unaided. _Then_ it was bad enough, but neither so
unsightly nor so painful as _now_ that inflammation had supervened.
The poor boy tried not to flinch. His one bright eye looked gratefully
up at me. After I had finished, he wrote upon the paper which was
always at his hand, "You didn't hurt me like them doctors. Don't let
the Yankees get me, I want to have another chance at _them_ when I get
well." Having succeeded so well, I "took heart of grace," and felt
little trepidation afterward. But--oh! the horror of it. An Arkansas
soldier lay gasping out his life, a piece of shell having carried away
a large portion of his breast, leaving the lungs exposed to view. No
hope, save to alleviate his pain by applying cloths wet with cold
water. Another, from Tennessee, had lost a part of his thigh,--and so
on. The amputations were my greatest dread, lest I might displace
bandages and set an artery bleeding. So I dared not remove the cloths,
but used an instrument invented by one of our surgeons, as may be
imagined, of primitive construction, but which, wetting the tender
wounds gradually by a sort of spray, gave great relief. Of course,
fresh cloths were a constant necessity for suppurating wounds, but for
those nearly healed, or simply inflamed, the spray was invaluable. The
tents were the last visited, and by the time I had finished the
rounds, it was time to make some arrangements for the patients'
supper, for wounded men are always hungry.

I remember gratefully to this day the comfort and moral support I
received during this trying ordeal from a South Carolina soldier, who
even then knew that his own hours were numbered, and was looking death
in the face with a calm resignation and courage which was simply
sublime. He had been shot in the spine, and from the waist down was
completely paralyzed. After he had been wounded, some one
unintentionally having laid him down too near a fire, his feet were
burned in a shocking manner. He was one of the handsomest men I ever
saw, and, even in his present condition, of commanding presence and of
unusual intelligence. I strive in vain to recall his name, but memory
in this as in many other cases of patients to whom I was particularly
attracted will present their faces only. Calling me to his bedside he
spoke kindly and cheerfully, praising my efforts, encouraging me to go
on, drawing upon his store of general knowledge for expedients to meet
the most trying cases.

Everything that Dr.