d the whole town
has been ordered out from one station. You can't imagine the scenes.
Prince Wasilchikoff has helped me very much in the place of his wife
who had to go to Petersburg, and now he is going to join his
regiment. I hope he can take this letter to send through Sweden. My
consolation is that the war was started in behalf of Servia--it
alleviates the horror of all that is going on. Prince Wasilchikoff
came in for a moment and said that the political situation was very
good and that England has declared war. Everyone is going to the war
with enthusiasm. Don't worry too much. This section of the Army will
not give in till the last. The Commander Grigorieff is splendid and
General Rennenkamph is a real fighting man. I have 56 sisters ready
in Kovno. My heart and head are full of anxiety and love for you, for
you all. I may be able to get letters to you still, but if not, look
out for Tibi's little grave whatever happens."

The absorbing work in Kovno, the excitement and the patriotic fervor
were all beneficial to Nelka's state of mind in that it took it off
her constant thinking about the death of her little dog.

While Nelka had her own sisters and hospital, the Army decided to
consolidate the services under their jurisdiction and turned their
own Army sisters over to Nelka and she found herself at the head of
some 300 sisters. This was a large complicated administrative job but
she handled it with great efficiency. Most of the time the fortress
was under fire and it soon became obvious that it would not hold out.

The commanding general did not prove to be as good and efficient as
Nelka supposed and he also lost his nerve. Under the increasing
pressure of the Germans, he ordered the complete evacuation of the
fortress, of the troops and material, while this was still possible.
However, this was accomplished in a very poor manner and the
commander himself left the fortress 17 hours before Nelka did. He
also lost a great deal of his equipment.

Nelka in turn completed a full evacuation of her whole hospital and
saved all of her material. Everything in the hospital building which
could not be moved was destroyed and she went even that far to have
all brass knobs removed from the doors and thrown into the river so
that the Germans would not get the metal.

So Kovno fell, but the war went on and Nelka's hospital was
reestablished some 40 or 50 miles to the rear as a rear unit taking
care of the evacuated wound