potion and black jack, and I found they were all
agreed that the poor person, man or woman, who in
the Infirmary gave too much trouble or was in a
bad way, was polished off. That is to say, the
incurables and the obstreperous were given a dose
of black jack or the white potion, and sent over
the divide. It does not matter in the least whether
this be actually so or not. The point is, they have
the feeling that it is so, and they have created the
language with which to express that feeling
black jack, white potion, polishing off.

At eight o clock we went down into a cellar
under the Infirmary, where tea was brought to us,
and the hospital scraps. These were heaped high
on a huge platter in an indescribable mess pieces
of bread, chunks of grease and fat pork, the burnt
skin from the outside of roasted joints, bones, in
short, all the leavings from the fingers and mouths
of the sick ones suffering from all manner of dis
eases. Into this mess the men plunged their hands,
digging, pawing, turning over, examining, reject
ing, and scrambling for. It wasn t pretty. Pigs
couldn t have done worse. But the poor devils
were hungry, and they ate ravenously of the swill,
and when they could eat no more they bundled
what was left into their handkerchiefs and thrust it
inside their shirts.

"Once, w en I was ere before, wot did I find out

[[110]]

p109 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p110w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p111

v?