (more chimney-sweeps than ornaments of chimney- corners) had issued from their dust of ages, and had restored the Abbey to its former monastic order and cleanliness. What discomfort, distress, determination this severe task must have meant ; what those begrimed faces must have represented in the dim candle-lit cloisters and dormitories, with only a familiar voice to distinguish them from denizens of a nether-world, only their courage, modesty, and sense of humour can ever estimate. And when all was finished, and poisoned lungs had at last their first deep breath of satisfaction — there was still no light, no heat in the Abbey, and only one cold-water tap in a dark, distant kitchen. How the crowd of black, impatient figures must have gathered at evening — the day's work ended — about that one imperturbable tap and made the monastic walls ring with — shall we say [temps de guerre) explosive language ! All day long, the nurses, orderlies, junior doctors — healthy, active young women, with a full share of the modern girl's strength — scrubbed, dusted, washed the floors and walls, opened huge packing-cases and carried up flights of stairs their heavy contents : beds, bedding, and all the other paraphernalia necessary for fully equipped wards. Day after day, from the first gleam of winter daylight till its disappearance in the early afternoon, did these heavy tasks continue. A few workmen were pressed into service to install light. THE FIRST TRANSFORMATION 103 stoves, and chimneys, and all laboured with such dili- gence and goodwill that within a week two large rooms on the first and second floors were practically ready for occupation. The larger of the two, situated on the first floor, was in early days the library of the monks. Deep windows, opening north and south, overlooked the cloistered terrace and the southern rose-garden. A large stove was fixed in the centre of the room, and the walls and floor were cleaned times out of number. When the winter sun poured through the three southern windows on the red coverlets of the thirty-six beds, the first ward of Royaumont was beyond all compare the loveliest ever seen. Adjoining this large ward, leading into the cloisters, was the ancient refectory of the monks — too cold and dark in winter to be of permanent use. At the east end of its hanging gallery — a modern addition — a group of small rooms was discovered. After much consideration these were converted into an operating-room, dispensary. X-ray-room, and bath- room. The operating theatre was selected on account of its tiled floor, and for the added reason that it had two communicating tiny chambers which were easily transformed for purposes of sterilizing and cleaning, indispensable for modern aseptic surgery. In one of them was placed a stove of the ordinary small kitchen variety. This supplied sufficient water for surgical requirements and for the heating of the operating- room. These simple contrivances continued to give satisfaction throughout the winter. The dispensary could not for a time be satisfactorily completed, for the reason that it was impossible to find the necessary carpenter and substantial, well-seasoned wood. But with packing-cases and old tins the young orderlies built up ingenious shelves and storage cupboards. The X-ray-room was selected on account of its wooden shutters inside the long window. Its entire contents consisted of one short shelf ; but the packing-cases, 104 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT in their coat of dove-grey paint, provided sufficient furniture and storing space for the apparatus. A dark-room for photography was discovered in a spacious cupboard on the ground floor. Above the first floor was a spacious room that had been used as a dormitory in ancient times. It had bright sloping skyHghts, and at each end, tall windows overlooking the cloistered quadrangle and the distant forest of Carnelle. Even in December this vast room was flooded with light and air. The fact that it had ample ventilation through north and south windows and was perfectly dry decided the Chief to arrange it as a ward in preference to the more accessible rooms on the ground floor. When two stoves had been installed, and the rows of red-covered beds stood ready for use, the second-floor ward was quite as beautiful as, and even more homelike than the converted library. Long before the furnishing was completed it became obvious that, if only for facilitating dispatch of messages and finding each other in the large building, it was necessary to christen the wards with individual names. An interesting evening of discussion resulted in the unanimous choice of Blanche de Castille for the beautiful library-ward on the first floor. Mother of the builder of the Abbey, it was only fitting that her name should receive the post of honour. The name of Elsie Inglis was placed over the second-floor ward. The members of the staff were housed in lofty cells which opened on a long corridor in the eastern wing of the building. The walls were saturated with the moisture of years, and in consequence it was found necessary to keep great fires burning wherever possible. These, and the hungry stoves in the wards, devoured much fuel, and during the early weeks it was a problem how to obtain coal and anthracite. Day after day the difficulty of transporting the coal purchased in England, THE FIRST TRANSFORMATION 105 and already waiting at Rouen, was discussed with grow- ing concern. Adequate to the situation, the Chief travelled to Paris to consult with the President of the British Red Cross, who suggested the advisabiUt}' of securing a motor-lorry. In those early days, before the installation of the hospital had been completed, subscriptions were of a hesitating nature, and such an addition to the list of expenditure was necessarily of arresting importance. But with characteristic courage, Miss Ivens wired to the Edinburgh Committee that a motor-lorry was indispensable. The result proved the wisdom of her decision. Her request promptly granted, the possession of a motor-lorry freed the Abbe}' from the vagaries of railway delivery, and has ever since proved a most useful asset to the hospital. Before the arrival of the coal and anthracite, many logs of wood had been amassed, but it was always a mystery during those impatient days of waiting how rapidly this accumulation dwindled. The secret was eventually solved. Every passer-by shouldered a log to be carried upstairs ; and thus the work of porterage to the top floors proved an easy undertaking, and was carried out so gradually that in the end one was obliged to wonder how the vast pile had reached its ultimate destination. Those who were fortunate enough to be of the pioneer party at Royaumont during the early eventful days remember certain ordinary incidents which stand out with a vividness that in the average routine of life is associated only with what is startling or unusual. The first time hot and cold water could be obtained without having to go to the kitchen afforded as much excite- ment and food for conversation as the debut of an unex- pected "star." The eventful afternoon when cartloads of coal were spied crawhng slowly up the avenue, after the endless days of anxiety as to whether the anthracite lor the ward stoves would arrive before the first patients ; io6 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT the appalling morning when some one poked a hole in the mica door of the Blanche stove and the beautiful ward was poisoned with coke-fumes at a moment when the first visit of inspection from General Fevrier was momentarily expected ; above all, that most wonderful and rewarding experience, the transformation-scene occasioned by the first electric light bulb, were events of historic importance in those early days of a struggling installation. For some twelve days the personnel had groped about after the early winter sunset, hope- lessly lost in the innumerable corridors, staircases, and halls, unless provided with old-fashioned storm-lanterns or candles streaming down empty bottles. Meals were at that time served at a long table in the kitchen. To reach this dining-hall from the sitting- room on the first floor entailed the descent of the great staircase, and a complicated journey through icy corri- dors and refectory. When the supper-hour approached, the high arched roofs were picturesque with flickering shadows cast by cautiously advancing candle-bearers — mysterious figures stealing out of dark corners to cling for guidance to the more fortunate " glow-worms." The kitchen was furnished with an immense anti- quated range. Storm-lanterns and bottle-candles lit a long simple table — the groined roof, lost in shadowy gloom, the high round pillars, grim sentinels of a remote past. A weary but cheery company, fortified by the difficulties of the day, refreshed by its hard-won achieve- ments, gathered round the board for daily refreshment. But a new era was at hand. During tea one late afternoon — no one remarking the presence of two busy workmen scarcely visible at the top of tall ladders — suddenly the dim candle-light was extinguished by a dazzling illumination from an electric-lamp placed high in the vaulted roof. A deafen- ing applause greeted the efforts of the workmen, who triumphantly proceeded to insert a second lamp, which THE FIRST TRANSFORMATION 107 in turn revealed with welcome brilliance every corner of the great room. Steadily but quietly the process of electric illumin- ation spread from ward to halls, from corridors to staircases, finally to the first-floor bedrooms. With increasing light came convenience and rapidity of movement ; but the subtleties of shadow and mystery soon became, alas ! a thing of the past. During the early weeks, before the arrival of the wounded, it was considered unjustifiable to incur any unnecessary expense. In consequence, no assistance was sought from the neighbouring villages. The hard- est menial tasks were performed by the orderlies. Without a murmur, the highly trained nurses also scrubbed and cleaned their wards, a task they had not been called upon to perform since their early probationer days. But by far the hardest lot, and the most un- interesting, was the hfe of the cooks and orderlies, whose work lay all day long in kitchen and scullery. It was difficult to believe possible that such drudgery should have been carried out uncomplainingly by girls not inured from birth to conditions of working- class life. The kitchen orderlies were obhged to be dressed and downstairs at 6.45 each morning, to prepare break- fast for nurses and orderlies at 7. Another breakfast followed at 7.30 ; and at 8 o'clock, the matutinal dinner for the night-nurses. From then on to 11 : washing of dishes in the kitchen and scullery. At 11, two luncheons had to be prepared for 12 and 12.30, with the added duty of the orderhes having to stand about at both meals to undertake the service of parlour- maids. Luncheon over, washing up again was in order until 2.30, when an interval for rest until 4 o'clock was allowed. At 5 — again washing-up of dishes, the pre- paration and service of the two daily suppers ; after which the final coup de grace (or grease), washing-up io8 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT again until 9 o'clock or later. The strain and tedium of these relentless duties can best be estimated when it is realized that at the time there were no hot-water pipes, all the water having to be carried from the kitchen sink and poured into the great kitchen range boiler as fast as it was used. The cooks (Scotch gentlewomen who had taught dainty cooking at Edinburgh advanced schools of cookery) rose at 5.30 to wrestle with the old-fashioned range and to carry up coal from the cellar. There were no labour-saving devices of any description. All the day long, and into the night, they were at their work in the kitchen, hampered by antiquated utensils and apparatus. Even at their only rest-time (the hours during meals) there was no repose for these brave women. The vaulted roofs then rang with the chatter and laughter of the hungry staff, who trooped in from their various occupations, all eager to add the tale of their daily experiences to the general conversation. The resound- ing arches made these cheerful hours perhaps the most trying of all to the tired inmates of the kitchen ; and no one welcomed more than they the eventual removal of the dining-table to an adjacent room. When arrangements were in full progress, a new member of the Staff appeared upon the scene in the person of M. Leonce de Bo3^rie, who came to take up the duties of Gesiionnaire. " M. le Directeur," as he is usually entitled, is the official appointed by the Service de Sante to act as its representative in each of the Red Cross Hospitals. He is morally responsible to the Service de Sante for all accidents, evasions, or graver acts committed in the hospital to which he is appointed. Special duties connected with the post are the " surveillance des Musulmans," correspondence with the famihes of the wounded, soldiers' pay, and full charge of all matters concerning decorations. A resident of South America, M. de Boyrie had at the APPOINTMENT OF A GESTIONXAIRE 109 outset of the ^var travelled from the Argentine to place himself at the disposal of the French authorities. Debarred from military service on arrival, he offered his services to the French wounded, and eventually was appointed to the post of Gestionnaire at Royaumont. At once he threw himself heart and soul into furthering the progress of the hospital ; each day, he accompanied the Medecin-Chef on a comprehensive tour of inspection, during which every possible means of progress was discussed. CHAPTER IV FIRST VISITE d'inSPECTION — CONDEMNATION OF A GREAT PART OF THE WORK ACCOMPLISHED — A REORGANIZA- TION DEMANDED The seclusion of Royaumont, its atmosphere of peace- ful antiquity, was never so accentuated as during the early days when the boom of the guns from Soissons and the Aisne dislocated the stillness of its monastic walls. The Abbey, then a hospital for the murderous harvest of those same guns, seemed still detached in time and purpose from all the butchery of the zone of war. Yet eye and ear bore lamentable testimony of its tragic transformation. It was a litany of death on January 12, 1915, when the flooding of the Aisne barred the retreat of the imperilled French army. On December 19th, everything that the members of the Staff could possibly do was accomplished. Yet two essentials were still prominent by their absence : light, and the anthracite still awaiting transportation from Rouen. It was a time of disheartening suspense, con- sidering that all else was in readiness, and that the inspection of the M^decin-Inspecteur of the Service de Sante du Camp Retranche de Paris was a dailj' proba- bility. Without his recommendation, not a single patient could be expected. He had been informed that the hospital at Royaumont awaited his approval, and it was agreed that until his visit was an accom- plished fact, no member of the medical staff should no FIRST VISITE D' INSPECTION in absent herself from the Abbey grounds. Four days slowly passed. During that temporary respite, after the weeks of hard manual labour, the daily routine was still too novel to permit of dullness or discontent. Each morning the visit was expected before the mid- day meal ; by noon it was decided a certainty for the afternoon ; by sunset, disappointment had surrendered to resignation, and the evening was spent in finishing touches to be accompHshed before the following morning. During that trying time of waiting, the Staff in groups, armed with warm cloaks and welHngton boots, made miles of the metres of garden paths that framed with rectangular formality the Abbey grounds. Peripatetic monks in the old days, silently saying their Office ; now, groups of women pacing the leafless walks, absorbed in their ritual of medical ministration. The opulence of autumn had faded into the nakedness of winter ; a soft blue mist made ghostly the Abbey and ruined Chapel ; long straight cuttings through the surrounding woods encased distant views of the purple hills above Asnieres. A season of melancholy and muffled sounds — the old atmosphere of antiquity again in residence within the monastic enclosure. One thought alone preoccupied the restless groups, restrained their liberty of movement : not to stray beyond easy distance of the great Abbey door, not to be surprised by a sudden arrival of the Medecin-Inspec- teur. Only when evening was at hand and the day had recorded another disappointment was there a sudden relaxation from all caution. Then the approach- ing darkness was Uke a curfew of release, and strolling feet hurried far afield for the refreshment of unrestrained activity. During those relentless days an orderly was stationed at the great door, where, with only a tiny stove for occasional warmth, she paced the long hours in sentinel silence. Many were the false alarms, numerous the 112 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT rapid and unexpected musters, before " the day " finally dawned. Indeed, so effective were these rehearsals, that on the afternoon of the visit of the General-Inspecteur — December 24th — the transformation from begrimed overalls to the spotless robes of office was effected in the few moments that elapsed between the arrival of the car at the outer gate and its appearance at the Abbey door. According to a pre-arranged signal, three' blasts were blown on tlie hall-whistle, and within five minutes the nurses were in the wards, and the doctors in long white coats awaited the visitor at the foot of the great staircase. The courteous and deferential greeting of the General — tall, dark, of commanding figure— at once dissipated all malaise or apprehension. A moment later, the architectural beauties of the entrance-hall, and the "call of the cloisters" through a distant open door had captivated his entire attention and that of his attendant architect. It was quickly realized by all that it was to be the Abbey first, then the Hospital. Time passed at such protracted length that the hall orderly afterwards affirmed that she could not but feel that the General had completely forgotten the object of his visit. At last the hospital inspection began. The Chief Surgeon led the way upstairs, followed by the tall General, the critical French architect, the anxious Directeur, and the white-coated doctors. A silent, preoccupied procession. The electric-light instal- lation had been pushed forward at a pace undreamed of in the days of peace by the average workman ; but it was, alas ! still in its initial stage. Vast lengths of wire coiled their shameless way round the staircases, through the corridors, and along the wards. The innumerable switches and points were, it is true, in order, but many of the bulbs were conspicuous by their absence. The 200-candle-power globe of the operating- room had not yet arrived from Paris, and an appeal to FIRST VISITE D' INSPECTION 113 the awaiting bunch of wires suspended from the groined ceiling over the metal table was the only possible response to the inquiries of the General. The X-ray- room met a kinder fate, for thick wooden shutters plastered with black paper had darkened the room that very morning. They proved, however, equally effective in hiding the important apparatus already installed. The Pharmacy had been Uberally stocked, and the ample store of anaesthetics (at the time insufficient in many hospitals) must have created a favourable im- pression. From the Pharmacy, the procession wended its way to the first-floor ward : Blanche de Castille. Its stately proportions, the groined roof sprung from central pillars, at once captivated the attention of the measuring architect. Fully aware of the fact that French people demand equable temperature in their rooms, scrupulous precautions had been taken during the preceding days of expectation to combat all the sly inroads of conrants d'air. Unfortunately, the delay in the arrival of good stove-anthracite had necessitated the temporary use of coke, the only stove fuel then available. This unavoidable handicap proved a serious matter, for unless hermetically sealed, the pungent fumes of coke escape the best fitted stove-doors. A nasal gesture on the part of the architect revealed the fact that it had affronted his olfactory nerves. The beds, with their red coverlets — on those, at least, we banked our confidence — they were hke as many friends, and aroused immediate admiration. From Blanche, the procession proceeded to Elsie. In this ward, so cosy and homelike, a Waterloo was in waiting. Never before had it looked so cheerless : a dull grey light struggled through the end windows and skylights, the dishevelled wires, hanging overhead, added a note of grim helplessness to the scene. Only the group of efficient bright-faced nurses standing about the mannitc stove brightened one corner of the long room ; their 8 / 114 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT presence, at least, contributing that sense of comfort and security radiated by professional workers. Even the long rows of red-coverleted beds seemed to have lost their complexion and all power of appeal. It was a cruel moment. Much pacing and measuring were indulged in ; and it soon became evident, without words of disapproval, that the sloping roofs and general feeling of dejection pervading the ward at that sunless hour would end in its condemnation. The words of praise lavished on Blanche (upon all except the stove) as the procession again passed through it, made certain that the silence that had fallen to the lot of Elsie Inglis was of ominous significance. The tiled ante-room of Blanche, where newly arrived wounded could be washed and prepared, and a small adjacent chamber where utensils might be kept in readiness, made it certain that the ward that bore the name of St. Louis' mother would be accepted without reserve. It had the further advantage of being on the same floor as the X-ray and operating rooms, and not far distant from the kitchen. " Are there any other rooms available on the ground floor," demanded the Inspector, " where the conveying of wounded from ambulance to bed and the carrying of food from kitchen to ward might be managed with facility and dispatch ? " Had the General witnessed the strength of the girl-orderlies lifting from the cars their huge contents and carrying them to the upper wards, he might not have considered the long staircase such an insuperable obstacle. The vast rooms on the ground floor were next visited : the panelled Guests' Refectory, full of logs and the d6bris of packing-cases ; the Chapter House, a veritable hayrick ; the Novitiate rooms, crammed from floor to ceiling with the accumulated lumber of years. Damp, cold, cheerless, hopelessly impracticable to the Staff, their stately pillars and groined roofs drew exclamations CONDEMNATION OF THE WORK 115 of admiration from the General and his architect. It became at once evident that the beginning had come to a sudden end, and that a new plan of organization was to be demanded. After a courteous farewell, the General held M. de Boyrie in conversation regarding the personnel and organization of the proposed hospital, and, with a final admiring look at the cloisters, took his leave. A resume of the General's impressions from the Directeur was anxiously awaited ; and no one was surprised to learn from him that the top room had met with no approval, and that the ground floor would have to be cleared of all its contents and prepared as principal wards before any wounded could be sent to Royaumont. Furthermore, it would be necessary that adequate certificates be furnished as to the qualifications of both doctors and surgeons. The General was himself con- vinced that they were all genuine practitioners, but as the responsible head of the Service de Sante of Paris, it was necessary that he should have proof of the faculties of those to whom he was to entrust the care of the French wounded. This precaution met with the unqualified approval of the entire Staff. A few days later, a typewritten report was received from Paris embodying all the above-mentioned facts and criticisms : " The beds were in readiness, but although everything bore evidence of a very laudable intention of estabhshing a hospital with the greatest dispatch, nothing was yet ready for use. The electric wiring was not yet finished ; the Pharmacy bottles were still shelfless ; the high-power light for the operat- ing-room was not yet in place, and the slow-combustion stoves in the wards were not conducive to health." After the General had left, the evening was spent round a blazing log-fire discussing how it would be possible to meet the demands of a transformation which all felt would be the outcome of the visit of ii6 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT inspection ; how to face a second time the colossal accumulation and disorder of the lower rooms, which had already caused a hurried retreat to the more manage- able upper story. It was a night of discouragement and perplexity. Those of