The Birth House

The next morning, a man comes looking for Mr. Gordon, saying there has been a disaster in Halifax and medical help is needed. Charlie volunteers to go, though Archer does not. Mr. Gordon gives Dora his medical kit so that she can go, too, since she has experience as a midwife.

They take the train and see the wreckage of the Halifax Explosion “brought on by man’s devotion to war” (213). They see “masses of wounded men, women and children headed for hospitals” (213). They finally arrive and see widespread devastation from the munitions factory explosion, with dead people lying amongst the debris of destroyed homes. They go to Camp Hill Hospital to help.

Dora is sent all the pregnant women who went into labor from “the sound and force of the explosion” (214). Unable to stop the labors, Dora sees “child after child born too soon,” either dead or dying soon after (214). In addition to the premature babies, “there were just as many who would live, only to become orphans when their mothers died from shock” (215). A reporter tells Dora to record the names of the mothers so that there will be a record of who they are if they die.