e." Having been run over by three excited surgeons, bumped against
by migratory coal-hods, water-pails, and small boys, nearly scalded by
an avalanche of newly-filled tea-pots, and hopelessly entangled in a
knot of colored sisters coming to wash, I progressed by slow stages up
stairs and down, till the main hall was reached, and I paused to take
breath and a survey. There they were! "our brave boys," as the papers
justly call them, for cowards could hardly have been so riddled with
shot and shell, so torn and shattered, nor have borne suffering for
which we have no name, with an uncomplaining fortitude, which made one
glad to cherish each as a brother. In they came, some on stretchers,
some in men's arms, some feebly staggering along propped on rude
crutches, and one lay stark and still with covered face, as a comrade
gave his name to be recorded before they carried him away to the dead
house. All was hurry and confusion; the hall was full of these wrecks
of humanity, for the most exhausted could not reach a bed till duly
ticketed and registered; the walls were lined with rows of such as
could sit, the floor covered with the more disabled, the steps and
doorways filled with helpers and lookers on; the sound of many feet and
voices made that usually quiet hour as noisy as noon; and, in the midst
of it all, the matron's motherly face brought more comfort to many a
poor soul, than the cordial draughts she administered, or the cheery
words that welcomed all, making of the hospital a home.

The sight of several stretchers, each with its legless, armless, or
desperately wounded occupant, entering my ward, admonished me that I
was there to work, not to wonder or weep; so I corked up my feelings,
and returned to the path of duty, which was rather "a hard road to
travel" just then. The house had been a hotel before hospitals were
needed, and many of the doors still bore their old names; some not so
inappropriate as might be imagined, for my ward was in truth a
ball-room, if gun-shot wounds could christen it. Forty beds were
prepared, many already tenanted by tired men who fell down anywhere,
and drowsed till the smell of food roused them. Round the great stove
was gathered the dreariest group I ever saw--ragged, gaunt and pale,
mud to the knees, with bloody bandages untouched since put on days
before; many bundled up in blankets, coats being lost or useless; and
all wearing that disheartened look which proclaimed defeat, more
p