Page:The Story of Aunt Becky's Army-Life .djvu/168



was relieved in the summer, and Dr. McDonald put in charge of our hospital. He ordered barracks to be built and the cook-houses to be merged in one, with a low diet, and a full diet-kitchen. Our old cooks were ordered to the front and men from the drum-corps put on duty instead.

The long row of low, unpainted buildings which sprang up would have suggested little poetry in the eyes of an imaginative person, but they were far better than tents, accommodating more patients, and, although destitute of architectural beauty, yet from the comfort afforded, looked well in our practical eyes.

The cannon belching forth its red flames sent men to their long account, and prostrated others with its withering touch; still the ceaseless work never paused, and our hands were not allowed to be folded idly in our laps, waiting for the relay of wounded.

We had always one work which lay ready at our hands. I suppose fastidious women who know not the size or color of a louse, or the uneasy sense of their crawling presence, will be shocked to learn that we had them in plenty in our hospital, in our heads, and in our clothing.