sensitive temperament sur- rendered to the conviction that the Service de Sante, being antagonistic to the idea of accepting the services of women as doctors and surgeons, had discovered in a physical obstruction a subtle means of refusing their proffered assistance. To those of stronger fibre, the threatened difficulties did but whet their appetite to face and overcome them triumphantly. Ultimately, two resolutions were formulated and communicated from the doctors' room to the entire personnel. First : the following day being Christmas, it was decided that a whole holiday should be granted to the nurses and orderlies. Secondly : that Dr. Ivens should travel the next morning to Paris to get into touch with the representative there of the British Medical Association. The unexpected relaxation of a holiday in the climax of perplexity refreshed all wavering spirits among nurses and orderlies ; the visit of Dr. Ivens to Paris resulted in the possession of the requisite medical qualifications demanded by the Service de Sante from the doctors and surgeons. A subsequent interchange of ideas, and a frank discussion with M. le Directeur, cleared the air, and all ended in an agreement with the Service de Sante in their deter- mination to spare no precaution for the proper pro- tection and care of their wounded men. The unit had arrived in December, when a lull in the active fighting in France had set in, and as Royau- mont was situated in the Paris zone of the Service de Sante, it would necessarily have to compete with the luxurious hotel-hospitals of the metropolis. The Staff of the Scottish Women's Hospital had expected to find the conditions near Paris in December corresponding A REORGAXIZATIOX DEMANDED 117 with those existing during August on the Franco- Belgian frontier, when unforeseen and terrific fighting had filled the hospitals with wounded and dying. Had analogous conditions of necessity prevailed at the debut of Royaumont as a hospital, the exigencies of the moment might have spared all impatience and dis- appointment. CHAPTER V TABLEAUX — REORGANIZATION — NAMING OF NEW WARDS After the temporary collapse occasioned by the General's revolutionary visit, it was determined that something must be done to restore the spirits of the community. A fancy-dress dinner with fableaux to follow was decided upon as the proper panacea. Here again the resources and inventive powers of the Staff were called into active operation. The long kitchen- table, appropriately decorated, surrounded by the personnel arrayed in outrageously comic costumes evolved from sheets, " soldiers' comforts," and a mis- fitting exchange of each others' clothes, provided the proper frame to the prandial picture. The after-dinner speech was to be the expected bonne houche of the meal, and Miss Cicely Hamilton proved to be at her best. Had the many hidden accomplishments of the Staff only included the art of stenography, a verbatim report of her address would find a deserving record here. Suffice it to say that her words included not only a humorous survey of the Staff's weeks of heroic (and condemned) endeavours, but a deserved appre- ciation of the efforts of the two cordons hleus who had succeeded in providing a real old-fashioned Christmas dinner of turkey and plum pudding. After the dinner followed the tableaux, arranged by Miss Hamilton, They were given in the Blanche ward, and represented the history of the building of the Abbey and the dramatic phases of its transformation ll8 REORGANIZATION 119 into a military hospital. To this pictorial representa- tion Miss Hamilton contributed a running commentary of humorous inspirations, which convulsed the audience with continuous and reparative laughter. Even M. le Directeur, in all his world-wanderings, had never before experienced so unique an evening's entertain- ment, declaring that in his estimation " no country had ever witnessed such a banquet of humour and originahty." The result of the evening's entertainment was uni- versal merriment ; subconsciously, a self-sacrificing agreem.ent with the recommendations of the Service de Sante, and all were prepared to face bravely their new and heavy task. The second and final reorganization represented a veritable gamut of planning, counterplanning, revolu- tion, and accommodation. As before stated, the four vast halls on the cloister floor were crammed with the accumulated lumber and debris of years : great marble slabs, stone balustrades, innumerable fragments of the Abbey, gigantic cupboards, sofas, chairs, toys (!), etc. Even on a second view, and armed with the inevitable duty of having to achieve what before had been con- sidered impossible, it represented a grim collection, with an air of " squatter's sovereignty " which seemed to defy trespass or ejection. With carefully covered heads, sleeves and skirts well tucked up, the Staff first tackled the herculean task of clearing the vast rooms. Prizes in plenty were rescued from the disordered medley, and each " discovery " occasioned a relieving interlude in the great under- taking. Spacious cupboards, tables, sofas, and chairs were triumphantly captured for the furnishing of the prospective sitting and bedrooms. Until then the only furniture in the latter had consisted of the re- constructed packing-cases in which the hospital equip- ment had been sent from Edinburgh. Now, treasures 120 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT such as stuffed chairs, china, glass, lounges, and cushions fell to the lot of adventurous hands. The wards once cleared, the pestiferous work of sweeping and washing the floors, walls, and roof began in earnest. DeHcate professional hands roused the sleeping deposit, and the dust of accumulated centuries rose in rebelhon at its impertinent disturbance. The air cleared of microbe despotism, great patches of damp, crumbHng plaster next claimed the attention of the orderhes. On high ladders, they dressed the affected walls. In due time, the stove and electric light workmen were summoned to undertake their share in the transformation. Then a procession of exiled beds made their way down the great staircase, carried by merry young women infected by the humour of the situation. During this time of radical alteration, each morning discovered the Chief Surgeon and M. le Directeur making a methodical tour of inspection, reviewing the work progressively achieved. Innumerable changes of furniture, etc., were necessary before the entrance hall— which proved of such success- ful appeal to all who entered the abbatial door — reached its final perfection. In fact, " the bacillus of change " introduced by the first Visite d'lnspection had so infected the atmosphere of the Abbey that nothing attained permanent location until a tour of peripatetic experiments had established at last its proper destina- tion. A single instance will illustrate the spirit of tentative moving which before long became a chronic feature of the reorganization. A gigantic cupboard had been placed in a prominent position, when a nurse was discovered one morning emptying it of its great store of linen. When asked why the cupboard was again to be moved, she placidly repHed : " Oh, there is no reason, madam, only that in this hospital nothing is allowed to stand still until it has been moved to at least half-a-dozen different places." Nothing escaped ruthless experiment. The doctors' NAMING OF NEW WARDS 121 sitting-room was moved into a different wing, then away again to what had been the nurses' section ; the bedrooms were constantly on the move ; and the dining- room, which had at first graduated from the kitchen to an adjoining chamber and subsequently to the half-landing, discovered itself at last in the beautiful but previously condemned Refectory, When all was in comparative readiness, the naming of the substituted wards was next in order. The Chapter Room in the eastern wing which opened on to the cloisters received the name of Millicent Fawcett in honour of the President of the N.U.W.S.S. Organiza- tion. The two wards running north and south became known as Jeanne d'Arc and Mayguerite d'Ecosse. The impressive oak panelled apartment in the west wing — in monkish days the Guest Hall for entertaining dis- tinguished visitors — remained during the winter months a wood-barn and general store-room. In the spring, when the hospital was pressed to double its number of beds, it was transformed into the present Queen Mary ward, with a capacity of ministering to fifty additional wounded. CHAPTER VI REORGANIZATION FINISHED — SECOND VISITE D'inSPEC- TJON A COMPLETE SUCCESS — ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST WOUNDED In response to a notification to the Service de Sante that all was in accordance with their requirements, the Chief of the Zone Nord de Paris, in which the Abbey- was situated, was sent to inspect the new hospital. This second visit proved a complete success. Every- thing was found to be in order, and the result of strenuous endeavour met with unqualified approval. Wounded would be provided at the earliest moment — in a week's time, after the necessary official prelimi- naries. The head of the Gare Regulatrice at M would be informed of the existence of a hospital at Royaumont, and in his hands lay the selection of patients to be sent to his district. The Staff was advised to do nothing further, but to await the official notice from the Service de Sante. Waiting proved a severe test during those long, impatient days. Those of the Staff who were not of the inner circle, au courant with the high politics of the situation, pictured an indefinite time of inaction, until the harder fighting of the spring months should fill the established hospitals and reveal the need of added institutions. Gloomy forebodings indulged in during the long cold, dark winter evenings were dissi- pated the following morning when, work early accom- plished, the majority of the personnel were free to take long walks in the beautiful surrounding country. REORGANIZATION FINISHED 123 The cooks alone found no respite. To Paris they journeyed for the purpose of studying carefully at different hospitals the nature and preparation of meals most pleasing to the French soldiers. On their return to the Abbey, their leisure hours were occupied in planning diet-lists which proved more than satisfactory when the eagerly awaited " guests " appeared. i\Ieanwhile the less busy members of the Staff explored with increasing interest the Forest of Lys and the neighbouring villages of Viarmes, Asnieres, Baillon, Luzarches, Boran, and Lamorlaye, accumulating health and strength for the important task which each day brought nearer to hand. Asnieres, on the placid Oise, peering over wide-spreading fields of corn ; Boran, with its dismantled bridge — two suspension towers standing like a ghostly guillotine on the high river- bank ; I Lamorlaye, nestling by the forest of Chantilly ; somnolent Baillon, intersected by a slow-running stream clamorous with busy ducks — all formed an environ- ment of varying and appealing features. But the Forest of Lys proved a permanent attraction in all seasons and weathers. It was impossible to determine at which period its long avenues were most beautiful, their spell most potent : in the winter, bare branches sparkling with morning frost ; in the early spring, a tangle of palest green over a sun-flecked carpet of bluebells and lilies of the valley ; or when all was radiant in copper and gold, the falling leaves in their russet flight alone breaking the forest's autumnal sleep. Mossy avenues, in star-like radiance, ran through the forest and met at circular car rcf ours, where pillars with arms extended gestured their romantic names : " Route des Princes," " Avenue de la Chausst^e de la Reinc," " Route des Moines," the past resuscitated, and in the sequestered alle'es, the historic dead of Royaumont. ' Destroyed at the beginning of the war to stem llic advancing enemy. 124 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT Of a sudden, the boom of the guns at Soissons and the Aisne would break the speaking quietude. In an instant the grassy avenues were deserted, and the frightened leaves flying from withered branches clashed in confused whirls " comme des sabres qui se choquent." History was a thing of the past ; the present, the ter- rible present, again at work, moulding in fire and blood the character of the French race for a future that hung tragically in the balance. During these first days, the kindly villagers welcomed eagerly the British women who had come to establish ambulances for their wounded soldiers. These brave, almost stoical country-people manifested the same quiet courage and endurance that have since characterized the entire race and won the admiration of the world. In the little village shops, the women left to carry on alone the work spoke freely to sympathetic questioners. One and all admitted the necessity of war and made light of their sacrifices. But tears, bravely restrained, were always imminent, and often the older women broke down when telHng of the brave deeds of their dear departed. It was difficult to realize then that three months before the enemy had penetrated those peaceful districts, and that almost all the villagers had fled for safety, some as far as Bordeaux. I recall a peasant of Baillon speaking with remembered terror of four generations of a particular family huddled into one cart, packed with hastily collected clothes, food, and furniture, stampeding from the village for — they knew not where ! Only the animals were left behind to their fate : cows quietly browsing in the surrounding pastures (with no one to milk them), sheep, lambs, pigs, fowls, and rabbits, in field, coop, and pen, tasting for the first time of famine and unfamiliar independence. What must have been the feelings of these same peasants on their return later at finding their destitute animals astray, emaciated but still alive, can only be estimated REORGAXIZATIOX FINISHED 125 by an imagination capable of realizing the emotion of the uncared-for animals themselves on recognizing the familiar faces of their long-lost owners. Entire villages were then on the road : afoot, in reeling carts, hurrying in processional terror from the advancing enemy. A troop of Uhlans had already reached Royaumont, and for days had been in possession of the farm buildings of the Abbey. On January loth, a day of sunshine and sparkling frost, the longed-for communication from the Service de Sante arrived. The Chief Surgeon decided that it would be advisable to send a motor-ambulance to M , that the resident Medecin-Chcf might see that the Royaumont equipment for transporting wounded was all that could be required. The ambulance was driven by a competent chauffeuse, and two strong orderUes accompanied her to demonstrate, if necessary, their capacity as stretcher-bearers. The radiologist was included in the number to explain the admirable X-ray department at the Abbey, and M. le Directeur's presence was deemed necessary to introduce the " Dames Ecossaises " to the French medical authorities. The old town of M lies on the banks of an historic river sixteen kilometres distant. The intervening road winds through beautiful forests, past the straggUng villages of Gouvieux and Laversine, and the great yellow quarry which contributed its stone for the building of the Abbey. Up a sharp ascent, a wide panorama stretches for miles, with rows of sentinel poplars against the distant sky-line. A sudden drop into the valley, fringed by oak and silver birch, and the Gare Regulatrice is discovered in the embrace of the winding Oise. It was a memorable journey : the mixed feelings of expectation, of final importance, accentuated by a sense of the beauties of mid-winter ; and through it all, the subconscious realization that in the early days, over 126 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT the same ground, the enemy had penetrated and had hurriedly disappeared. The main bridge over the river had been destroyed before the approaching foe, and the car was driven cautiously over the temporary wooden structure that led to the station. M — — was picturesque with blue- coated soldiers, and a large crowd at once gathered about the Scottish ambulance. An unexpected dis- appointment was in store. The Medecin-Chef had received information concerning the new hospital, and was preparing to set out for Royaumont. A hurried return, a determination to reach the Abbey before his arrival, made a blank of all the beauties and local interest that had been of such progressive appeal on the outward journey. The third inspection was not a disappointment. M. Cousergue made a thorough examination of the hospital, and declared himself satisfied in every respect ; adding that before long it would be allotted forty malades and sixty blesses. Fortunately, he proved equal to his word, and since then has been a helpful friend on all occasions. But at the time his kindly words — the Staff had been subjected to so many disillusions — were accepted only as an expression of courtesy, charac- teristic of the French race. Monday, Tuesday, Wednes- day passed, and the doctors were beginning to be con- vinced of the emptiness of polite promises, when on the evening of January 13th, about 9.30, an orderly rushed into the doctors' sitting-room, exclaiming : " Blesses ! Blesses arriving ! " " Where ? "— " How do you know ? " met her excited announcement. " Oh ! A car is at the gate, but the drive is so dark one can hardly see ! " Still incredulous, but hopeful, all fled to the entrance hall with hurriedly donned white official coats. No one believed the rumour. It was accepted as another of the merciless " rehearsals " to which all had now become resigned. But this time, ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST WOUNDED 127 sorely tried endurance was to be rewarded at last. The first advance-guard of patients had arrived. It was a strange sight : the begrimed group hobbhng silently up the long cloister, dimly Ht by two electric bulbs. A battered company, war-stained, branded by five months' struggle in the trenches. All sank exhausted on the hall benches. Hot soup and bread were at once served them while awaiting the examina- tion of their papers. Not a word passed their lips ; even the doctors' lowered voices accentuated the pathos of the scene. Those present will never forget the exhaustion, the furtive, almost distrustful expression upon the faces of the bespattered soldiers. One feature alone reheved the strain of the moment : the calm attitude of the Head Sisters, who stood beside the men they had already chosen to lead to their respective wards — mothers already in embryo. As the examina- tion of the official papers continued, clandestine looks from the soldiers made acquaintance with their sur- roundings : the great entrance hall, the groined roof, finally — their nurses. Reassuring smiles from these, a few words of question and sympathy, and the oppres- sive silence was broken. Voices regained their usual resonance, professional directions their tone of com- mand, and hesitating words from the soldiers relieved what tension still prevailed. An unexpected dilemma suddenly presented itself. After five weeks of impatient waiting, the attitude of each head nurse revealed her eagerness for a patient. A moment of pathetic rivalry. Six patients — four nurses ! Eventually, four men were allotted to Blanche, two to Marguerite. The fortunate Sisters at once appropriated their charges, who silently rose and fol- lowed their white-veiled infirmieres. I can never forget the incongruity of the scene : six tattered warriors (who had doubtless accounted for many of the foe, dead and wounded), stripped now of all arms, submissively 128 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT following the nurses to their respective wards. There was but one note of protest. The Sister of Millicent, tall, dark, distinguished, had stood during the Head Surgeon's distribution of the cases silently holding by the hand one of the patients. It had been her resolve not to let him escape from her particular care. But discipline had to be maintained, and he was ruth- lessly included among those destined for Blanche. The embarrassment of arrival, the bruising of a long railway and motor journey, must have been magically relieved when the poor wanderers first saw the light and welcome of the wards. Their open-eyed wonder ! A warm bath awaiting them ; then a bed — rest at last for their trench-weary limbs. And for their harassed eyes — a scene of soothing tranquilhty, of unexpected peace : lights burning brightly, the flitting forms of nurses in white and blue ministering to all needs, a soft glow from the central stove playing fitfully on pillar and groined roof. Notes of comedy relieved also the pathetic submission of the bed-ordered patients : the orderlies practising at last their instructions how to wash the men under warm blankets — the patients as new to the task as the novices themselves ; a short fair girl leading a dark gigantic Algerian across the ward (he leaning heavily upon her shoulder, she in blue, he in red) ; two black African heads on snow-white pillows in neighbouring beds, etc. An unforgettable scene to all who were present on that memorable night. And when lights were turned low — the unutterable .relief on the suffer- ing faces as they settled down for the night between clean, comfortable sheets ! The driver of the ambulance was a bright-faced, courteous Frenchman. In hesitating words he ex- plained the patients' dread of an unknown hospital. Transported relentlessly, in the early days, from firing- line to base ambulances, it was but natural that the ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST WOUNDED 129 poor sufferers, with temperatures aggravated by necessary removals, should yearn at last for permanent shelter. Before retiring to his room for the night, the chauffeur expressed a desire to see his " passengers " in their wards. It was suggested that he should wait till the morning ; but proving obdurate, he was led through the now dimly lit rooms. With an observing eye he watched the final ministrations of the nurses. Favour- ably impressed, he shook hands reassuringly with each sufferer, and said : " You will find j-ourself well cared- for here." It was remarked to him that they could not well escape being spoiled, as they were the first patients of the hospital. " They deserve it," he answered quickly. " They do deserve it." And then the lights wei-e extinguished — a single lamp glowing beside the night nurse, quietly sewing at a table near the central stove. In the morning he visited his " passengers " a second time ; and remarking their improvement from the night's rest, expressed, on leaving, a hope that soon " a hundred soldiers " might find their way to Royaumont. It was an experience of unexpected solicitude : an ordinary chauffeur manifesting a fatherly interest in his disabled compatriots. And I have always felt that his " good-night " handshake of reassurance to each of the patients that evening contributed to them a peace of mind that ended in sleep and oblivion. CHAPTER Vn THE GARE rAgULATRICE — CHAUFFEUSES It will be in order, and of advantage to the reader, to be informed of the prodigious role the town of M has played during the duration of the war. After the battle-field, indeed, before, there are no miUtary posts as important as the Gares Regulatrices.i In reality they are the vestibules des armees, through which must pass all supplies, provisions, fodder, muni- tions, material of all descriptions destined for the front. In inverse order, back to the Gare Regulatrice from the firing-hne are dispatched the army impedi- menta : sick, wounded, prisoners, all material past utiUty or capable of repair. In addition to this vast undertaking, the Gares R6gulatrices are responsible for all that concerns the Service de Sante. At the present moment, somnolent M is a beehive of industry and far-reaching organi- zation. Numerous buildings admirably designed or adapted for the purpose, and established in close proximity to the railway line, contain immense stores of supphes for revictualling all the military hospitals of the district. These comprise dressings, medicines, surgical instruments, medical furniture, heating appar- atus, etc. — a full stock of which is maintained by local purchases, or by supphes from station-warehouses in the interior especially designated to each Gare de Ravitaillement. ■ Each Gare Regulatrice supplies an army corps. 