rom Warsaw weeks before, and it was partaken of on
this melancholy occasion without enthusiasm. Even the punch made out of
a teaspoonful of brandy from the bottom of Princess's flask mixed with
about a pint of water and two lumps of sugar failed to move us to any
hilarity. Our menu did not vary in any particular from that usually
provided at the restaurant, though we did feel we might have had a clean
cloth for once.

MENU

CHRISTMAS 1914

Gravy Soup.

Roast Horse. Boiled Potatoes.

Currant Cake.

Tea. Punch.

We were very glad to go up to Radzivilow once more. Our former
dressing-station had been abandoned as too dangerous for staff and
patients, and the dressing- and operating-room was now in a train about
five versts down the line from Radzivilow station. Our train was a
permanency on the line, and we lived and worked in it, while twice a day
an ambulance train came up, our wounded were transferred to it and taken
away, and we filled up once more. We found things fairly quiet this
time when we went up. The Germans had been making some very fierce
attacks, trying to cross the river Rawka, and therefore their losses
must have been very heavy, but the Russians were merely holding their
ground, and so there were comparatively few wounded on our side. This
time we were able to divide up into shifts for the work--a luxury we
were very seldom able to indulge in.

We had previously made great friends with a Siberian captain, and we
found to our delight that he was living in a little hut close to our
train. He asked me one day if I would like to go up to the positions
with him and take some Christmas presents round to the men. Of course I
was more than delighted, and as he was going up that night and I was not
on duty, the general very kindly gave permission for me to go up too. In
the end Colonel S. and one of the Russian Sisters accompanied us as
well. The captain got a rough cart and horse to take us part of the way,
and he and another man rode on horseback beside us. We started off about
ten o'clock, a very bright moonlight night--so bright that we had to
take off our brassards and anything that could have shown up white
against the dark background of the woods. We drove as far as the
pine-woods in which the Russian positions were, and left the cart and
horses in charge of a Cossack while we were away. The general had
intended that we should see the reserve trenches, but we had seen plenty
of them before, and