Notes of hospital life from November, 1861, to August, 1863Anonymous
History
Notes of hospital life from November, 1861, to August, 1863
Anonymous
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Hospitals
There are our chairs, all arranged for us. What a crowd! At least, a
crowd for our number of well men,--over a hundred, certainly; all who are
fit to be out of their beds, and some who, we very well know, are not.
See how they are jammed together; on benches, on the dining-table itself,
in the windows, and on every available spot, battered and bandaged,
_wrappered_ and wrinkled, suffering and smiling, in one promiscuous
mass. Look at that pale boy, sitting on the corner of the table on our
right; he has been as ill as possible with typhoid fever, and surely
can never sit through the concert in that position. Let him try for a
while, however; the whole scene will do him more good, by amusing and
diverting his mind, than the exertion can do him harm. Truly, as we
glance around, it is a strange scene. Men from North, East, and West,
gathered together--in dress and undress uniform; from the cavalry jacket,
with its yellow facings, to dressing-gowns and even shirt-sleeves; all
eagerly and earnestly bent upon one idea; but even as they gaze, can you
not read their characters, and place their homes? Each State has its own
characteristics so strongly marked, that I have often laughingly promised
to tell each man in a ward, from whence he came; and after a little
practice, one seldom makes a mistake,--at least never wanders far from
the truth; but we cannot stop to discuss that point now, as the songs are
beginning.
But stop! It cannot be. Look, M., look! It actually is. Our naughty,
disobedient, handsome Harry, with his bandaged limb on a chair, over
there by the window. Only this morning did I hear the surgeon give orders
to have that limb put in a fracture-trough, as the only means to preserve
perfect stillness for it. I saw, later, that it had been done; and now
look--everything removed, and here he is. That was a very severe wound,
from which he has been suffering for many months; he told me yesterday,
that, in all, fifty pieces of bone had been taken out of his leg; the
surgeons rather pride themselves on having prevented the necessity of
amputation by the closest watching and care; and we cannot help feeling
provoked with him for persisting in moving about, when perfect rest is
so essential to his cure. And yet, who could ever be angry with Harry,
for any length of time? He has a way of his own of winning us over to his
side, and we know what a warm heart beats beneath that wilfulness; but
arguments with him are of little avail; the other day, in reply to my
earnest remonstrances, he said:
“But, Miss ----, my leg is my own, and if I like to have a little fun
now, and lose it afterwards, will any one but myself suffer?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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