130 THE GARE REGULATRICE 131 Another important responsibility of the Gare Regu- latrice is the supply of surgeons, medical men, nurses, stretcher-bearers, administrators, etc., to replace those who have been killed, wounded, or who have disappeared. This purveyance is maintained also from the resources of the interior. The forwarding of all material, surgeons, medical men, etc., is effected by a special service of trains to all the revictualling stations of the army. Yet another task of supreme importance falls to the lot of each of these Gares : the reception of the wounded, and their evacuation to the surrounding hospitals, as well as to those further afield. Thus, sick or slightly wounded (who may be able to return to the front in a few weeks' time), as well as those serious cases whose illness or wounds having become aggravated by the journey cannot bear further travel, are lodged in hospitals at M r, or in the adjacent districts. Scrupulous search is also made for infectious or venereal diseases, and these dangerous sufferers are immediately isolated in local buildings destined for the purpose. It may here be stated that, however inadequate was the Service de Sante for its manifold responsibihties at the outset of a war for which France was unprepared in many respects, its present organization and efficiency have marched in unison with the extraordinary miUtary development of the nation. At M are installed separate buildings, where treatment for nose, eye, mouth, ears, and throat is in charge of medical and surgical experts. From these are evacuated after immediate care those cases of a serious nature demanding prolonged attention. A single instance will make clear the wisdom of such a measure : the American Ambulance at Neuilly, whose eight surgeon-dentists have worked wonders in recon- structing shattered faces. This particular branch of surgery has arrested the attention and admiration of the Service de Sante, and many of the worst jaw-cases 132 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT have been entrusted to the care of these speciaUsts. The comprehensive organization of the Service de Sante at M was until lately under the direction of Dr. Cousergue, whose extraordinary labours in a like impor- tant post during the late Balkan War had made him pre-eminently fitted for the task. A perusal of his book. Organisation du Service de Sante pendant la Guerre des Balkans, published by Chapelet, Paris, will afford an intimate knowledge of the capacity of the man, and of the innumerable details which constitute an organiza- tion on so vast a scale. The arrival of the trains with the wounded at the Gares Regulatrices is announced by wire ; . and the achievements of this particular branch constitute a railway tour de force. Regularity is not possible, as the wounded arrive in limited or important numbers at any hour of the day or night, according to the activities at the front. Every wounded soldier has a label attached to his capote, on which is marked his name and regiment, the nature and cause of his wound or illness, and the date of the injection of anti-tetanic serum. On the back of the label is the date of his admission to his last hospital, also the day of his evacua- tion. These important details are inscribed by the surgeon of the field-ambulance from which he has been dispatched. Usually the label bears the date of wounding and first dressing. If not, this information is procured from the man himself. Two special surgeons meet each ambulance-train, examine every patient, and determine which are to be treated at M or its surrounding hospitals, and which are to continue their journey. It is a pathetic experience, and privilege, to be of service on the arrival of these trains late at night or in the early morning. Some of the carriages contain only stretcher cases, swung one above the other ; others retain their usual arrangement — twelve or more weary, THE GARE REGULATRICE 133 blood-bespattered soldiers rescued from the trenches, their uniforms torn, faded, soaked, or caked with mud, all sitting huddled like stricken sheep in dimly lit carriages, facing each other in dazed silence. That is the grim note which characterizes these companies of labelled victims — silence. Shghtly or seriously wounded, ill or exhausted by racking travel, not a word escapes them as they sit or lie there awaiting medical interrogatory or examination. The same silence con- tinues after they hobble or are helped from the carriages, and is broken only when shattered bodies are trans- ferred from railway to ambulance-stretchers, and agonizing eyes and voices make pathetic appeal for tender handling. Merciless coincidence often adds unexpected trials to such a scene. I remember, during my last visit to j\I , meeting at midnight in the wind- swept station a company of shivering recruits, burdened with their huge paraphernalia of war, obliged to witness the painful removal of numerous wounded from a long ambulance-train just arrived. All stretcher-cases. The horrified expression on the faces of the inexperi- enced recruits on their way to the firing-line, the pitying glances of the wounded warriors — sympathy, warning in their sunken eyes for their departing comrades ! A further resource of the Gare Regulatrice is "La Cantine des Dames Anglaises," a railway carriage within the station transformed into a Samaritan coffee kitchen. At all hours of the day and night, English ladies hold themselves in readiness there to cheer with hot coffee and light tasteful food the French soldiers on their way to active duty. The transfer of the wounded to the Royaumont ambulances, and their return to the Abbey, is a credit to the strength, experience, and considerate driving of the chauffeuses — women of gentle birth, indifferent to temporary disfigurement from relentless work and 134 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT exposure, interested alone in whatever help they can afford, in their sphere, to the Allied wounded. The return journey of the cars with their freight of silent sufferers in the dark, solitary morning hours is an experi- ence of singular pathos. On the night in question, only when the car approached Royaumont did one hear for the first time low voices from the stretchers : questions half expressed to each other, of concern, uncertainty as to their new destination, their fate in the hands of strange foreign women. At last, the arrival and the transfer of stretchers from ambulance to the entrance-hall floor : rows of motionless sufferers — silent again — revealing now, but only with their eyes, their unexpressed doubts and fears. Finally, their reassurance : the bright-faced doctors, the nurses — gentle eyes and hands of women ministering encourage- ment and bodily assistance. A careful removal of the stretchers — again by women's hands — up the stair- cases, and the first sight of the light and welcome of the beautiful wards dispelled all lingering uncertainty. As the war progressed, the high reputation of the British hospitals for efficient treatment and comfort reached the trenches, and the French wounded became promptly reassured whenever told that they were to be sent to an " Hopital Anglais." It was gratifying to observe their satisfaction when they first caught sight of the chauffeuses in khaki. At once all preoccupation on their part ceased. Constant open-air work had transformed the faces of these young women into pictures of vigorous health ; and clad in long, shaggy bearskin coats, their sex was not always evident to the wounded men. A turning down of the great collars which hid their hair, and a removal of the masculine Hvery, often elicited exclama- tions of surprise at the attractive revelations they had concealed. An amusing incident will serve to illustrate the con- CHAUFFEUSES 135 fusion often caused by the sexless storm-clothes worn by the chauffeuscs. For several months there was one anomalous clement in the hospital personnel : two male motor-drivers ! It would be disloyal to my sex to affirm that they were a discordant note in an otherwise picturesque assembly ; but somehow these " sohtaries " gave one the impression of being trespassers upon hallowed ground. What were the feehngs of these pseudo lords-of-the-manor it would be difficult to say ; but their herculean work and unfailing courtesy seemed to suggest that they had promptly set themselves the task of justifying their existence within a conventual enclosure. A few words on the work of the sorely tried chauffeuses can be but an encomium of all they have achieved for the French wounded since their arrival at the Abbey. Unused to hard or continual work, they have developed their sporting taste for motoring (which in the early days qualified them for the management of ambulances) into a physical and technical capacity that has trans- formed them into professional mechanics. There are three ambulances, two automobiles, one lorry, and a fully-equipped X-ray car at the Abbey. The care and the driving of this restless fleet are in the hands of three chauffeuses. Each driver is in charge of two cars, and her work includes washing, oiling, re-wiring, re-tyring, and repairs. Furthermore, everything that the hospital contains has been brought by them from the different railway stations, and, with the aid of the orderlies, unloaded, unpacked, and carried up to the different wards. The strength, resourcefulness, and pluck of these young women have led them far afield from their expected duties. All have proved themselves a working asset of inestimable value to the hospital. The transformation of the Abbey an accomplished fact, the special work of the chauffeuses — the reception of the wounded at M and their transfer to the 136 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT hospital — began in earnest. In the early days this proved a light undertaking ; but as the confidence of the Service de Sante in the efhcacy of Royaumont increased, their work grew to be so strenuous that on many consecutive days during the rushes of work the cars were on the road twenty-one hours out of the twenty- four ; the remaining precarious margin alone avail- able for much-needed rest and the indispensable daily attention to the ambulances themselves. During the first two months of the existence of the new hospital, the ambulances were dispatched to M only in answer to telephonic communication. Later, a daily service was inaugurated, the cars start- ing from Royaumont at 6 o'clock (often conveying the sortis or cured men), and returning with the freshly wounded at 8.30 or 9 p.m. Eventually the arrival of the trains at M was retarded, and the ambulances did not reach the Abbey on their return journey until the small hours of the morning. During 1915 and 1916, cars left nightly not to miss even one unannounced sufferer. During the summer of the latter year the hospital accommodation was taxed to its utmost limits and a welcome lull of ambulance transportation followed. The strain, the exposure to rain, cold, darkness, and sodden roads, the long hours of waiting at the station for delayed trains, the painful ordeal on their arrival, must be experienced to realize the courage and devotion necessary to endure such labours. The serenity and capability of these young women in a foreign land have created astonishment and admiration. And with good reason. In January last, over 1,500 wounded had been received at the hospital, and the greater part sent back to M convalescent or recovered. This endless va-ei-vient will in itself give an idea of the heavy ambu- lance work necessary for such a task. In addition, cars are sent daily to M or to adjacent villages for hospital supplies, marketing, fetching wood, laundry A ri.EET OF CARS. C3 OS 5 as qa . c« "5 -^ w ■ ■ Regiment Nature de la blessure TRAINS SANITAIRES FiCHE de BLESSURE ou de MALADIE ou de la inaladicyU/i. c- v'!^ /!^^^-vk^...^ Injection [ pratiqueelc •- ^/^/V^<^i-(«), de serum < a pratiquer lcplust6tpossible(*). antitctanique ( a ne pas pratiquer ('). Norn du niedocin:4^.V^^-^^^ (i) BifTer au crayon les indicatious iDuliles. I.AIii.l. ATTAi llhl) TO KACII \\i )I;.\IJ|^|J SOLDIIK. CHAUFFEUSES 137 and postal service ; and, when possible, friends or dis- tinguished visitors are met at the neighbouring stations, and reconducted to Viarmes or Boran after tea. An amusing feature has occasional!}' relieved the tension of these journeys after a hard da^-'s work. On repeated occasions, ladies of consequence have — hesitatingly — offered tips to the obliging chauffeuses ; and the resourceful manner in which the pourhoircs have been refused without hurting the feelings of the visitors, or revealing too obviously the equal social status of the drivers, might well suggest that these sublimated " mechanics " were in reality actresses in Red Cross disguise. And perhaps this may account for the fact that in occasional theatricals they are such successful dissemblers ! CHAPTER VIII NURSES — ORDERLIES The nurses of Royaiimont deserve special mention. As already recorded in an early chapter, long before the organization of the hospital was completed, these admirable women, disregarding their special caUing, never hesitated to use and even overtax their powers in whatever work was indispensable at the moment. Habituated to the technical duties of their profession, it was edifying to see them working as hard as the orderlies in promiscuous labours unexpected when they signed their contracts before leaving England. A Httie band of true sociahsts, whose only object was to work and achieve for the general good. During the " rushes " after the offensive operations of 1915 and 1916 (including those of the Somme), the theatre nurses were harder worked than even the theatre orderhes. The success of all operations depended upon their conscientiousness, endurance, and devotion ; and though often wearily glad when the day was done, no complaint or dejection was ever heard or observed. The work of the ward nurses needs no testimonial in book form. The progressive, often rapid recovery of the wounded, and their affectionate gratitude to the " Seesters " are the greatest possible tribute to the nurses' capacity and devotion. After the surgeon and physician, the nurse plays the most important role in hospital work, and Royaumont has been signally successful in the choice and achievement of its Nursing 138 NURSES 139 Staff. A final testimony of their admirable qualities is the genuine sorrow of the wounded at parting from them, and the many letters which find their way back to Royaumont (even from the trenches), not only as a means of expressing their gratitude, but as an attempt to maintain after their departure the old aftectionate relationship of patient and friend. i\Iost of the members of the General Staff at Royau- mont are voluntary workers. Per contra, the nurses receive their usual remuneration. This important ques- tion had to be decided in the earliest days. The volun- tary services of many nurses could then have been accepted, but the Committee considered it not only wise but just that these professional ministrants should receive payment for their services. As a rule they are not a moneved class, and it was foreseen that the difli- culty of not paying all alike might lead to difference of opinion. The Rovaumont nurses represent all parts of the Enghsh-speaking world. The majority are Scotch and English ; but there are also Americans and Canadians. They do not come from any special organization. Application is made from all sources to the Committee, who select among the number. A long waiting-list is kept at Edinburgh, and this feature must often result in the beneficial effect of " choking off " ambitious amateurs — more devoted to the romance of adventure than to the crying needs of a world's tragedy. In their particular sphere, the orderlies merit also special comment. Women of gentle birth, with com- fortable homes, or sufticient incomes to ensure them in their own country an immunity from financial cares or necessary labour, they volunteered at the beginning of the war to undertake all the menial work at the distant Abbey. This included not only cooking, to which some were incUned by predilection, scullery work, which offered no possible interest, but all the I40 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT indelicate duties of scrubbing and cleaning which fall to the lot of the ordinary charwoman. In reality they were bonnes a tout fa ire in every sense of the expression, for, with the exception of the cooks (chosen for their technical knowledge of culinary matters), these lady orderlies on arriving at Ro3'aumont had to go through an invariable routine of work, from the lowest menial cares to what, in increasing importance, offered at last occupation of an interesting nature. Whether fulfilling the vocation of second or third housemaid, or the duties of a night hall-porter, one could never discover any opposition in word or gesture on the part of these self-sacrificing volunteers. It should be remembered that, unlike the doctors and nurses, who with all their strenuous devotion were but indulging a superior service, there was not the remotest glamour of distinc- tion in the menial work of the orderlies. And that many have signed on again and again after the first six months' hard trial is an admirable proof of how sincere and generous was their first impulse to help the cause of suffering humanity. It was a sound sense of equity, and of discipline, which inspired the idea that each orderly should from her d^but make intimate acquaintance with all the branches of menial service at the Abbey ; and doubt- less was it in the mind of her who instituted the rule, that the progressive changes would afford a relief from the monotony of unfamiliar and unsympathetic labour. I must confess that I often envied the soHtary duties of the night hall-porter — under groined roof or sentinel stars — communing with the long mysterious hours, the old monastic spirit returning at dusk to its ancient home, to disappear again with the actualities of early dawn. From stars to soap is admittedly a distant excursion ; but in order that the reader may form an appreciative idea of these " heroines in cotton frocks," it will not ORDERLIES 141 be out of place to enumerate here their brave, but at times unpalatable, duties. A letter just received from one of the Roj-aumont Staff acquaints me with the fact that " in the initial days the ' bluest blood ' scrubbed on hands and knees the Abbey stone floors and broke their backs gladly over the operation." On a first reading, the statement sounded like an anatomical disaster to the hospital ; but for many months I observed those same "backs" proudly recovered and performing tasks that would lead one to believe that the first and unfamiliar duties had but stiffened them for even greater performance. A description of their work will be sufficient to prove their present soundness of mind and body. Added to floor massage, they were obliged, in turn, to wheel pig-pail barrows with their unsavoury con- tents to the adjacent farm. This was a daily perform- ance. But one woman's poison proved a quadruped's delight, and the orderHes were doubtless repaid by the vocal gratification of the rossignols de la bone. Further- more, the many stoves had to be supplied day and night with the necessary kindling-wood and coal. The mere cleaning of these stoves must have proved a grimy experience to dainty hands. For the first seven or eight months, almost every new-comer was obliged to pass three or four weeks in the kitchen. The duties there have already been enumerated, and must still be fresh in the memory of the reader. Since the expan- sion of the hospital it has become necessary to place the scrubbing work in the hands of young French girls secured from the neighbourhood. In consequence, only a few of the orderlies are now obliged to pass through these ordeals. Their present station is similar to that of a hospital probationer, and their duties consist in beginning their day's work in the wards at 7.30 a.m. : cleaning, dusting, bed-making, helping the wounded men, fetching and carrying for the doctors 142 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT during the ward visits, serving the men's breakfasts, dinners, and suppers, finally refreshing the beds for the night's sleep. These many tasks last until 9 p.m., when they go off duty. Each day they are accorded three hours' rest or recreation. Until hardened to the work, these off-duty hours are usually spent in bed — a hurried retreat from the wards to their rooms, where sound sleep promptly rewards their overtaxed forces. The night orderlies are on duty from 9 p.m. until 8 o'clock the following morning, under supervision of the Night Sister. The special orderlies, such as hall-porters, chauffeuses, velemcnt-helpers, pharmacy. X-ray, and theatre assist- ants, have in most cases graduated from the most ordinary duties coincident with their first arrival. Apart from their special work, all the orderlies help to carry the stretchers upstairs on arrival of the patients, and subsequently from the different wards to the X-ray- room and operating theatre. In this task the chauffeuses give a helping hand. Having performed the feat myself, I can affirm that successive stretcher-journeys to the upper wards, which entail mounting six or seven flights of stairs, are tasks that excite the resentment of the stoutest heart and lungs. For heavy patients, four orderlies are deputed to transport each stretcher. This severe work has been a source of amazement to French lady-visitors, who invariably ask to see the operation before believing it possible. Perhaps the most admirable characteristic of this body of young women is an invariable light-heartedness which has survived their many months of grinding work. Their frank, free — I had almost said brotherly — attitude to the wounded is, at first, surprising to the French. The most intelligent of the blesses, catching its true meaning and value, respond with easy compre- hension ; but it is equally a fact that at first some w T. < 'J X y. ORDERLIES 143 of the new-comers misunderstood this camaraderie. It is not long, however, before these also discover that respect is compatible with comradeship. This surprise on the part of the French is but natural. The inde- pendence of the English girl would be an overflow of a compromising nature if indulged in by her French sister. Of this the wounded at Roj'aumont become fully aware ; and if they are at first chary in accepting the friendly attitude of the English attendants, or, misreading its nature, respond with intemperate zeal, both hesitation and overflow cease automatically when they begin to understand the true character of the English young woman. As the work of the orderlies is of so constant a nature, any definite arrangement for their entertainment is out of the question. When, however, there are no bad cases, the solicitous Head Surgeon organizes occa- sional dances for their recreation. These are indeed sauterics in the most active sense of the term. To see these happy young women, suddenly released from work or responsibility, playing at leap-frog after the dances (often in fancy dress) is a sight not to be expected in hospitals, and only possible among sport-loving British women. And so Rdyaumont is now a little corner of Britain ; and without leaving their own country, the French wounded are breathing the free restorative air of England. CHAPTER IX CHIEF CLERK No one who has ever seen miUtary papers could possibly belittle the courage and perseverance necessary to cope with the clerical work of a large hospital. Every day copious notes are recorded concerning every man in hospital — arrival or evacue. The details are more military than medical, and offer no interest to the compiler. Miss Cicely Hamilton has been responsible not only for the greater part of these tiresome but indispensable labours, but has assisted the Administrator with all the accounts and office-work associated with the Abbey. In addition, the Chief Clerk is expected to send reports of interesting occurrences at the hospital to the Home Committee sitting at Edinburgh. Perhaps the only reheving feature of all this drudgery is the occasional creation and supervision of tableaux, concerts, and fetes — a task which discovers in Miss Hamilton's distinguished attainments a fehcitous and welcome scope. The Chief Clerk is also called upon to make extempore speeches in French at concerts, or at the presentation of military decorations ; and never has Miss Hamilton failed to delight her audiences, French and English, by her resourcefulness on these occasions. 144 CHAPTER X VP.TEMENTS One of the most interesting features of the hospital is the V^tement Department, where the clothes and uniforms of the wounded are stored pending their recovery. It is under the management of efficient orderhes, who have brought to bear a far-sighted ingenuity in their important and hidden work. On the arrival of the blesses and after their removal from the ambulances, these ladies are in attendance with as many large canvas sacks as there are patients. Into these are placed the portable belongings of the soldier, all carefully labelled. After the men have been washed, the underclothing and uniforms, etc., are added, and the sacks are inscribed with the names and wards of the owners. When necessary, the clothes are disinfected, after which the underwear is sent to the laundry. » The torn and bespattered capotes and trousers are cleaned, mended, or reconstructed, with the aid of the uniforms of those who have joined the eternal ranks. A surgery of unrelenting pathos. Torn and weather- stained at their debut, they assume in time a cohesive appearance, and if eventually they resemble a Joseph's coat of many colours, they serve at least to keep warm the reconstructed bodies of those destined to adventure ' During the early months all the washing, etc., was carried out at the hospital ; but as time passed and the number of wounded greatly incrcnsed, it bccnme an impossibility, and recourse was had to neighbouring laundries. 