the drugs, the other as a
sort of counter where the druggist quickly compounded prescriptions,
which the surgeons as hastily seized and personally administered.
Carpenters were set at work; but of course shelves, etc., could not be
magically produced, so we placed boards across barrels, arranging in
piles the contents of the boxes for ready use.

Mrs. Hopkins, sitting upon a box, directed these matters, while I had
my hands full attending to the poor fellows in the wards where they
had been placed.

Four of our sick died that night. I had never in my life witnessed a
death-scene before, and had to fight hard to keep down the emotion
which would have greatly impaired my usefulness.

At the end of a long, large wing of the factory were two excellent
rooms, formerly the offices of the owners. These were comfortably
fitted up, the one as a bedroom for myself, and the other as a
sitting-room and private office. A female servant was specially
assigned to me, who slept on a mattress on the floor of the
sitting-room, and whose duty it was to accompany me through the wards
and render any special or personal service required. A long hall ran
along this wing, connecting the offices with the main building. The
long, broad room opening out of this hall was fitted up as a ward
specially mine, for the reception of my own friends and very ill
patients who needed my special attention day and night. This favor was
granted me because I had shown some unwillingness to place myself in
any position where I could not nurse any Louisiana soldier friends or
others who might desire or be permitted to come to me. As soon as
matters were somewhat settled, my little son joined me in my new
quarters, and thus the Third Alabama Hospital became our home for many
a month. The little fellow spent very little time there, however. My
Richmond friends never lost sight of me for one day during my service
in that city. Nearly every day my little boy was sent for to play
among happy children, far away from the impure atmosphere of the
hospital, which was soon filled with patients suffering from almost
every form of disease.

As the demand for more room became pressing, the three stories of the
main building were successively utilized, as well as a large
storage-room in the yard. The ground-floor contained the surgeons' and
steward's offices, store-rooms, etc., while the second and third
formed two immense sick-wards. The first floor of the long wing bef