Page:The Story of Aunt Becky's Army-Life .djvu/43

Rh induce him to submit to a blister, but I thought differently, and proposed mustard at first, which hurt some, but did not effect the cure,—he was still "weak in the lungs." Next, a blister of Spanish flies, well rubbed with vinegar to make it adhere, was applied, and he was cured.

We were very tired of him before he went away, but his blister served him one good purpose, whenever after that he was ordered to go on duty, all he had to do was to lay his hand on his lungs, and he was excused.

In the month of Jan., 1863, we were ordered to move to Laurel, to join those sick at that place—our hospital having been divided heretofore. The steward's mother was with us at that time, and once again I enjoyed the society of a woman, to whom I could talk without restraint. So strange it had seemed to me—no faces but those of bearded and mustached men.

I was anxious to go, for those whom I had come to the seat of war to tend in sickness were there. I took the cars, in company with a Mrs. Bennett, on a cold windy day, when the sun would peer at us by snatches, while white clouds with inky borders, as though they had dipped down into the troubled mire of earth in their flight, went hurriedly over the blue sky above us.

It was a dreary place to which we went, but I was welcomed to it so heartily, and found my room so cosy, I took it with a sigh of relief.

Our hospital buildings consisted of an old store, and