10 MS 146 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT their lives a second time in the trenches. A sound example of Scotch thrift, in accordance with the French disregard for that stylish appearance of uniform and accoutrement so characteristic of the armies of other nations. If eventually the clothes are found to be beyond repair, they are destroyed, and others in their place are supplied by the hospital — it being an invari- able rule that the soldiers are to be dispatched from the Abbey recovered not only of their bodily wounds, but from those which have mutilated beyond repair their military raiment. In this the hospital authorities are assisted by the Secours mix Blesses, one of whose objects is to supply clothes and uniforms to destitute soldiers. This provision, however, is limited to a single consignment to each hospital during the period of the war. The one appeal is, in consequence, made large enough to cover prospective needs. As might be expected in a hospital run by women, the cleaning and renovation of the soldiers' clothes receive exceptional attention. This special care in- cludes the under-garments, which are often tainted or crumbling from over-use, or soaked with blood. The happy result is that the men leave the hospital proudly conscious that their under-wear is as irreproachable as their outer garments. This self-imposed task on the part of the hospital in the early days soon assumed proportions beyond the powers of the vetcment staff, and recourse was had to outside voluntary help. A French lady, Madame Fox, from the neighbouring village of Asnieres, soon came to the rescue. This kind sympathizer offered a large room in her house, where a sewing-club was promptly organized, which she herself supervised. Many were the tours de force performed there : arms becoming legs, trousers sutured chests, etc. — human anatomy resulting in a triumph of dislocation. To aid Madame Fox, M. Delacoste, head of the rubber-factory at Asnieres, sent daily a VETEMEXTS 147 number of workgirls, to whom he paid their accustomed full wages. Clothes beyond repair were supplemented from large consignments dispatched by charitable donors in Great Britain ; and when cotton rose to sixpence a reel in France, thread and buttons were sent in abundance through Edinburgh headquarters by sympathizers throughout the kingdom. It is pathetic to discover the almost naked condition of some of the wounded on arrival : hatless, bare-footed, a pair of ragged pants or a tattered shirt alone covering the shattered bodies — a removal of the warm ambulance blankets from the stretchers reveaUng unexpectedly their destitution. Wounded — perhaps mortally — for their country, their maimed and unclad bodies further exposed to the torment of railway travel and the rigours of merciless weather ! Yet never a word of complaint or distress as they lie there in rows, waiting, wild-eyed, upon the Abbey floor. The labelled sacks containing the collection of clothes and belongings of the soldiers are hoisted by means of a pulley to the third-floor dormitory, where they are emptied of their contents. Every article is there marked in a book, and a list is signed by the soldier- owners. This avoids all possible confusion on the day of restoration. It is a strange sight, this long dormitory : the exposed rafters of the roof, like hands joined in prayer, shelter- ing the precious contents (the soldiers' only posses- sions) ; four long rows of neatly folded clothes and uniforms at companionable distances, their numbers recorded in chalk on the walls or on the spotless floor, each pile awaiting patiently its bed-ridden owner, slowly recovering from his disablement in the ward below. Perhaps the most touching feature is a little adjoining cupboard-room, where are placed any accoutre- ments smuggled through the Gare R^gulatrice at M , 148 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT where all arms are removed from the wounded soldiers. The day I visited this httle sanctuary, I found several pet knapsacks {musettes) and water-bottles {bidons) which had successfully escaped the searcher's eye, also several rifles. The latter the soldiers are eager to part with, knowing that a new one will be forth- coming. But when an affection has sprung up between a soldier and his principal weapon, he is loath to be separated from it. This is promptly reaUzed when one discovers the delicate parts — lock, magazine, or sight — carefully wrapped in an old sock, handkerchief, or even in the uniform cravat. Ample opportunity here for the imagination to determine the nature and reason for such fidehty. A rifle : the soldier's com- panion (the enemy of the enemy), with often the added importance of having saved the owner's life or that of a comrade, contributed to the arrest of invading numbers ; whose v.'ork with bullet or bayonet may have secured the longed-for Croix de Guerre or Medaille Militaire — what greater reasons for a tenacious comrade- ship ! The adjacent large room is a scene of pandemonium on the day of evacuation, when the reconstructed soldiers present themselves in brave and excited num- bers to claim their belongings from the vetement orderlies. " Where are my trousers ? My braces — what has become of them ? And my old cap ! " The loud laughter, the satisfaction of seeing again their little possessions, the surprise and unrestrained joy at finding their dreaded uniforms — tattered and war-stained — transformed into respectable garments ! A moment of supreme gratification — pride to the rescue of the depression that invariably precedes the day of departure. No sooner dressed than the men scatter precipitately all over the Abbey : to their respective wards in search of their beloved " Seesters " (soldiers, no longer VETEMEXTS 149 patients !), in their hearts perhaps the intuition that dchoiit, accoutred in the regalia of war, the transform- ation may impress on their faithful nurses the success of all their labours, and the gratitude of those who from the jaws of death have been called back to the activities of hfe. CHAPTER XI MEALS Special care was taken that the wounded should be well nourished, and in accordance with the food to which they were accustomed. During the warm months the mid-day meal was an out-of-door event for those whose wards adjoined the cloisters. The inmates of the more remote Jeanne d'Arc and Marguerite d'Ecosse were served under a canopy of chestnut-trees near the parallel wards. After due consideration, a French woman-cook was procured from the neighbourhood to cope with the condiment subtleties of soups, stews, etc., indispensable to the French palate. Later, one of the wounded — Michelet by name — was discovered to be a chef. Once released from his bed, he eagerly joined the kitchen staff, and there cooked assiduously day and night, apparently without rest or damage to himself. He proved himself a savoury acquisition to the men ; and the Staff, with epicurean accommodation, surrendered to the appeal of his culinary creations. His voracity for work, however, and a power of endurance that soon proclaimed him a re-established patient, pre- occupied daily many of the official members of the community. I cannot affirm that his precarious sojourn as a blessd at the hospital increased official appetites, but it is certain that all secretly regretted the menacingly rapid recovery of their cordon bleu. I fully realize that post-mortem revelations should alone 150 MEALS 151 occup3' th^ attention of the conscientious historian, but I cannot resist here the temptation of committing one httle indiscretion. I count upon the forbearance of the Koyaumont Staff. It was well known that the Service de Sant6 had a list of the wounded at the Abbey and a record of their progressive recovery ; but having become an habitue of the kitchen, Michelet's customary disappearances from the wards resulted in a forgetfulness of his status as a patient. This fortunate failure of memory was largely assisted by the devoted co-operation of a number of the personnel, who entered conscientiously into a conspiracy to retard his departure. An occasional remembrance of his eventual evacuation was promptly relegated to the limbo of remote possibilities. While in this subconscious state of suspense at having one da}'' to part with their chef, a Visite d' Inspection was announced. This event, expected though it was, reawakened all dormant alarm. A friend at once warned Michelet of his danger of removal, and jestingly asked him if he could not manage some illness that would prolong his stay at the hospital. The resourceful chef was equal to the occasion. " Yes," he answered without hesitation, " I have a deep burn " (a rencontre with the kitchen range !) ; "I shall retire at once to bed ! " The opportune inspiration was promptly carried out, and when the Inspecteur asked to see the two convalescent men on his list — Michelet, and Happ, a washer of the wounded — great delay was experienced in locating them. Eventually they were both dis- covered in their beds — close together — deeply hidden beneath blankets, with only their top hair protruding from the coverlets. The wily official was not long in detecting robust health in the suddenly aftlicted faces (expressions that would have done justice to the great Talma) ; and, feeling for damaged bodies, dis- covered in both men a muscular development whose 152 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT compromising growth could only have been acquired over a kitchen range, or in scrubbing infected wounded. The climax of the humorous situation proved to be the Inspecteur's instant comprehension of the little conspiracy, and his hearty enjoyment of the clandestine efforts to keep Michelet at the Abbey. Secret efforts having failed, a petition was presented at Headquarters, setting forth Michelet's special useful- ness at the hospital, and requesting that he should, as an incapacitated soldier, be allowed to remain as an indispensable member of the staff. All possible influ- ence was exercised, but without success. In due course the cordon bleu left, amid the starving regrets of the daintily nourished patients and personnel. Sic transit gloria culincB. CHAPTER XII SURGERY The importance of the surgery at Royaumont demands a record of the history of the operating theatre. Dur- ing the first few weeks, only malades were sent to the Abbey, and in consequence the nurses in charge had a comparatively easy, though not an idle time. IMuch had to be done in the way of arranging instruments, sterihzing apparatus and dressings, and keeping the walls, floor, and table in spotless condition. The new stove and hot-water installation had to be constantly tested, that in case of a sudden call it might be found equal to all requirements. When at last an emergency did occur, events so shaped themselves that one could well have believed that some mischievous Puck had pre- arranged a counter-plan of frustration. A medical case unexpectedly developed grave abdominal symptoms, necessitating immediate operation. The Head Surgeon had retired to bed with a severe cold ; the Head Nurse had in her off-duty hours gone for a long walk ; the boiler of the theatre stove refused point-blank to work, and no water was to be had but from the distant kitchen range. All the available Staff set immediately to work, carrying kettles of boiled water from the kitchen — a long walk down one side of the cloisters, then up a number of staircases. The kettles were placed in the X-ray-room and pharmacy fire-places, and at boiling- point were carried to the theatre door. Meanwhile, a number of important visitors had unfortunately 154 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT arrived : a group of officers from a neighbouring town who had heard of the fame of the Abbey and of the installation there of a hospital under the auspices of the " Dames Ecossaises." A hawk in a columbarium could not have been more unexpected or inopportune than the sudden arrival of these notabilities. But necessity took prompt control of the situation. The entire Staff already occupied in peremptory work, the Chief Clerk was hastily deputed to act as hostess to the visitors. She soon found her powers taxed to dislocating limits, having not only to entertain and show them the Abbey and hospital, but at unexpected moments to rush to the kitchen for hot water necessary for the inevitable tea. In the meantime the theatre stove had come off strike, the Head Surgeon had given her cold to some one else, and the afternoon walk of the Head Nurse of the sallc d'operation had oppor- tunely ended at the theatre door. When in due course the wards were filled with surgical cases, the dressings took place in the early morning, from 9 o'clock until midday, each doctor making the round of her particular ward. The operations began at ii o'clock and lasted until 4 or 6 p.m. During the great rush in May (1915), consequent upon the carnage at Hebuterne, in August, and again in Septem- ber after the great offensive in Champagne, the opera- tions continued for several successive days until midnight or 4 a.m. During these sudden and abnormal times the physical powers of the surgeons were taxed to extra- ordinary limits, and by the end of the third day, lack of sleep made imperative a temporary cessation of their efforts in the early hours of the morning. On these occasions the kindly Administrator would thought- fully have prepared a cup of tea at 11 p.m., to refresh the flagging energy of the overworked surgeons. The theatre nurses, however, and the orderhes had to struggle on even after the late operations had ceased. Floor, SURGERY 155 walls, operating-table, and instruments had to be cleaned for work the following day, or, to be more accurate, the same- morning. Their invariable interest, patience, and energ}^ proved of priceless value to the surgeons in preserving a serenity of temper and atmosphere which the most unexpected accumulation of work seemed unable to disturb. Complications often conspired to make seemingly impossible the peremptory tasks of the moment. On several occasions all the electric lights of the hospital suddenly failed, and more than one major operation had to be performed with the aid of an automobile head-light. An added lamp and a bunch of candles, clutched in the hands of an assistant, had to supply the necessary illumination for the important work of the surgeon. Despite the difficulties, these operations were completely successful — a proof of the sang-froid and resourcefulness of the Head Surgeon under complica- tions that might well have postponed the operations, and perhaps precipitated dangerous consequences. By January 1916 about 1,500 patients had been received at the hospital, and 1,469 operations per- formed. The number of arrivals will adequately sug- gest the confidence of the Service de Santd in the Staff of the hospital. The number of operations was ren- dered necessary by the fact that hardly a day passed without changes of patients (arrivals and softis), and that many of these reached the Abbey within six to twenty-four hours after having been wounded, when immediate operations were plainly indicated. In the early days there was an impression that the installation of a hospital in France was an easy matter, largely due to the idea that as much aid as possible from allied or neutral countries was necessary to supple- ment the resources of overburdened France. What- ever truth may have originated such an impression, the severe test of the installation at Koyaumont (which 156 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT also included financial guarantees exacted b}' the owner of the Abbey) is sufficient to dispel any sugges- tion that the Scottish Women profited by fortuitous circumstances. The same severity was exercised in the supervision of the treatment of the wounded entrusted to their care. As already stated, the first blesses were in reality 7nalades, and on the success of their treatment depended the eventual dispatch of wounded to the Abbey. This progressive test imposed upon the capacity of the Scottish Staff added a further proof of the solicitous care of France for her disabled soldiers. In due time the seriously wounded found their way to the new hospital. This unsparing vigilance included a stripping of the evacuated patients under the eagle-eye of the medical authorities at M , who passed judgment upon the success of their treat- ment. In addition, a Medecin-Inspecteur arrived from Paris every fortnight to determine the condition of the men while at the hospital ; and this visit was followed by lengthy interviews with the Head Surgeon. Furthermore, the medical authorities at M paid occasional visits to the theatre during operations, and — it should be added — invariably expressed full satis- faction with the work of the surgeons. It must be remembered that the hospital was a foreign and untried organization, and that the Staff was composed entirely of professional women — a situation unknown in France, where prejudice had to be overcome by superior results. That there was never any disappointment on the part of the medical authorities is amply proved by the fact that the original one hundred beds was, by the spring, increased to two hundred at the request of the Service de Sant6, A further proof of French confidence in the work of British women was a request from Headquarters that the Scottish Women's Hospitals Committee should establish another unit at Troyes. This, in turn, proved SURGERY 157 so satisfactory, that when the winter months were at hand, and the tent-hospital there was considered too exposed for the cold weather, the Committee was again asked by the military authorities if they would be willing to accompany the French Army to Algiers, where the open-air treatment would find a more genial chmate. They consented willingly ; but in the end it was decided that there was need for more immediate help at Salonica. Already prepared for the north coast of Africa, they accepted the sudden change of plan with characteristic equanimity and dispatch. The unit reached Greece in October 1915, and after a few weeks on the Serbian frontier, accompanied the retreating army to Salonica, where the hospital is still doing excellent work. The much-dreaded Inspecteur-General who had in the first days condemned the original plan of the hos- pital paid two surprise visits during the spring, and on both occasions his congratulations were of so sincere a nature that even the Hngering memory of the initial labours of reorganization disappeared automatically with his final approval. Even the critical architect, after expressing his admiration of all the work achieved, added a note in the visitors' book to the effect that what pleased him most was " the happy visages of the soldiers." Here should be recorded the Head Surgeon's devotion to her — at times — superhuman work, and her never failing serenity in times of unexpected complications. One could not but feel that any vacillation, lack of courage or initiative on her part might have affected at critical moments the security of the institution itself. Happily, she issued from them all with invari- able composure. It should be added that the unsparing co-operation of her assistants — surgeons and doctors ahke — has been a notable feature in the unimpeachable success of the Medical Staff at Royaumont. 158 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT During the two years of the hospital's existence (January 1915 to January 1917), 2,508 patients have been received and 2,872 operations performed. In that long list of sufferers there have been but 48 deaths. During " slack " moments, medical and surgical aid has been generously bestowed on the civilian populations surrounding the Abbey, and this has in the majority of cases been supplemented by X-ray examinations and photography. CHAPTER XIII X-RAY DEPARTMENT In the early days, when financial enthusiasm was in its infancy and the exact location of the French hospital still undecided, the purchase of the X-ray apparatus was confined to what was indispensable, and at lowest possible prices. The arrival of all the comphcated and delicate instruments at Royaumont without a single breakage was not only a welcome surprise to the Staff, but a credit to the British packers. When the strong young orderUes had emptied the voluminous cases, their contents presented an accumulation bewilder- ing even to the professional eye. Fortunately, the radiologist was equal to the occasion, and promptly coaxed the heterogeneous collection into harmonious combination — putting up couch, coil, switchboard, and tubes in a single morning. A tour de force. An arrangement having been planned the previous after- noon, after a careful examination of the many parts, all fitted magically in their appointed places. Such packing-cases as were not necessary for furnishing the X-ray-room were promptly snatched for bedroom furni- ture. The dark-room proved a stubborn resister. There was no convenient place near the X-ray apparatus, and recourse was had to a cupboard on the floor below. The only available water there for photographic work was from a large fish-kettle ; and for final washing, the plates had again to be carried upstairs. It is clear what patience and perseverance were necessary, parti- '5J i6o THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT cularly during the rushes of work, to endure these peripatetic excursions. Fortunately, before the great offensive in September 1915 a plumber who had known the Abbey while in the hands of the nuns suggested a cupboard on the half-landing above, which was found to contain a cold-water tap. Possessed of this essen- tial, a useful though cramped dark-room was prepared in a few days' time. At the end of the first year, twelve hundred photographs had been taken and many more screen examinations had been carried out. By the autumn of 1916 the number of photographs had exceeded 3,000. Rapid localization of the depth of projectiles was made in every instance, and in compli- cated cases the French compasses were used. Electrical treatment was also administered daily for stiffness after wounds and fractures, rheumatism, " trench-backs," " trench feet," sluggish wounds, paralysis and atrophy of muscles from disuse. The consideration and sympathy of the French soldier for his suffering comrades were never absent but in cases when pain was due to electrical treatment. At all times, and in all the wards, the same phenomenon was observed : a revel of delight on the part of the convalescents when witnessing oversensitiveness under electrical applications. A crowd would invariably gather round the patient's bed, and at the slightest manifestation of fear or suffering, jests and laughter would delightedly break out from the interested audi- ence. A convalescent was never more pleased than when placed in charge of a comrade undergoing such treatment ; particularly when told to watch the measur- ing needle, and shown how to reduce the current gently in the event of the pain becoming intolerable. The importance of the X-ray work will be evident to the lay mind when it is realized that an X-ray exami- nation is a necessary preliminary to the successful removal of foreign bodies. In many cases the reason X-RAY DEPARTMENT i6i of long-continued discharges from wounds was dis- covered by the " eagle-eye " to be the presence of deep-seated projectiles. During the early days of the present conflict, the surgical teaching resulting from the experience of the Boer War — that foreign bodies should be left in situ unless causing trouble — was universally accepted. It proved, however, of short observance. Before long each case was treated accord- ing to individual indications. Countless instances were observed where metal fragments, considered harmless, were left in the afflicted members, with the result that after weeks or even months, when the recovered patient resumed active life, these embedded foreign bodies gave rise to deep-seated abscesses or other painful conditions. In the end the irritating fragments had to be removed. In the spring of 1915 an X-ray car was offered to the Scottish organization at the Abbey by the London Branch of the N.U.W.S.S., if it were required by the French authorities, and on condition that it would be managed by women. At that particular time, the proposition had been mooted that the Scottish Women's Hospital should supply an ambulance volante ^ of fifty beds. It was considered that the X-ray car would be an invaluable addition to such an organization ; and the later assurance from the M authorities that the offer of the car would be acceptable brought the matter to a satisfactory conclusion. The London unit worked assiduously to prepare the car, and invited Dr. Savill to go to England for the purpose of selecting the X-ray apparatus. The car arrived at Royaumont during the month of September 1915. As the ambulance volante could not ultimately be materialized, on account of the trench-warfare, which had introduced a novel and unexpected condition of immobihty on both fronts, the car was used opportunely ' Tent hospital. II i62 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT for the smaller hospitals in the neighbouring villages of Chantilly, Chambly, Laversine, and Louvieux, where no electric installations existed. The car represents a feat of combined ingenuity and resource. In outward appearance one might mistake it for an ordinary motor-ambulance. But its interior ! A miracle of compactness, containing the engine for generating electricity, the complicated apparatus, an X-ray couch, a dark-room for developing, and the wherewithal for a black canvas tent twelve feet square. Pandora's box would have burst with such alarming contents. The tent and X-ray installation can, by expert hands, be removed and fixed ready for use in three-quarters of an hour, and replaced in con- siderably less time. The radiographic installation at the Abbey, even before the advent of the X-ray car, was so highly thought of, and so opportune, that the most compli- cated cases from the surrounding hospitals were con- stantly sent to Royaumont for X-ray examination. CHAPTER XIV RUSHES OF WORK During the rushes of work which succeeded the great battles in May, August, and September 1915, and the Somme operations of July 1916, the three ambulances of the hospital were always on the road between M and Royaumont, Day and night for the four or five succeeding days there was no rest for cars or chauffeuses. At the moment when the X-ray workers and surgeons were congratulating themselves that in another hour or two they would be abreast of the cases in hand, the rumble of another approaching car and the sound of the horn announcing its arrival would be heard, and a further batch of wounded would be deposited on the floor of the entrance hall. The tired orderlies would hurry down from the X-ray-room and wards to ascertain and report to their respective chiefs the number of patients. A surgeon on duty examined each wound on arrival, sent a speci- men to the bacteriologist, and indicated to the X-ray department and Head Surgeon the comparative urgency of the case. By this system, necessary arrangements were made if immediate surgery were required. During those terrible days of strain and horror, the dispensary and X-ray rooms were overflowing with stretchers and chairs containing newly wounded awaiting their respective turns. In the X-ray-room they were examined for fractures and foreign bodies. Rapid localization was then made I6j i64 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT of the position and depth of shell, bullet, or grenade fragments. Photographs followed when necessary, and the reports were at once prepared for the surgeon. Most of the cases came direct from the trenches, the wounds having been received from six to twenty hours before arrival. The most distressing of all the horrors connected with the work of those momentous days were the dirt and smell emanating from the foulness of the germs infecting the wounds — a bacillus which discovered itself in the early stages of the war. For days this stench would hnger about the entire hospital : X-ray-room, operating theatre, and wards — wherever the poor sufferers had remained for the shortest time. Forty-eight hours were often necessary before these wounds were free from malodour, so rapid and pollut- ing was the work of the contaminating germs. And this process of disinfection was only successful after progressive care and determination. The stench was in most cases discovered to be due to gas infection or gas gangrene. For the unprofessional reader it may be well to state that, contrary to popular misconception, this has nothing to do with the poisonous fumes introduced by the Germans for their gas attacks. It is a gas formed in the tissues by foul germs which enter the body through wounds which have been con- taminated by the soil. These multiply and extend quickly along the body, and if allowed to reach an advanced stage (as in gangrene), death rapidly super- venes. The saving of Hfe, therefore, depends upon an early and thorough cleansing of the affected parts. The presence, position, nature, and extent of the gas in the wounds are discoverable on the X-ray plates, and their characteristic appearances (gas bubbles or streaks, according to the species of the microbe) help the surgeon to decide the nature of the treatment required. The frequent visits to the Abbey of Pro- fessor Weinburg, of the Pasteur Institute, and of the RUSHES OF WORK 165 highly original radiologist, Dr. Pech, of the neigh- bouring evacuation station, have been of great assistance in this research. The Somme rush of wounded began on July 2nd (1916), continued to July 12th, lasted more or less until July 25th. During the first weeks over 300 cases were admitted, nearly all gravely wounded. The large theatre, and a smaller one improvised in a convenient ward, were kept busy all day long — the larger one for twenty-two hours out of the twenty-four during the first three days. The X-ray department organized a day and night shift, and worked without intermission from 7.30 a.m. until 5.30 the following morning. Plates, arranged in order all along the minstrel-gallery of the Refectory, were placed there to dry, the hospital supply of racks being inadequate to the required number. A letter from one of the Staff will afford the reader a reahstic idea of the conditions under which the work was accomplished. " We were warned that an offensive would begin late in June (1916). and when we heard the great guns thundering by day and by night twenty-five miles to the east, we held ourselves in readiness for our share of the heavy labour entailed by mihtary activity. Day and night our chaufteuses were on the road, conveying the wounded men from the military evacuating station. Day and night our band of surgeons and nurses worked under the unwearying example of our chief, Dr. Frances Ivens. During the succeeding eight days several of these women had no more than sixteen hours' sleep all told. During that first week in July, three hours' consecutive sleep was an inconceivable luxury, yet no one regarded her share in such work at such a time as other than a privilege. Certain it is that only by such assiduous labour were saved the hves and limbs of many of these gas-infected men. Twelve hours of waiting, i66 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT whilst the Staff slept, would have cost many a life and limb amongst the hundreds of soldiers entrusted to our care." Of 464 cases of gas infection (at Royaumont), 42 proved fatal, 25 dying from gas gangrene, 4 from tetanus, and the remainder from severe fractures, brain, or abdominal injuries. The Service de Sante always warns the hospitals of oncoming rushes, and in response, as many as possible of the blesses are evacuated to make room for the expected new-comers. A pathetic measure : for dire necessity thus cuts short the happy stay in hospital of the wounded, who have become habituated to the friendly devotion of their nurses and comrades. This camaraderie contributes a feeling of home-life which, after the strain and battering of the trenches, is of important psychological benefit to the patients. Of all my experience of hospital-life, these sudden and unexpected communications — that the sufferers must prepare themselves for departure — are undoubtedly the most cruel. I can recall cases of strong men who, brave under acute and continuous pain, burst into tears at the first intimation of having to leave their happy home. During the rushes, the work of the orderlies is at fever pitch, and the removal of the wounded to the X-ray and operating rooms is assisted by such of the blesses as are able to bear the physical strain. It is a strange sight to watch these volunteers in red pyjamas — with bandaged heads and arms in splints — bearing excitedly their helpless comrades to the X-ray and operating rooms — the wild-eyed occupants of the stretchers obsessed with the thought of the surgeon's knife. Four men to every blessi, they grimly represent coffin-bearers on their way to some mortuary chamber. But their visible excitement, and the words of encouragement lavished upon their alarmed charges — RUSHES OF WORK 167 reassurance which they themselves have acquired from their own operations — invariably create an atmosphere of confidence and resolution. Of all the occupations of the convalescents, the carrying of the stretchers is what they enjoy most. Often a competitive rivalry enters into the task, and many a scene of amicable scuffling have I witnessed on the removal of the wounded from their beds to the awaiting stretchers. Apart from the welcome opportunity of helping the overworked ward orderlies and so repaying them in a measure their devotion — above the novelty and importance of the work, and the sense of satisfaction in haunting the X-ray and operating rooms without having to retaste their horrors — the enthusiasm of these " chair-men " is unquestionably due to the satisfaction of being able to do something of importance for their bed-ridden comrades. Their reward is an exhilarating sense of importance, that from stretcher- cases themselves they have graduated to stretcher- bearers. As can well be imagined, the constant arrival of new patients every few hours of the day and night, cases requiring frequent dressing, immediate or prospective operation, made the strain prolonged and severe. Late in the small hours of the morning, the exhausted surgeons, nurses, and orderlies would creep to their impatient beds. Their first thought, first question, on awakening revealed the nature of their sleep : " Any more blesses during the night ? " " Yes," was almost invariably the answer of the night orderlies. And, hardly uttered, the rumble of approaching cars and the sound of the warning horn announced still further arrivals. Hardly awake, the Staff would hurry precipi- tately to their new labours, another day of strenuous work already begun. The most pitiable feature of these rushes was the nervous collapse of many of the wounded. Often for i68 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT days on end the monastic repose of Royaumont was torn by shrieks and groans : brave men screaming with fear at the sight of a bandage or dressing-trolley, their suffering cries continuing intermittently throughout the night. And in the morning — the exhausted voices still protesting, moaning attenuated laments ! y. c CHAPTER XV OPEN-AIR TREATMENT The importance of the " open-air treatment " has long been recognized for cases of consumption and other forms of tuberculous disease. Of recent years it has been found to be highly beneficial for many forms of acute disorders and for chronic conditions of ill-health. Even in smoky manufacturing towns, where children's hospitals have used their balconies and roofs for the treatment, a far greater improvement in the exposed cases has been realized than in those remaining in well ventilated wards. As the buildings at Royaumont offered specially favourable conditions for sunhght and pure air, with protection from excessive exposure to sun and rain, it was decided to commence the open-air treatment as soon as spring weather was at hand. The first severe cases which were installed in the cloisters showed such rapid amelioration that the Head Surgeon increased each day the number of out-door patients. In process of time, two sides of the cloisters were Hned with beds, which remained there day and night. Many of the chronic septic cases with high temperatures and profusely discharging wounds dated their convalescence from the first day of exposure. Per contra, it was remarked that during the winter months similar cases treated indoors in the equable temperature of the wards did not make the same progress. The general health of the less serious cases also showed a decided improvement with the I70 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT out-door life, and their wounds shared in the ameHora- tion. A thin layer of gauze was placed over the Hghtly dressed wounds, and a muslin cage afforded protection from flies and dust. Most of the dressings were satur- ated from time to time with the hypertonic salt solution introduced by Sir Almroth Wright. From early May until late in October the cloisters were filled with beds ; and only the difficulty of pro- viding the necessary service for the bed-ridden sufferers, and the impossibihty of keeping warm either personnel or patients, made it imperative to remove the wounded indoors when the chill of autumn finally set in. During the summer, sunlight methods were fully tested. The patient was wheeled out in his bed to the cloistered court — head and chest protected by a large straw hat or umbrella — and the wounds exposed for several hours to the direct rays of the sun. Careful experiment had resulted in the precise knowledge of the duration of the exposure required for varying cases. Prompt and satisfactory benefit for all was obtained. Many of the wounds, which had sluggishly resisted improvement in the wards, mended their ways accommo- datingly when once exposed to the sunhght. Patients who could walk about, encouraged by the daily progress of the serious cases, soon interested themselves in the arrangement of their own daily sun-baths. French visitors were always surprised that the cloister wards were in full swing after the midsummer months ; but the constantly open windows in the wards excited equal astonishment and comment. It could not enter their comprehension that the nationally dreaded courant d'air could be a legitimate feature of medical or surgical treatment. Their own badly concealed evasion of the open windows amply proved an unbeHef in the " pre- scription." With the patients also, the rule for con- stant open windows involved at first much persuasive reasoning. They agreed with their sound compatriots OPEX-AIR TREATMENT 171 that the EngHsh love of draughts was in all probabihty a national disease. In the end, however, it proved amusing to watch the converted wounded helping assiduously the nurses and orderlies to carry out the inflexible rule which before long they had remarked to be of unexpected advantage to all. Another of the many smaller but unexpected benefits of a war which, despite its universal carnage, has contributed, in the rapprochement of nations, a beneficial interchange of customs, experiences, manners, and ethics that decades of peace could never have achieved. Those of the patients who spent the twenty-four hours in the cloisters were sheltered from rain and wind ; and the exposure to damp and to occasional cold air produced no injurious results. In addition to hygienic advantages, the beautiful Gothic cloisters and box-bordered court offered a habi- tation that for picturesque repose was unobtainable even by millionaire sanatoria : by day, a harbour of unaccustomed novelty and enchantment ; and when evening was come, a night of silence and of stars — the soothing babble of the fountain lulling the nerve-racked sufferers to peaceful sleep. On moonlit evenings the scene was one of indescrib- able beauty. The old grey masonry, assuming then a ghostly pallor, shone like marble in the dark shimmer- ing sky. High above the cloister-terrace, a row of circular paneless windows in the old chapel wall twinkled with imprisoned stars. Tops of acacias fringed the decor- ated parapet, and the dehcately pointed steeple of the ruined transept rose into the night hkc a sentinel of antiquity. A scene of starry tranquillity. Not a leaf stirring, not a murmur of the wind, only the silvery voice of the fountain, " dropping, ever dropping," and the peaceful breathing of the men, asleep in their cloistered beds. 172 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT Autres temps autres mceurs. This same octagonal shaft of stone which seems yet to contain the maimed spirit of the ruined church served in early days as a landmark for enemy and Allied aeroplanes. Each day these winged wanderers were to be seen ; and in the late days of March 1915 the Zeppelins passed over the hospital on their way to Paris. The sleepers were suddenly awakened in the small hours of the morning by the panting of enemy engines ; searchlights flashed in all directions from vigilant Paris ; and those on night-duty, rushing out to the terrace, saw at last their first Zeppelin. Repeatedly heard of and never seen, the sinister airship had become as mythical as the Flying Duickman. CHAPTER XVI DISCIPLINE The happy expression on the faces of the patients was always remarked by the visitors ; and the queries : " How is disciphne maintained here ? " " What methods have you for enforcing order — regulations ? " at first puzzled the Staff. Their invariable reply was that the question had never entered their minds. The problem had never presented itself. Indeed, the men were so constantly well behaved that the necessity for framing rules had never been considered. At one time a few undesirable friends of the men began to introduce for- bidden food and wine, and with their secret plotting there entered for the first time in the hospital a spirit of concealment and insubordination which before long threatened the serenity of certain wards. The doctors said but little, and quietly determined upon a plan of action. Without explanation, the guilty men were confined to their beds the following day. Without remonstrance, they promptly understood the situation, submitted to their mattress-jail, and awaited further developments. These were not long in asserting them- selves. The innocent parties, having taken in the novel retribution, collectively boycotted their guilty comrades — an eloquent proof of the esprit de corps reigning among the wounded, a silent testimony of their unanimous approval. And yet it is proverbially asserted that the tongue is woman's most active member. Not a word had been spoken by the Staff ! 173 r74 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT From that day discipline reasserted itself automatic- ally. A few words to the effect that a day in bed would be an advisable proposition, or a subtle hint to the culprit that he would be expected at the Bureau the following morning, proved quietly effective in the few cases of further insubordination. On the con- trary, when rebellious spirits maintained any stubborn- ness against " the unwritten law," and, in consequence, presented themselves before M. le Directeur, their papers were immediately signed, and they were sent back to M by the evening ambulance. Indeed, the sound interest of the men in maintaining the irre- proachable spirit of the hospital resulted in the patients themselves fram.ing subconsciously a code of honour for their own behaviour. This went so far that even coarse or rude language was taboo, and a prompt boycott launched against the offending parties. In the matter of liberty of movement for con- valescents, it was decided that the men should not fare beyond the Abbey grounds. The ample gardens were considered sufficiently extensive for all purposes of exercise. The surrounding country being thickly wooded, it would have been an easy matter to lose one's bearings, and the wineshops in the neighbouring villages were considered to offer attractions too seductive to be easily resisted. It may be said that scarcely any infractions of the boundary rule ever occurred ; and only four of the fifteen hundred patients who had passed through Royaumont in the early months ever reached the nearest wineshop, a mile distant from the Abbey, On one occasion a patient was seen bidding adieu to his wife half a mile away on the main road. A reprimand proved unnecessary. He promptly re- ported himself on his return, tearfully admitted his disobedience, explained that he had not seen his wife for close upon a year, and wishing to retard the good- bye, had walked with her part of the way to the station. DISCIPLINE 175 He had not realized how far he had ventured beyond boundary limits, but was quite prepared to pay the penalty and be deported to M the following morn- ing. Unnecessary to say, this remarkable culprit was instantly forgiven. The only other rule was that enjoining silence during the surgeon's daily visit. As a matter of course, when- ever any of the Medical Staff entered a ward, the con- valescent men immediately arose and remained " at attention " until released by a sign from the Head Sister. Smoking and talking ceased de rigueur during the morning dressings. There was no need of any rule to initiate such a measure, a certain fineness of instinct in the French character suggesting the for- bearance. There is perhaps no place more opportune for the study of character than the ward of a hospital. The trials of suffering and the joys of recovery compre- hend a wide range of man's emotions. The distress of the one, and the exuberance of the other, reveal the soul of the man. Pathos, courage, surprises, disillu- sions, manifest themselves in degree and succession. The adage Plus ga change plus c'est la meme chose is not applicable to hospitals. The infinite gradations in character supply endless cases of complication and contradiction ; and these afford a valuable guide to surgeon and nurse. Courage in a patient is doubtless the most admirable of qualities, but at times the most puzzling, for it often includes the mysteries of silent endurance. On the contrary, the unconscious self- revelation of sensitive souls, which covers a field of ever-changing experience, is of psychological impor- tance to both sufferer and ministrant. But it is not in supreme moments alone that the hospital patient reveals himself. During the morning dressings at Royaumont, every head in the ward would turn upon its pillow, and watchful eyes follow every movement of the surgeon 176 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT and nurses. This was invariable, except when the case under treatment was of a particularly painful nature. Then, when the patient would cry aloud in agony, his comrades would deliberately look in the opposite direction. Often a convalescent would step forward and hold the sufferer's hand, murmuring "Patience!" "Courage!" in a voice of persuasive gentleness ; and the same kindly impulse soon initiated a self-imposed habit among the convalescents of assist- ing in the daily work of the wards : light tasks at first, in accordance with their new strength, such as helping to serve the food at meal-times ; later, of heavier importance, whenever moving beds, carrying coals, or lifting weighty objects seemed to them too severe for the physical powers of the nurses or orderlies. The most touching of these self-imposed tasks were the petits soins which those who were up and about volun- teered in all gentleness and solicitude to their bed- ridden comrades : a word of welcome to a shy late- arrival, a cigarette or tobacco to a time-wearied sufferer, a few words of distracting conversation to a comrade after a painful dressing, a customary daily visit to one needing progressive encouragement. It was pathetic as well as gratifying to overhear on many occasions the half-expressed question of a frightened new-arrival answered by the reassurance of the convalescents who crowded about to receive him — perhaps by comforting words from an old sufferer in an adjoining bed. War, the fraternity of numbers, the common lot of trial, suffering, endurance, the interminable days and nights of unrelaxed discipline, had transformed the stricken men. The habit of great deeds on the field of battle had awakened them to the value of the small amenities of life. When these loving workers were considered fit to leave the hospital, without a word of request, far less of command, other newly convalescent men would DISCIPLINE 177 immediately step forward to fulfil the tasks which they from their beds had long observed, and perhaps envied. To leave Royaumont was invariably a dreaded experi- ence for both blesses and nurses. But some of these occasions were not without a rescuing note of humour. When the patient's time of convalescence was far advanced and the doctors were of opinion that he was fit to leave the hospital, it was strange how many obscure aches and pains suddenly manifested them- selves. I remember a humorous - featured man of middle age protesting so volubly against his " prema- ture evacuation " that in the end he was allowed to remain until the evening of a concert that was then being arranged by the patients of ward Millicent. He himself sang the principal song that evening. As the verses became more and more humorous, more and still more excited grew the gestures of the singer, until in the climax of the last verse, forgetting his indispensable stick, he gyrated madly round the ward amid the wild laughter and applause of his comrades. The next morning he left — cured. Aches, no doubt, about him still ; if not in his repaired Hmbs, then assuredly in his saddened heart. CHAPTER XVII RECREATION During the warm weather the wounded men walked about the extensive grounds, lay in groups reading under the trees or about the pieces d'eait, played cards, dominoes, and draughts, or juggled with jig-saw puzzles. Unlike British Tommies (even those handicapped by afflicted limbs), the French poilii seldom indulges in any physical exercises. During the month of July the Staff resolved to initiate the large number of convales- cents into the mysteries of mock sports. In a spacious green field adjoining the garden, sack and spoon races were organized. One of the favourite competitions that afternoon was a race run to a rope line, along which lay ill-assorted garments in heaps. These the men hastily donned, and clad in motley array fled on to the finishing post. The wildest flights of imagination were gratified in the selection of absurd and amusing games, and no notice was taken of any irregularities committed for achieving victory. Prizes were showered on victor and vanquished alike, and the novelty of these " British Sports " proved as beneficial to the sluggards in health or wounds as any bond fide change of scene or occupation. During the winter months, besides card-games and dominoes, the chief source of enjoyment was the gramo- phone. When serious cases were not present, " His Master's Voice " was to be heard for hours daily in each ward. Had the original singers and reciters been 178 RECREATION 179 able to hear their own voices, strained, diminished, and out of tune through overwork, they would scarcely have recognized their vocal remains. Some of the most amusing memories of winter evenings are those connected with musical and dramatic programmes arranged and performed by the men themselves. No sooner had one ward given an entertainment to which had been invited all the convalescents in hospital, than another ward wculd organize a similar " evening," and with the express determination of surpassing the last. This spirit of rivalry added competitive interest to the successive entertainments, and called into play any dormant talent of the patients. The preceding days of conspiracy, of secret hatching, of preparation, of final rehearsal, diverted their minds from all worries. The concert itself prolonged the distraction, and the days of proud satisfaction which followed transformed painful or monotonous weeks into periods of health- giving interest and recovery. As was natural, the preparation for these entertain- ments often proved abortive. Unexpected illness, aggravation of wounds, unlooked-for operations, were frequently the cause ; but the performers always accepted the inevitable with resignation, and often devoted their frustrated energies to the relief of those who had caused their disappointment. It was touching to re- mark their cheerful patience : day after day, sometimes week after week, passing by without the proposed enter- tainment, and without a murmur. The reward of these long waits took the form of accrued interest, excitement, a further elaboration of programmes, all of which revealed the measure of their bottled impatience. On a particular Friday evening a concert was an- nounced by the patients of Ward Milliccnt, just before a large batch of sortis was due to leave the hospital. Written invitations were sent to the Staff, and prominent seats reserved for them. The leader was a French i8o THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT Canadian, whose command of the two languages ren- dered him invaluable for the position. A carefully hand-written programme proved a masterpiece of amus- ing ingenuity. It informed the Staff that the costumes were designed by a celebrated Parisian firm, and that the orchestra had been drawn from a number of dis- tinguished artists, newly discovered among the wounded of Ward Millicent. The chef d'orchestre was the French Canadian himself, who introduced and trans- lated each successive item, adding where necessary parenthetical explanations. At the mention of each singer's name, all eyes were turned to discover the announced artist. Then followed an experience unique to the privileged audience. Several songs came from a thin pallid youth, who sat up in bed and produced a resonant voice out of all proportion to his spectral body. He had never been strong enough to be allowed in the forefront of battle, but no songs that night were as vociferously patriotic as those of this young frus- trated warrior. Another deep musical organ discovered a patient lying fiat on his back, interpreting beautiful romantic songs. The most amusing turn was a solemn sentimental ditty entitled " To a Woman's Eyes," sung by a rosy-cheeked, fair-haired youth with one arm in a sling, who stood in the centre of the ward in pale blue pyjamas, his eyes steadfastly glued to the ceiUng throughout the interminable couplets. How he would ever reconcile his optics to their proper level after the endless song was a constant preoccupation of the solicitous Staff. Whenever a failure of memory occurred in words or melody, an unhesitating excuse was volunteered by the unrattled singers, or the break made good by some convalescent or bed-ridden comrade. The concerts invariably ended with a gramophone rendering of the Marseillaise. " God Save the King " and " Tipperary " were always RECREATION i8i requested by the blesses, and the whole-souled manner in which they joined in the rousing strains should assuredly have echoed in England the proud friendship of the French AlHes. The pianola was often requisitioned on these occasions. It proved a favourite pastime for several of the men, who mastered its subtle difficulties with unexpected facility, and interpreted the caged compositions with remarkable taste. The latter was all the more to their credit, since sentiment on the part of the pla^^er can alone humanize these usually soulless instruments. During the summer months the concerts were held in the great Refectory. Under its groined roof, between the tall central pillars, would be drawn up thirty — forty beds with their impatient occupants under picturesque red coverlets, all ranged in carefully considered rows. Scarcely anything is ever done by Frenchmen without that innate sense of order which is the foundation of their appreciation of the beautiful. The concerts usually took place in the afternoon, and for many half-hours after the midday meal the lower hospital floors squealed with the bedlam of castored beds on their way to the Refectory. Nurses, orderHes, and most of the hobbling wounded, pushed and pulled the beds from ward to corridor, lifted them up and down frowning steps, raced each other along level spaces — the wounded forgetting their incapacities, the frightened occupants of the beds surrendering at last to the wild excitement of the moment. Collisions, hair- breadth escapes, runaway beds, and yells of rivalry and delight were the order of the day, and no attempt was made to stem the tide of universal enthusiasm. Every man in the hospital had suddenly turned into a boy. Finally, the calm which preceded the concert : the breathless men in their seats, the excited wounded lying on their backs, tide upon tide of red-blanketed i82 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT beds awaiting impatiently the arrival of the artists — from Paris, the provinces, on several occasions from distant England. ^ The applause was always generous, often discriminating, for even the uneducated French- man is able to discover and appreciate things of beauty without always understanding them. Great effects need little explanation, but those of a delicate nature require a sensitive temperament for their compre- hension. The Frenchman possesses that. He is in- stinctively alive to the subtleties of nuance, and his capacity for enjoyment is in consequence greatly increased. One could not but feel at these happy reunions that had St. Louis been present, the interest of the per- formers, the gratification of the Staff, and the joy written upon the faces of his brave bed-ridden compatriots would have reconciled the Founder to the dismember- ment of his monastery at Royaumont. The concert over, tea and cakes were carried round to the men by the members of the Staff, and the convales- cents, congregated in groups about their bed-ridden comrades, discussed excitedly the success of their com- bined efforts. The tension of attentive silence reheved, all abandoned their places. The visitors, released also from all formality, wandered in and out the beds, conversing with the patients ; the artists, their duties ended, descended from their artistic heights and became simple human beings — to the evident gratification of the wounded. The waving of some magic wand had ' Prominent artists from the Opera, Comedie Fran^aise, etc., journeyed down from Paris to contribute to the special entertain- ment — and recovery — of their suffering compatriots. It must be admitted that, although deeply touched by such distinguished attention, enthusiasm never reached so high a pitch as when aroused by home efforts. That was but natural. But had the Parisian "stars" on any of these domestic occasions figured among the home talent, it is safe to believe that the tact of the French blessts would have accorded the visitors the greater share of enthusiasm. RECREATION 183 transformed the Refectory into a beehive of animation and articulate dehght. The return journey of the many beds to their wards, though a diminuendo of the pandemonium of prepara- tion, revealed touching characteristics of the " bed- racers." The entertainment a thing of the past, the former somewhat reckless handling of the beds now gave way to the habitual solicitude of the convalescents for their more stricken comrades, A certain busy excitement still prevailed, but the pace of all things had relaxed. The comfortable moving of the wounded was then uppermost in their minds. Perhaps the most impressive of all these entertain- ments was the song-recital organized by the men for the French National Fete on the 14th of July. Patriot- ism was the inspiring impulse, and this roused the men to extraordinary efforts in the matter of decoration and dramatic selection. Admirable to relate, the former resulted in generous ornamentation, but was kept within the bounds of simplicity and good taste. It was more than interesting to observe their prompt repudiation of anything that approached over-decora- tion. Flags, pennons, festoons of ivy, leaves, and flowers, arranged with picturesque inspiration, trans- formed the Refectory, and accorded harmoniously with its delicate architectural beauty. A supreme note of tact, and an eloquent proof of gratitude to their Allies, found expression in a prominent display of the English Union Jack on all occasions. A certain formality in the well-considered location of the audience added to the interest of the scene. On a low decorated dais below the beautiful south window of the Refectory were placed, at one side, the piano and artists ; in companionable proximity, the Staff and distinguished invited guests. Facing the dais ranged the row upon row of blanketed beds, feet foremost, lines of eager heads rising impatiently on the low pillows. i84 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYADMONT Behind the blue group of orderlies were located the assistants and nurses. The latter did not always keep their allotted places. An occasional white-veiled figure seated at the foot of a bed contributed a note of picturesqueness to the formal arrangement — revealed an affecting maternal devotion of the nurse to her patient. The programme, cleverly composed by the men them- selves, included a combination of comic, romantic, and patriotic songs and recitations, and culminated with a rousing " call to battle " sung by the entire assembly. A truly pathetic note was the joining in, with attenuated voices, of those lying helplessly in their beds. Touches of character there were in abundance. One of the most amusing was afforded by a low comedian who, having been previously informed by one of the Staff that his comic ditties coasted perilously near the boundaries of impropriety, sang at the concert repeated religious melodies : "To Heavenly Pity," etc., with a sentiment obviously borrowed from his con- demned songs. The effect was delightfully grotesque. The accompaniments were all played by one of the men, who for time, rhythm, and dexterity of fingers might have given points to many tutored amateurs. He proved so indispensable that everything was done to retard his convalescence at the Abbey. A magnifi- cent baritone voice was revealed by a poilu engineer : a superb specimen of humanity, a keen lover of robust music, whose singing of the Marseillaise equalled vocally anything of the kind I had ever heard. One marvelled that the possession of such an organ had not led him into operatic fields. An occasional false note, followed by a total loss of key, ultimately explained the mystery. What was the cause of this sudden defect of ear was as unaccountable as his continuing contentedly to sing out of tune when once astray of the key. RECREATION 185 Another form of quiet distraction for the wounded, inspired by the ever-thoughtful Staff, was boating in the safe, winding river. Many a summer afternoon was spent fishing in the friendly stream, and many an exquisite picture might have suggested itself there to artistic eyes : the men standing silently in their flat- bottomed boats, clad in the red pyjama uniform of the hospital, a low canopy of tender green branches stretch- ing across the gliding tributary. What a soothing comfort must have been that \^'alton silence after the shrieking pandemonium of the trenches ! I cannot forget strolling one sunlit afternoon along the narrow stream embowered in a young wood within the Abbey enclosure, coming across several of these silent figures, rod in hand, their red shirts patching the tangle of green foHage, a slanting sun rippHng along the bosom of the running river. " Well ! — how many prisoners ? " I called out to one of them. Without looking up, the roused fisher- man answered, " Eight." " Boches ? " I asked. " No," he retorted, still undisturbed — " too small . . and too easily caught." ^ Issuing from the little wood, the Abbey grounds revealed themselves in all their old-world rectangular formality, the red shirts of strolling convalescents again contributing a note of animation to the hour of approaching sunset. In the early days, the men who were up and about wore black, grey, and nondescript dark-coloured suits, but these soon proved so out of tune with the ancient and distinguished building, that the Medecin-Chef determined that such discordant notes should no longer be tolerated. Only picturesque costumes would be ' Prizes were offered to the most successful fishermen, and before long the battered condition of the boats and the mysterious hiding of oars revealed liow popular had become this pastime and how keen the competition. i86 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT allowed. Eventually, an appealing tone of red — also blue and white — was decided upon : to harmonize with the blanketed beds and to enliven the natural severity of stone walls and ceilings. The shape and character of the costumes were also determined : a pyjama " creation," which so appealed by its novelty to the wounded, that at their earnest request it was finally decided to allow them to wear them out of doors as well as in the wards. The Scottish Women in their uniforms (a soft grey material with tartan facings), the orderlies clad in blue cotton caps and frocks, the busy nurses with their flowing white veils flitting in and out the sunlit avenues of the gardens, all combined to create a picture of singular charm and animation. During the summer months the men would sit for hours about the sun-bathed cloisters, busily engaged in filing rings from squares of enemy aluminium ; those in bed, reading, knitting, making baskets, tasteful embroideries, etc. — again a scene of picturesque occupa- tion, the splash of the central fountain contributing a rhythmic note to the ever-busy fingers. From a corbel within the groined cloisters a statue of St. Louis watched his recovering compatriots. Vis-d-vis, a thirteenth-century figure of Notre-Dame de Royaumont — in former days adorning the facade of the Refectory — might have added a spiritual note to the picture, sympathetic to the wounded, and gratify- ing to the saintly builder himself. CHAPTER XVIII PATIENTS AND PERSONALITIES French soldiers are almost invariably cheerful ; but quiet in their gaiety. At Royaumont loud jests are never heard, rough horse-play never seen. It is to be presumed that a natural consideration for others restrains them in their moments of exuberance. Drawn from a country which has borne conscription since the French Revolution, all classes are to be found in the ranks. Clerks and professional men fight side by side, artists and labourers share the same trench. A comradeship naturally follows, and those of rougher fibre are refined by contact with superior minds. But this does not discount the truth that all Frenchmen are courteous by nature — a fact that is substantiated by a language possessed of delicate and picturesque tours dc phrases common to the large majority. In truth, they are gifted with a natural dignity which in other less sensitive races would ensure them the status of gentlemen. To know France d fond is to disengage oneself from the belief that the over-civilized or degenerate town specimen is typical of the race. Among the 2,508 patients who have passed through the hospital there have been many amusing and admir- able characters. An introduction to the reader of some of these personalities will put him in possession of experiences at the Abbey which on many occasions reheved with unexpected interest or amusement the strain of its hard-worked personnel. Some trifling, 187 i88 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT it may be argued, others more remarkable ; but all serving to stamp the man, and to introduce occasion- ally a note of humour in a world of tears. During the Somme offensive the first important batch of Senegalese arrived at Royaumont (thirty odd in number). It may be said that these people are a race apart. If the precious orchid is by some trick of nature a weird combination of flower and insect, these formidable blacks are an irreconcilable mixture of animal and child. Their grim exterior, which alarms by its swarthiness and proportions, contains an interior of nursery impulsiveness and irresponsibility. Black heads on white pillows — the Senegalese Ward seemed at first sight a hospital for zoological patients. That was one's first impression, which was, however, dispelled by the prompt reahzation that whether black or white. Christian or Infidel, the most diverging races are at last one in their joint struggle to safeguard justice and civilization. Civilization ! That was a difficult matter to reahze in the " Elsie " Ward, with its strange and — to the inexperienced mind — 7i«civilized occupants. The prattle of weird tongues — guttural, staccato, words more often of articulate thought than of conversation — did but add to the mystery. It was soon discovered that a perfect understanding of these " rebels " must precede a successful exercise of hospital ministration. The application of scientific methods which disregards nationality was not possible without a familiarity with the characteristics of a race which instinctively rebels against Western prac- tices. Fortunate it is that these blacks are but grown- up children, and that, once relieved of their suspicion of unfamiliar methods, a childlike confidence makes docile patients of them all. With the Arab tribes it is different. Among ignorant Mohammedans there is an idea that Heaven bars its doors to all who cannot account for a full complement of Hmbs. This beUef PATIENTS AND PE^^SOXALITIES 189 makes amputation extremely difficult, sometimes im- possible. Precious time is lost in preliminary persuasion ; the ultimate consent of the patient may be obtained when too late for surgical intervention. Among the Senegalese, the most curious and alarming experiences are the moments of recovered conscious- ness when the patient, curious as a child, tears off bandages, tubes, and splints to see the effect of a missing limb or the result of a minor operation — the combined strength of surgeons and nurses ridiculously inadequate against the savage determination of the patient. One giant black who had three times in succession torn off his splints (six bad wounds on his two legs), murmured each time with satisfaction, " Bon ! tres bon ! " Curl- ing into favourable positions to watch the daily dressings, he would stretch out his hand to touch the wound, then as quickly withdraw it to exclaim proudly, " N'ai pas touche ! N'ai pas touche ! " Another sufferer with a ghastly abdominal wound and fractured pelvis groaned continually — his one consolation being to extend his arm and shake hands with the surgeons as they passed his bed. Still another victim lay all day pretending to read English newspapers — always upside down. On occasion, some of the older black patients, recovering from operations or treatment, would suddenly spring from their beds, rush to the rebellious comrade, and in bewildering negro language scold or threaten him for his conduct. A quaint instance of self-treatment was another giant who to reheve a headache shaved off all his hair. Despite their impulsiveness and irresponsibility, these blacks possess a quiet dignity characteristic of their race. A most noticeable example was an alarming negro (a king), who was discovered one day seated in his bed, head bowed, weeping copiously. Beside him lay the body of a young Senegalese who had just breathed his last. Later, while the body was being I90 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT prepared for burial, the king appeared suddenly within the screened enclosure (still weeping), explained that the deceased was one of his subjects, and expressed a wish that a ring on the young man's finger should be given him as a memento. The nurses suggested show- ing him the face of the deceased. " Non ! " he answered, with arresting dignity, " Non, laissez-le ! C'est un grand guerrier ! " At night the king was still weeping — the ring of his beloved subject on his finger. It was alwaj^s delightful to observe their manifesta- tions of affection — also a characteristic of their race. Suspicious at first of their nurses, these kind women soon became " Maman," uttered in soft, caressing tones. One in particular had grown so fond of his nurse that in the end he confidently offered her, in exchange for marriage, a hut all to herself and a daily supply of fish and meat. The surgeons and nurses were always " Maman," the Head Surgeon, " Grande Maman." This was during acute suffering ; later, when convalescent, the House Surgeon became " Madame la Capitaine," the Head Surgeon, " Madame la Colonelle." Even after a comprehension of Eastern practices, the cleanliness of these dark-skinned warriors was always a matter of surprise. Ablutions were regularly and ceremoniously performed ; the tid3ang of their individual beds was a daily edification. Conjurors they were — one and all. Often they were strapped to their beds to avoid self-violence after operations, but no Western device for immobility was ever able to frustrate a natural talent for contortion and escape. Once famihar with the effects of the drug, all begged for morphia, to deaden pain and induce sleep. " Piqiire, Maman ! Piqure, Maman ! " in plain- tive tones — often in chorus — would be heard from many beds as the surgeon entered the ward each night. A hypodermic of steriHzed water promptly silenced the PATIENTS AND PERSONALITIES 191 clamouring voices ; a turn on their piUows, and they were in the Paradise of Sleep. As patients they were remarkable in their rapid recovery from wounds that with Europeans would have been of protracted duration. As comrades and fighters they fully justified the poilii's high opinion of them in hospital and on the battlefield. In a short time the Senegalese grew to be the pets of Royaumont, and delightful it was to remark the numbers of French wounded paying daily visits to their African comrades. It seemed natural to believe that their participation in a European War was the outcome of colonial rule. One had but to Hsten to their intelligent understanding of the great struggle, their sympathy with its cause and object, to learn the contrary. Although of a primitive race — fighters by nature — they resembled their European comrades in never boasting of their deeds in the trenches. Two sentiments stood out prominently : their hatred of the enemy and an affec- tion for France. The first was rarely expressed with- out provocation ; the second found utterance on all possible occasions. In all that concerned France they were children, looking upon her as their mother- country. A touching example of this affectionate devotion occurred on the occasion of the official visit of President Poincar^ to Royaumont in September 1916. When the officials had all left the Senegalese Ward after a long and interested visit, one of the blacks was observed to be weeping quietly. Asked what was the reason of his tears, he answered, " Oh ! to think that the King of France has shaken me by the hand ! " N was, during his period of extreme suffering with a wounded right hand, one of the most attractive and consequently most spoilt patients of the Blanche ward. He was born in Turkey, but was never weary of explaining that he was not a Turk, but only an 192 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT Ottoman subject. At the outbreak of the war he had been working in France as an electric tramway driver. He at once joined the Foreign Legion, and in January (1915) was severely wounded by a piece of shrapnel which entered his right wrist. Careful nursing and constant watchfulness on the part of the surgeon alone saved the hand when widespread inflammation set in. N was duly appreciative and grateful for the care which resulted in the complete restoration of so impor- tant a member. In the midst of agonizing pain, he would bestow not only a fascinating smile but a faceti- ously worded expression of gratitude on the nurse attending him. When the General who in the first days had condemned the hospital paid a third congratu- latory visit, he paused by N 's bedside to watch the application of a dressing. N looked up, mas- tered his pain to murmur impressively and with his most captivating smile, " On est tres bien soign6 ici ! " Commonplace words, but, as N pronounced them, a testimonial of supreme value. With convalescence, the invahd, so fascinating during his days of suffering, became exacting and jealously resentful of attentions shown to subsequent arrivals. In answer to reproaches accusing him of disregarding the regulations of the ward, he had invariably a ready and disarming reply. One day a physician endeavoured to reason with him, saying that as anarchy was injurious to the well-being of the State, so disobedience and lack of discipHne disorganized the harmonious working of the wards. With a deprecating smile he explained, in justification of his behaviour, " But you must realize that all the nurses here have not the beautiful character of the doctors." As usual, his further witty evasions were drowned in the laughter of his audience. D was a cheery, fair-haired, blue-eyed youth, who always looked the merrier and rounder-cheeked because of a voluminous white bandage which encircled PATIENTS AND PERSONALITIES 193 his chin and head. For all the world he looked as if his halo had shpped, and that at any moment his face would escape through the swollen nimbus. He was long remembered for his many amusing songs, which he sang half-speaking, very gently, and with graceful explanatory gestures, equalh' restrained. His crescendos were always diminuendos, and by the inversion he obtained sly effects, full of mischievous nuance. The following are a few worth recording : — I A la suite d'uii fameux feuilleton, Apres avoir bouffe comme quatre, Sebastien Caure et le pere Drumont Se disputaient prcts a se battre. C'etait a propos d'un petit, D'un fort petit fromage a la creme, II etait si frais et si gentil Que chacun voulait bouffer soi-meme. Quand le pere Drumont s'ecrie soudain Pour que la discussion s'acheve : " Le fromage sera demain matin A celui qui aura fait le plus beau reve." lis s'endormirent ; mais dans la nuit Sebastien trouva bien plus sage De se lever seul et sans bruit, Et d'aller boulotter le fromage. 3 Le lendemain quand le pere Drumont S'cveilia des la premiere heure, II trouva son compagnou Qui ronflait comme un scnateur. II lui dit d'un air important : " Ivlon cher, tu as perdu d'avancc, Je viens de faire un reve important : Ecoute-moi 9a — je commence. 13 194 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT 4 " Je revais, quand je vis le ciel s'entrouvrir Et le bon Dieu, parmi ses anges, Me faisaut signe de venir, Afin de chanter ses louanges. Sur un gros nuage de feu, Deux aigles royaux magniliques M'emporterent vers le ciel bleu Au son d'une douce musique." 5 " (^a par exemple c'est epatant," Dit Sebastien d'une voix breve ; " Precisement a cet instant Je commenfai aussi mon reve. Mais lorsque je t'ai vu partir Sous le ciel bleu sur un nuage, J'ai cru que tu n'allais plus revenir, Alors j'ai tout boulotte le fromage." Not a point was missed when he sang the following : — LE REGIMENT MODERNE Mes chers parents, mon regiment Est un regiment bien moderne, Et qui n'est pas assurement Commande par une vieille baderne. D'abord quand on est arrive, Le ministre est venu a la gare ; II nous a offert le cafe, Le pousse-cafe et les cigares. Puis, comnie sur le quai du chemin de fer II soufflait une brise aigrette, Et qu'il y avait des courants d'air, On nous a donne des chaufferettes. Ensuite on nous a presente Les officiers suivant leur grade. Nous suppliant de les traiter Comme si c'etait des camarades. PATIENTS AND PERSONALITIES 195 On gagna le chemin du quartier, Mais comme pour traverser la ville Fallait faire trois cents metres a pied, On a pris des automobiles. Le Colonel disait d'un air emu, En pleurant dans sa barbe grise, "C'est tout de meme gentil d'etre venu, C'est 9a qu'est une bonne surprise ! " Ici, messieurs, vous ctes chez vous, Et j'entends vous mettre a votre aise, Pres de moi ne restez pas debout ; Attendez, je vais chercher des chaises." Puis le Major, un gros tres laid, Vient nous examiner d'oftice, Et nous demanda si Ton voulait AUer passer I'hiver a Nice. Le soir venu, avant d'aller Se fourrer dans nos lits de plumes (Histoire de rigoler un peu). On nous mene voir les femmes qui fument. Le ministre ayant decide Dans sa solitude profonde Qu'il fallait, en leur societe, Qu'on apprenne les manieres du monde. Aussi je vous jure que je ne suis pas pret De revenir vous voir, mes Peres et Meres ; II n'y a que si I'ennemi s'en allait, Alors le Ministre de la Guerre Nous obligerait probablement (Afm de fuir des "economies") A retourner chez nos parents Jusqu'a cc que la guerre soit finic. P was the grand seigneur of the hospital : a commercial traveller by profession. Tall, fair, fmely built, his grey, intelligent eyes shone iu a face of singular 196 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT attraction. To an irreproachable manner and refined voice, he added a distinguished mastery of the French language. Of humble origin, he was either a delightful freak of nature or the survival of some ancestral adven- ture with blue blood. Both Staff and wounded soon fell under his charm, a certain geniality of manner, of quiet mental excellence, making him a general and respected favourite. While in business he had travelled widely, and had quietly harvested the experience of years. "St. P " he was ultimately named, for, added to his social gifts, he was possessed of a spiritual nature which found expression in a correspondence with all the duties of his religion. The nickname was not one of familiar disrespect ; on the contrary, his religious habits were so much a part of the man, and indulged with such natural dignity, that even those who sought to give themselves importance by repudiating everything that was of a supernatural nature, in the end learned to respect the man and restrain their profanity. Severely wounded, he became in time the idol of the hospital ; and great was always the satisfaction of the Staff in presenting him to distinguished visitors. Unnecessary to say, these constantly recurring attentions never affected his characteristic modesty. It may be well to state here, parenthetically, that the transformation of the abandoned Abbey into a hospital by the Scottish women thoughtfully included a chapel for the use of the men. This has always been served by the distinguished Abbe of Asnieres — a remarkable personality^ " Joseph " was a youth of nineteen, gravely wounded in the elbow joint. His illness was long, and so pain- ful that the dressings had often to be carried out under chloroform. At one time his life was despaired of. It was pathetic in the extreme to see the poor wistful face, with great, appealing brown eyes full of despair, PATIENTS AND PERSONALITIES 197 l^'ing helplessly upon the pillow day after day during his long fight for life. He feared himself that he must die ; but despite the harassing thought, his invariable gentleness and consideration soon endeared him to nurses and comrades alike. To distract him in his moments of mental anguish, his attendants would often ask him about the letter from his colonel. Unable to move, he would indicate with his eyes where it lay on the little table beside the bed. Then would follow a reading of the precious document : a panegyric from his commanding officer, congratulating him on his braver3^ stating in admiring terms how by his deeds of valour (and only nineteen years old !) he had saved the lives of many of his comrades. The modest joy of the boy, and the passing distraction from pain at each of these readings, was a source of constant satis- faction to all about him. I clearly recall what a stamp of death he wore upon his emaciated face the first time I saw him in his ward. Months passed ; and when I saw him again, he was in the cloisters — still abed, but a changed man. His poor face had regained its round- ness, had taken on the colour and firmness of health ; his great brown eyes sparkled with interest and recogni- tion of visitors. He was usually half-seated in his bed, the wounded arm suspended in one of Dr. Blake's wonderful sphnts, and there was no longer the remotest thought of death in his mind. The surgeon's superb work and the unremitting care of his nurses had won the battle ; the pure and reviving air of the cloisters day and night had achieved the rest. An Algerian tirailleur was a somewhat sulky young man, but tall and very dignified in bearing, as befitted the important personage he was when at home. His long musical name was soon shortened to " Sala," and many were the anecdotes told of him during his stay at Royaumont. One of the most characteristic was furnished by the occasion when he was found 198 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT moodily seated at the head of the cold staircase on a chilly February afternoon, his dressing-gown tightly wrapped round his naked legs. From this position of vantage he refused to move ; and the Head Surgeon was accordingly summoned to cope with the situation. Sala stood against the wall surrounded by six nurses and orderlies, gloomily resisting all attempts to take him back to his bed in the ward. To the Head Surgeon he excitedly explained, half in Arabic, half in French, that the patient in the neighbouring bed had called him a pig, and he would not return to his accustomed place near such a contemptible Frenchman. With sympathetic agreement. Miss Ivens tactfully promised to remove the offender to a remote corner ; and with the further inducement of a stick of chocolate, Sala eventually allowed himself to be coaxed back to the warm bed which he had quitted half-an-hour before. His devoted Algerian servant followed him to the new position, and from afar they both ignored with Oriental dignity the teasing French lad whose jests had occa- sioned the feud. Later on, Sala was removed to a ward on another floor ; but even when out of sight of his enemy he had not forgotten their quarrel. One night, soon after, he was caught with a knife, which he con- fided was to be employed on his former neighbour as soon as he could steal an opportunity to reach his ward. But the opportunity never came. The doctor finally decided that he was " well enough " to proceed to his depot. During his period of treatment, Sala manifested frequent headaches. While suffering he would lie with his face under the sheets, exceedingly sorry for himself, murmuring " Fatigue, fatigu6 " to all inquirers — his round, merry-faced servitor petting him and massaging his scalp by the hour. Stubborn as a child, proud as a peacock, dangerous as a black. His servant left the same day, weeping profusely, eagerly offering to forsake his wife and children if PATIENTS AND PERSONALITIES 199 allowed to remain as a servant for life at the hospital. Contradictory cases there were in number. Two will suffice to illustrate how similar conditions often reveal opposite mental attitudes on the part of the patients. Among a number of stretcher-cases awaiting their turn for X-ray examination was a man of middle age, whose nervousness and anxiety increased with every moment. The X-ray work in his case was some- what prolonged, as it involved searching for a foreign body in the leg, the location of a fracture, and the taking of the necessary photograph. The usual kindly conversation carried on by the radiologist as a means of distracting the patient did not in this case reduce in any way the wounded man's fast growing alarm. His pallor increased visibly ; the words of panic, long held back, broke out at last : " Madame ! Madame ! On va couper la jambe ! " An expression of infinite relief, with a returning flood of colour and happy light in the eyes, followed the immediate assurance that amputation had not for a moment been under considera- tion. Chided because he had not long before given expression to his alarm and so saved himself an hour of unnecessary suspense, he explained shamefacedly that he had a wife and three children and was harassed about their future in the hands of a one-legged man. Per contra, D was a young lad who arrived during the great September attack with a seriously septic arm complicated by a shattered bone. Anxiously he watched the surgeon's faces after their examination, but thankfully accepted the respite of a twelve hours' observation of his condition. When the time-hmit had expired, and the morning light revealed an increase of the inflammation, he dumbly accepted the final decision in favour of amputation. M. le Directeur hastened to his bedside to greet him with encourage- ment on his recovery from the chloroform. But the 200 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT patient was the first to speak. And such unexpected words ! "Eh bien, nous avan^ons toujours ! " » Royaumont was far from ideal as an abode for those afflicted with rheumatism. Even in summer, great white evening mists rose from the surrounding plains and hovered above them like a suspended sea. Patients subject to chronic rheumatism usually made little progress under these adverse conditions, T arrived at the Abbey in the spring, afflicted with many wounds, and as many stiff joints. The wounds steadily improved, but the joints deteriorated progressively. When his injuries had healed and he was ready to be moved to a drier climate, he was carried to the Abbey door on a stretcher, totally crippled. It was a perfect early summer evening, and a crowd of convalescent men in red pyjamas, white-coated doctors, and blue-frocked nurses and orderlies had gathered to bid farewell to the sort is in the ambulances. Among the repeated and grateful cries of " Merci — merci pour vos bons soins " which came from the reconstructed men, none were louder or more sincere than those which broke from the poor cripple lying on his stretcher within the departing ambulance. An attractive but primitive young Russian, who spoke scarcely a word of French, reached the hospital with a shattered septic hand. One morning he was told that it was advisable to amputate one of the broken lingers. At breakfast he was missing from his ward, and inquiry elicited only the vague information that some one had seen a man clad in pyjamas and dressing- gown on the wall adjoining the garden at some indefinite hour of the forenoon. A prolonged search was at once begun. At twilight, emerging from the neighbouring woods, the escaped patient gladly surrendered to a passing peasant, who conveyed him safely back to ' He referred to the "advance" in Champagne, not lo his own progress after the operation. ON THE TKRRACE. CLOISTER-WARD IN WARM MONTHS. PATIEXTS AND PERSONALITIES 201 Roj'aumont in a cart. He explained that he intended to return as soon as the doctoresses were safely out of the wards after their evening visit, and that he hoped to disappear again in like manner the following morning. Apparently it was to be a daily programme. Subse- quently, it transpired that his ignorance of the English language had led him to imagine that the surgeon wished to amputate his entire hand, and that he was equally determined not to part with it. Then followed slow days of torture, which he stoically, even smilingly, endured. Finalh', surgical skill and nursing succeeded in saving the hand. He was troublesome as a naughty child, but " When are you going to spend another day in the woods ? " was a question which never failed to reduce him to laughter and submission in his stormiest moods. Only one instance of objection to the personnel by a patient can be recorded. L , a young lad with severe abdominal wounds, arrived with a large batch of blesses late one evening, and was terrified to find that he was to be in the hands of women surgeons. Immediate operation was indi- cated. When the anaesthetist presented herself, he waved her off, crying piteously that they would kill him, that they had not the proper apparatus for chloro- form, that he had no confidence in women and would certainly die under their hands. "It is the Scotch method — the Scotch apparatus!" they assured him. He then took the anaesthetic with instant docility. A few days later he was one of the most amusing of the ward inmates, and confided to his doctor that he had been " irds cUcoiirage" when he had discovered that the operator was a woman ; but that " he had since become completely reconciled and grateful for her constant devotion and good care." B was severely wounded by a hand-grenade, which had so thoroughly damaged his limbs that life 202 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT was almost despaired of. At first, conservative opera- tions were performed, but as the temperature refused to fall and the general condition of the patient deteri- orated, it was decided to amputate. The pain of the complicated and multiple dressings of his many wounds was a daily torture to him in his enfeebled condition. In reahty he had become a " mental case." Every moment of his waking hours was spent in weeping, uttering piteous groans whenever sympathetic eyes dwelt upon him. Imagine the amazement of the nurses when one day he was heard to ejaculate between his many groans, " When the war is finished, I will go to England. I will go to England to find a wife ! " ("J'irai en Angleterre chercher une femme "). The process of washing the newly arrived men who were not severely enough wounded to be immediately put to bed, and there undergo their ablutions, afforded many humorous situations. For a considerable time, a fairly sound member of the convalescent community — Happ by name — was assigned the task. From the beginning he evinced an uncanny enjoyment of his job ; and before long de- veloped an extraordinary muscular growth in his daily " chasse aux poux." It was most humorous to see Happ, on the arrival of the wounded in the entrance hall, skulking behind the doctors and orderlies, spotting his grimy victims. A sinister satisfaction then illumined his long, thin, melancholy face at the sight of prospective patients. His own combination of stomach and bronchial troubles was promptly forgotten, or in abeyance at the prospect of further pugilistic encounters. His early enthusiasm gained force with daily washings, and developed in addition a cheer which he devoted solely to the reassur- ance of the new arrivals. Had Happ been a Britisher, there might well have been a concerted protest on the part of the soldiers PATIENTS AND PERSONALITIES 203 against rigorous ablutions, which in France were con- sidered, in conjunction with fresh air, symptoms of an insular derangement. But if Happ's fist was of merciless purpose, his heart was as tender as a woman's. During the long washings and scrubbings, it was affect- ing to overhear his unfailing ohbligato of conversation to each soldier — yells of delight breaking from him whenever any game was added to the bag. The ablutions ended, his next (self-imposed) task, which he particularly enjoyed, was to gladden the hearts of the now spotless victims with glowing praises of the hospital. The beauty of the place, the care and kind- ness of the personnel, the delicious food, the unspeak- able peace of the wards and cloisters, all were dwelt upon with such enthusiasm and effect that even before turning into bed the newly arrived were already in love with their unfamiliar surroundings. His kindly solicitude was not confined to those entrusted to his soapy legerdemain. Any one in distress among the new arrivals caught at once his searching eye, and untiring were his efforts to help, amuse, or reassure his stricken brothers. He was an inveterate worker, and to his hammam obligations he added the business of helping in the wards — dusting and cleaning with thoroughness and enjoyment. His ultimate evacuation after many months at the Abbey proved a long - dreaded misfortune to both patients and Staff. In the early days an Enghsh " blue-blood" had volun- teered as chauffeur, and was installed at Royaumont. His services were often requisitioned after his trans- portation of the wounded at night from M to help Happ in his soap-and-water battues. It was interesting to watch the maiden efforts of this Belgrave native, arrayed in high rubber boots and long mackintosh apron from head to feet, scrubbing vigorously the writhing French blesses. The removal of cutaneous properties 204 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT accumulated in the trenches not only taxed his Univer- sity muscles, but occasioned much beneficial discomfort to the infected wounded. His bit resulted doubtless in many a bite ; but apparently' insect resentment did not relax his efforts ; for, to the end, constant were the complaints from the French soldiers of his Keating ferocity of fist. The most placid and willing of men — tall, rosy, distinguished — his courtesy was never failing except to the elusive " small game." Between chauff cur- ing and scrubbing, he fulfilled several months' work at the hospital, and left regretted by all. T was the most remarkable individuality among the wounded of Royaumont. He had not the distin- guished polish of P in personality or manner, but under a rougher exterior possessed a surprising taste in literature which stamped him not only as a wide reader, but as a lover of the finer elements of poetry and prose. Tall, swarthy, athletic of figure, a face of faded bronze lit by pale grey eyes which seemed to grow yet paler under suffering, there was nothing in the exterior man to suggest the soul of an artist. A native of Dordogne, his rough muffled voice (handhng the delicacies of literary art) seemed to come from the marshes of his distant country. I remember a conver- sation I had with him one day, sitting at the foot of his bed in the Refector}' after a concert, during which he revealed the surprising finesse of a hidden mind. He had been impressed by the music — particularly by the romantic songs — and spoke at once of the old Pro- vencal troubadours. I asked him (with little expecta- tion of a favourable answer) if by chance he knew Rostand's Princesse Lointaine. " Oh yes," he re- sponded eagerly (his eyes sparkling with pleasure) ; and then quoted from the idyUic poem some of its most exquisite lines. From Melissande to Cyrano was the next step, and then again his quotations were chosen from what was most subtle and deHcate in Rostand's PATIENTS AXD PERSONALITIES 205 masterpiece. I asked him if he had lieard the on dit that the wife of the eminent French Academician was responsible for some of the most fehcitoiis verse in her husband's Gascon drama. He answered in the nega- tive ; then posed to me the question : " Are you acquainted with the poems of Rosamonde Gerard — her assumed name," he explained. " Ah ! they are indeed beautiful," he added, " and what I find most touching are the opening lines of her poem, ' The Eternal Song.' " Lifting his head from the pillow, eyes beaming with the joy of imparting beloved lines, he quoted slowly the quatrain — not the smallest nuance of beaut}* or grace escaping the caress of his hoarse, muffled voice : Lorsque tii sera vieux et je serai vieille, Lorsque mes cheveux blonds seroiit des cheveux blancs, Au mois de mai, dans le jardin qui s'ensoleille, Nous irons rechauffer nos vieux niembres tremblauts. " Voila la vie heureuse ! " he exclaimed with reHsh. A short dissertation on Verhaeren, and when I left him, his face was beaming with hidden things brought to hght. " Thank you, thank you for the conversation. It has been a deUghtful half-hour ! " were his parting words. During all those weeks of acquaintance, he had never revealed to me the fact that he had been decorated in hospital with the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille Militaire. Homme de guenx — that he did represent in outward appearance ; but homme de Ictircs was the business of a hidden soul. If the opportunities of conversation disclose the nature of the man, a further note of self-revelation is often afforded by the medium of correspondence— distance 2o6 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT lending a confidence often absent in personal inter- course. I append several (of many) letters received by the hospital Staff from wounded men after their cure and evacuation. They will divulge not only finesse d' esprit, but an appreciation and gratitude which in many cases ended only when a return to the trenches had silenced forever their friendly voices. ^ A letter addressed to M. le Directeur runs thus : — Excusez-moi de rimpolitesse que j'ai commise en ne vous remerciant pas de vive voix des soins dent j'ai ete Tobjet dans I'etablissement (modele) dont vous etes le directeur (modele). J'etais tres occupe par mes affaires que j'avais a arranger, par les adresses que je devais prendre, et surtout, j'etais triste, tres triste, intiniment triste ! II fallait quitter deux excellentes camarades. II fallait quitter la Salle Blanche de Castille, d'ou je n'ai emporte que de doux souvenirs. II fallait quitter ces excellents medecins dont la haute competence est indiscutable, et dont la bonte et la douceur semblent semer du baume sur la mire presente ; le personnel infatigable qui se sacrifie avec le desinteresse- ment le plus complet. Enfin il fallait quitter Royaumont ! Cette Abbaye qui semble s'isoler du reste du monde pour n'aspirer de la civilisation que les plus douces senteurs. Permettez-moi, M. le Directeur, de vous dire ce que je pense de Royaumont. Quant au Service de Sante, je crois qu'il est confie a un des medecins les plus capables : Miss Ivens, la bonte meme. D'ailleurs, cet excellent medecin est admirablement seconde par des dames qui sont animees du plus pur esprit de sacrifice. Quant a la nourriture, je puis dire, et pour cause, qu'elle est tres bien ordonnee, et plus que suffisante. ' I have purposely abstained from translating the following letters. To render them into English would be to sacrifice the charm of their polish or illiteracy. And those are the only reasons for their appearance here. PATIENTS AND PERSONALITIES 207 Quant au confortable, inutile de repeter ce que d'autres plus autorises que moi vous ont dit, et vous diront encore. Non, le soleil a beau sourire, colorer un paysage dcs plus pittoresque, faire chanter les oiseaux ; il ne pourra faire penetrer la joie dans le coeur d'un voyageur qui vient do quitter Royaumont ! qui y avait rencontre des amis ! qui a cu pour medecins de bienveillantes dames ! Votre on ne pent plus oblige, C Letter from an educated man after he had left the hospital : — Je m'acquitte d'une obligation bien douce en vous expri- mant aujourd'hui mes remerciements pour les soins attentifs et empresses que j'ai re(;us pendant mon sejour a I'hopital de Royaumont. J'ai trouve une egale bienveillance, uu egal devouement toujours souriant, dans les doctoresses, les Sisters, et les Misses qui se sont occupees de moi. Aussi, j'emporte et je garderai de Royaumont le tres agreable souvenir des deux semaines de delicieuse quietude, au sortir des violentes emotions et des dures fatigues de la tranchee. Je ne puis que souhaiter a nos blesses la chance de trouver, pour les soigner, des mains aussi douces et en meme temps aussi expertes, qu'a Royaumont. Et puisque c'est une cven- tualitc toujours possible taut que dure cette terrible guerre, je me souhaite a moi-meme, si j'etais de nouveau blesse, la faveur de beneficier encore de vos soins. From a bereaved mother Le I" Janvier 1916. Madame le Medecix-Chef, Permettez a mon mari et moi d'offrir en le jour de Tan a Madame le Medccin-Chef nos souhaits et nos vccux les plus sinceres et les plus respectueuses, et malgre tout notre chagrin de la separation de notre cher fils et de scs chers camarades nous sommes heureux de lui temoigncr en ce jour beni ainsi qu'a toutes les bonnes dames de I'hOpital Thomagc 2o8 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT de notre plus respectueuse reconnaissance pour les soins si devoues qu'elles ont donnes si genereusement a notre cher Gilbert, et a tons ceux qui ont le bonheur de rentrer a Royaumont. Merci, et encore merci, Madame le Medecin- Chef, pour tant de bienfaits et tant de bontes de sa part pour une si belle cause. Je ne Toublierai jamais, Madame le Medecin-Chef, que je vois toujours avec son gracieux et si doux sourire. Vraiment il n'y a que Dieu, Madame, qui puisse recompenser un si sublime devouement. Je serai bien reconnaissante a Madame le M6decin-Chef si elle voulait bien me donner I'adresse et le nom du digne ofticier qui a cte si bon pour mon pauvre Defunt. Et avec nos plus respectueux remerciements nous prions Madame le Medecin-Chef et toutes les bonnes Dames de bien vouloir recevoir I'expression de nos sentiments les plus respectueux. La tres reconnaissante Salles Nobillon. It is pathetic to remark here a mother's grief which found expression only in gratitude for the devoted but fruitless care of her lost son. I reserve for the last the most remarkable letter of the little collection offered to the reader : from the venerable Cur^ d'Asnieres, Chaplain of the Royaumont Hospital. It has reference to the deceased Gilbert Salles, men- tioned in the last letter. ASNIERES-SUK-OlSE, 20/X/15. BOXNE ET ChEKE MaDAME, J'ai vu, hier, le cher petit Salles, que vous disputez avec tant de devouement a la mort. J'ai jiense qu'il serait peut-ctre tres utile de transferer dans ses veines un peu de sang regen^rateur qui pourrait lui donner, avec la force de gu6rir, le moyen de reprendre toute son Anergic et toute son activite intellectuelle. Je me mets, en toute simplicite et toute franchise, a votre wsrm IN THE CLOISTERS. AN ORUEKLY, PATIENTS AND PERSONALITIES 209 entiere disposition. Je vous offre tout le sang qui coule dans mes veines. Usez-en, je vous en supplie, sans compter. Je suis tout a vos ordres. Vous me rendrez heureux, bien heureux, en acceptant mon offre. Soyez assez bonne, chere at bonne Madame, je vous prie, d'agreer, avec mes hommages tres respectueux, I'assurance de tout mon dcvouement en N.S. B I fear to disfigure this memorable letter by trans- lation. One feels that the task should be performed ... on one's knees. ASNIERES-SUR-OlSE, 20/X/15. Good and Dear Lady, 1 have to-day seen dear little Salles, for whom you are fighting Death with such unsparing devotion. I have been thinking that it might be well to transfuse into his veins some regenerating blood which might give him the strength necessary for convalescence and ultimate recovery. I place myself in all humbleness and sincerity at your disposal. I offer you all the blood that runs through my body. Use it, I entreat you, to its fullest limit. You will make me happy, supremely happy, by accepting my offer. I beg of you, dear and good Lady, to accept, with my respectful homage, the assurance of my fidelity in Our Lord. B True Shepherd of Souls, ready to give his life for his sheep — there is an added pathos when (having known him) one reahzes that what he was offering for regeneration was the attenuated blood of an over-spent heart. But of that he had no thought. The eternal youth of self-sacrifice was in his veins ; in his Christ- like mind, an eagerness to give, to give all he had — to exchange even life for death. And it was not the sudden impulse of a prodigal moment. His unsparing devotion, cheer, unselfishness 14 210 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT to the wounded at the hospital since its d^but, the extravagant use of his forces for their mental and spiritual alleviation, is a matter of record in the memory of all who have known him at Royaumont. Perhaps one httle hidden fact may assure the reader how in small as well as in great matters the venerable Abb6 was always prepared to buy the comfort of the wounded at his own unquaUfied expense. Aged in years, and in residence of the damp district, he had succumbed to the scourge of the locality. His hmbs were stiffened by rheumatism, his one luxury was a fire in his study. During the long winters no coals ever burned on his hearth. With the money saved, he bought tobacco and cigars for his " dear children." In considering the hundreds of sufferers who have sojourned at this happy hospital home, the brotherly comradeship existing among the men is a striking characteristic. This is due not only to a simplicity and joyousness of character natural to the French, but to a racial sense of equahty which makes brothers of them all. The fact is never more evident, or more touching, than in the intercourse between the soldier and his officer. Here we have no gold-braided arro- gance, no machine-made authority, no maltreatment of man by beast. Officers and men meet on the common ground of humanity and patriotic conscription. Authority is maintained, not maimed by imperious per- secution : capitaine and poilu are veritable brothers- in-arms. This mutual sympathy ensures a respect for discipline, and stimulates a quick racial comprehension of the possibiUties of individual initiative. No occa- sions reveal more convincingly this mihtary comrade- ship than the visits of French officers to their wounded in hospital. The fihal pride and affection of the poilu for his kind commandant, the latter's unconcealed inter- est, his invariable greeting " Mon enfant," reveal a brotherly love which, added to a profound patriotism, PATIENTS AND PERSOXALITIES 211 constitutes a combination of invincible importance. The numerous visits of Generals to the Abbey have been of touching gratification to patients and per- sonnel alike. Solicitude from Headquarters, and the tonic of occasional etiquette in the presence of officers, have been of constant psychological benefit to the ununiformed soldiers. CHAPTER XIX " GOOD-BYE " After the arrival of the wounded at the entrance hall of the Abbey, where a spontaneous welcome always awaits them, the most touching scene is the hour of their departure : repaired, recovered, on their way to possible release from service, often en route again to the trenches. It was late afternoon when I last saw them leave — the cloisters in shadow, a sunset glow bathing the incurable wounds of the ruined church, a hooded ambu- lance transformed into a char-a-banc standing before the great Abbey door. A large crowd had congregated there : nurses, orderlies, convalescents, a great part of the hospital Staff — all assembled to speed the depart- ing " guests " (for that is what the wounded are at Royaumont) on their momentous journey. An animated scene, a restless va-d-vient of orderlies carrying the soldiers' luggage ; orders, counter-orders, commanding voices of officials — of affected resonance. A veritable din. But through it all, a feeUng of sus- pense, of sadness held in determined check. Suddenly " the wounded " appeared (twelve) : once more in their picturesque blue uniforms (brushed, burnished by their faithful nurses), bare-headed, cap in hand. Accoutred again for war ! Yet . . . hang- ing back sorrow-eyed, suddenly shy as they searched the crowd for their comrades, called timidly the names ^t "GOOD-BYE" :i3 of their beloved " Seesters " — retarding thus as long as possible the dreaded departure. It was a heart-rending scene : tears, affected laughter, hand held long in hand, a few words in English from the men, perhaps learned and secretly treasured for the parting moment — and they were away. Then — above the loud panting of the Darracq — a flutter of hands and handkerchiefs, cries of God-speed from nurses, orderlies, and Staff ; above all the pande- monium of farewell, a chorus of cheers from the retreat- ing ambulance : " Merci pour tous les bons soins." " Vive I'Angleterre ! " " Vive les Dames Ecossaises ! ! " " Vive Royaumont ! ! ! " And from one solitary voice — charged with tears : " Au re voir ! " " Au revoir ! " broke from every throat in spon- taneous agreement ; again and again — from the gardens, the avenue, the outer-gate, from the distant highway, the last cry ... a murmur in the whispering wind. The heart's full measure of affection and gratitude in the parting words. And in their hidden meaning — an unexpressed willingness to be again wounded, and so return to their beloved Royaumont. " Au revoir ! " APPENDIX NATIONAL UNION OF WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE SOCIETIES SCOTTISH WOMEN'S HOSPITALS FOR FOREIGN SERVICE Headquarters Office : 2 St. Andrew's Square, Edinburgh. SUMMARY TO DATE, OCTOBER 1914-JANUARY 1917 Abbey de Royaumont C.M.O Dr. Frances Ivens Administrator . . Miss Cicely Hamilton Accommodation . . 400 beds This Hospital was established in December 1914, and is directly under the French Red Cross. In September the French President paid it an official visit of inspection and spoke most highly of its excellent organization and adminis- tration. Up to the 2oth of September 1916, 2,250 patients had been admitted. The large majority were surgical cases. Attached to this Hospital is a well-equipped X-ray Depart- ment and Laboratory. Salonika {Girlon and Newnham Unit) C.M.O Dr. Louise McIlrov Administrator Accommodation . . 300 beds This Unit was formerly at Troyes, in France, where it was established by the express wish of the French Military 215 2i6 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT Authorities. On the departure of the French MiHtary Force for Salonika, it was ordered by the Minister of War to accompany the army. This is one of the few occasions upon which a voluntary hospital has been attached to an Expeditionary Force. During the months of July and August 1916 alone, 1,000 cases were admitted and treated. The majority of cases during the summer were medical, comprising principally cases of malaria and dysentery. During the later months of the year, however, surgical cases in a considerable number were admitted. The French, to show their appreciation of the services rendered by this Unit, decorated its C.M.O., Dr. Louise Mcllroy, with the Croix de Guerre. Serbian Refugee Hospital, Corsica {Manchester and District Federation Unit) C.M.O Dr. Mary Phillips Administrator . . . Miss Culbard This Unit is in charge of the medical affairs of the Serbian Refugee Colony in the Island of Corsica. It consists of the main Hospital at the Villa Niot, Ajaccio, the Isolation Hospital at the Lazaret, and out-patient Dispensaries at the Refugee Houses at Chiavari and St. Antoine, as well as an out-patient department attached to the Main Hospital. Daily visits are also paid by the Staff to patients in Ajaccio, as well as to the Refugee Centre at Salines. Units Attached to the Serbian Army {''America" Unit) C.M.O Dr. Agnes Bennett Administrator . . Miss Florence Jack Accommodation . . 250 beds After the reorganization of the Serbian Army, the Govern- ment asked the Scottish Women's Hospitals for two fully equipped Units. The lirst of these left for the East in SCOTTISH WOMEN'S HOSPITALS 217 August 1916. On arrival at Salonika it proceeded in the wake of the Serbian Army to Ostrovo, where it worked day and night during the severe lighting for Monastir. The Ambulance Corps of this Unit rendered splendid service on the dangerous mountain roads. Dr. Bennett, writing from Macedonia and commenting on the work, said : " As long as there are wounded men on the hills our cars will go to bring them in, if it is humanly possible to manage it, and our girls are most wonderful — no praise is too high for their nerve and skill." Owing to the severe nature of the fighting, all the cases admitted have been surgical. Motor Transport Column At the same time as the " America " Unit left this country, a Transport Column consisting of six Ford ambulances, two vans, and a motor kitchen was sent to do transport work for the Serbians. The aid given by the ambulances has been invaluable in bringing the wounded into hospital. This column has now been attached to the ''America" Unit, and the two, working together, make a very efficient and useful combination. The late Commandant of the Column, Mrs. Harley, has been decorated by the French with the Croix de Guerre. She met her death in March 1917 from the explosion of an enemy shell in the unfortified town of Monastir. London Units {With the Serbian Division of the Russian Army) C.M.O Dr. Elsie Inglis Administrator . . Miss Henderson Accommodation . . Two Field Hospitals of loo beds each and Motor Trans- port Column The arrival of the London Units in Russia coincided with Rumania's entrance into the war. They immediately proceeded to the Dobrudja with the Serbian Division, Dressing stations were organized and strenuous work was 2i8 THE HOSPITAL AT ROYAUMONT done by the main body of the Unit at Medjidji. The entire Staff took part in the retreat, giving whatever aid it was possible to render. Since then they have been working where help was most necessary, and Serbs, Rumanians, and Russians have been under their care. Transport Column Attached to this Unit, under the Hon. Mrs. Haverfield, is a Motor Transport Column, consisting of a number of Ford ambulances, two field kitchens, two motor lorries, a touring car, and a workshop car. With a column such as this the Unit is easily moved and is not dependent upon outside transport. PREVIOUS WORK Calais C.M.O. . . . Dr. Alice Hutchison The first Hospital, or rather contingent, sent out by the Scottish Women's Hospitals was undertaken at the request of Dr. Depage, the Belgian surgeon, who applied to the Scottish Women's Hospitals for two doctors and ten fully trained nurses to take charge of a typhoid Annexe at Calais. Serbia Commissioner . . Dr. Elsie Inglis Kraguievatz C.M.O Dr. Eleanor Soltau This Unit worked all through the great typhus epidemic and was responsible during that time for 570 beds. Mladanovatz {Neill Fraser Memorial) C.M.O Dr. Beatrice McGregor Adminislralor . . Miss Gertrude Pares Accommodaiion . . 400 beds SCOTTISH WOMEN'S HOSPITALS 219 Valjevo {London Wales Unit) C.M.O Dr. Alice Hutchison Administrator . . . Miss Flokenxe Jack Accommodation . . . 250 beds Lazarovatz C.M.O Dr. Hollway Administrator . . . Hon. Mrs. Haverfield Accommodation . . . 300 beds All the foregoing Units continued to work in Serbia until the autumn of 1915, when they had to retreat with the Serbian Army. Dr. Elsie Inglis and Dr. Alice Hutchison, with their Units, were made prisoners. By March 1916 all the members of the Serbian Unit had reached this country. AUTHORITIES CONSULTED FOR HISTORY OF THE ABBEY Histories. Histoire sur la Vie de Saint- Louis : Guillaume de Nangis, Sire de Joinville, Le Nain de Tilleinont, M. de Villeneuve, Felix Faure, Marius Lepel, etc. Histoire de Sainte-Elisabeth : Montalembert. Histoire de Boniface VIII : Dom Louis Forti. Histoire de Jean Montmirail. Histoire de la Liberte Religieuse en France : Miguet. Histoire de Lorraine : Dom Calmet. Histoire des Causes de la Revolution Fran^aise : Miguet. Histoire des Girondins. Histoire de Paris et ses environs. Histoire de la Maison de France. Histoire Litterairc de la France. Histoire Orientale : Jacques de Vitry. Itineraire de Paris a Jerusalem : Chateaubriand. Etudes Historiques : Chateaubriand. Histoires de la France : Guizot, Michelet, etc. Histoire des Croisades : Michaud. History of England : Lingard. Chronicles of Froissard. Dictionnaire Universel de France. Biographie Universelle : Michaud. Monastic. Regie de Saint-Benoit. Chronicum Cisterciensis ordinis — 1614. Notitia abbatiarum ord. Cist. Origines ac progressus ord. Cist. — 1640. Cist, seu verius ecclesiastici annales a condito Cistercio — 1642-59. 220 AUTHORITIES CONSULTED 231 ^fonasticon Cisterciensis. Statuta Capital! generalis ord. Cist. Gallia Christiana — 1626. Essai de I'Histoire de I'Ordre de Cit. Chron. Xangii ap. d'Achery, Annales Waverly ap. Liiard. Annales Monastici. Beaunier's Recueil Historique . . . des archevcches. Charte de Charite. Esprit primitif de I'Ordre de Citeaiix : Dom Julien. Histoire de I'Ordre de Citeaux : Le Nain de Tillemont. Recherches sur les Abbayes Cisterciennes. Etudes sur les Abbayes Cisterciennes : M. d'Arbois de Jubainville. Eclaircissement des Privileges de I'Ordre de Citeaux, Histoire des Ordres Religieux : Le P. Helyot. Origines Cisterciennes : Janauschek. Recueil General des Benefices. Histoire de la Reforme de I'Ordre de Citeaux: Dom Gervaise. Thesaurus anecdotoruni : Dom Martene. Les Moines et leur Influence : Abbe Martin. Les Moines d'Occident : Montalembert. A Sketch of Monastic Constitutional History : F. Aidan, Cardinal Gasquet. Fleurs Monastiques : Maxime de Mont-Rond. Lois Ecclesiastiques de France : de Hericourt. Etudes sur la Papaute au conr du XIV' siecle : Gautier. Constitutions d'Innocent VI du 18 mai 1353. Ernest Renan : Journal des Dehats du 16 jan. 1855. Martyrologue de Royaumont. Histoire de I'Eglise au XVIII* siecle : Robiano. Histoire des Idees Morales et Politiques au XVIII* siecle : Jules Barri. Monasteres Benedictins : Dantier. Local Archives and Charters. Archives de I'Empire et Comtes de Beaumont : Dou- cet d'Arcy. Archives Imperiales, Registre du Tresor des Chartres. 222 AUTHORITIES CONSULTED Archives de Seine et Oise, Chartes de Franchise donnees par le Roi Louis VIII en faveur des habitants d'Asnieres. Chartes de Saint-Louis. Breviaire d'Evreux (Essai sur Luzarches : Hahn). Histoire du Pays du Beauvaisis : Louvet. Histoire du Diocese de Beauvais : Delettre. Antiquites du Beauvaisis. Description du Departement de I'Oise : Cambrai. Annales d'Aiguebelle. SenHs et Chantilly : Vatin. Les Affiches de Senhs. ROYAUMONT. Journal des Visites d'Etudes: Rigault. Les Lettres du Martyre de Sainte-Agnes : Bartolini. Memoires de M. de Brienne. Etudes sur Vincent de Beauvais. Chartularum monasterii Regalis-Montis. Bibhotheca bibliothecarum manuscriptorum nova : Monfaucon. Copie moderne du Cartulaire de Royaumont : Gai- gnieres. Le Cabinet des Manuscrits : Leopolde DeHsles. Inventaire de la Manse Conventuelle de Royaumont. Rapport sur Royaumont : Le Pere Cannone. Memoires de Saint-Simon. Vie de I'Abbe de Ranee : Abbe de MarsolUers. Listes des Abbes Commendataires de Royaumont : Gallia Christ. Christiana et Almanach Royal. Grande Encyclopedic : Abbayes, Commendataires, etc. Dictionnaire du Droit Commun : Durand de Maillanes. Ordonnances de Mgr. de la Rochefoucauld. Lettres et Instructions du Cardinal de Richelieu. Canonisation du " Bienheureux Jules Mazarin." Les Heros Frangais : par I'Aumonier du Due d'Orleans. Les Hommes Illustres (Lorraine). Memoires de Monglat. Vie de Charles V, Due de Guienne. AUTHORITIES CONSULTED 223 Lettres du Comte d'Harcoiirt (MSS.). Burke's Letters. Antiquites Nationales : Millin. Histoire des trois derniers Princes de Conde : Cretineau-Joly. Les Chateaux de France. Memoires de la Baronne d'Oberkirck. Histoire des Causes de la Revolution Franfaise : Miguet. La Revolution : Taine. Revolution Fran^aise : Thiers. Histoire Parlementaire de la Revolution : Buchez et Roux. Tribunal Revolutionnaire de Paris : Eug. Campardon. Moniteur Universel. Memoires d'Outre-Tombe : Chateaubriand. Memoires de Mdlle de Cochelet. Monographic de I'Eglise Royale de Saint-Denis : Guillermy. Manuscrits a la Bibliotheque Nationale (20813, fol. 159- 66), containing an account of the transfer of the royal tombs from Royaumont to St. Denis, the dismantling of the Abbey bells, and a search for the monastery's " livres precieux." Histoire de Royaumont : I'Abbe Duclos. L'Abbaye de Royaumont dans ses rapports avec le Departement de I'Oise : Menard. Brochure sur Royaumont : Henri Gouin. Bulletin Monumental (Vol. 72, Nos. 3-4, 1908) : Philippe Lauer. I am also indebted for valuable help and information to M. le Pere Rousselle, Chaplain of the Hopital Auxiliaire de Royaumont and Cure d'Asnieres, to M. le Cure de Boran, to Messieurs Eugene Lefevre-Pontalis, Jacques Doucet, Leonce de Boyrie, T. Goblet, A. N. Prentice, F.R.I. B.A., and to H. W. Lonsdale, Esq. Printed in Great Britain by UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAil PRES3, WOKINQ AND LONDON Works by Maurice Maeterlinck Translated by ALFRED SUTRO and A. TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS ESSAYS THE LIFE OF THE BEE {^^th Thousand THE TREASURE OF THE HUMBLE {-t.ird Thouiand WISDOM AND DESTINY {z-^th Thousand THE BURIED TEMPLE \\'i,th Thousand THE DOUBLE GARDEN \\-^thThousana LIFE AND FLOWERS [14/i Thousand Croivn 8t'o, 5^. 7Ut each. Pocket Edition : Cloth zs. 6d. netea.h. Leather 3/. 6d. net each, Tapp js. 6d. net each. PLAYS MONNA VANNA [6th Thousand AGLAVAINE AND SELYSETTE [^th Thousand JOYZELLE [5M Thousand SISTER BEATRICE, AND ARDIANE AND BARBE BLEUE [^th Thousand Translated by Bernard Miall PELLEAS AND MELISANDA, AND THE SIGHTLESS Translated by Laurence Alma Tadema Globe 8 CO, y. 6d. net each. Pocket Edition : Cloth zs. 6d. net each. Leather 3/. 6d. net each, Tapp 5/. net each. OLD-FASHIONED FLOWERS. Illustrated in Colour by G. S. Elgood, Poit \to. p. 6d. ?iet. New Edition, Crozvn %vo. zs. 6d. net. MY DOG. Illustrated in Colour by Cecil Aldin. Pott ^to. 3/. ()d. net. THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS. Translated by A. R. Allinson. Crown ?>z>o. Cloth. 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