Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/407

 CARE OF THE SICK AND WOUNDED. 363 • "ive them all that watchful care which allevi- chap. XI ' ates suffering, aud tends to restore health and ^ ' strength. When you see us directing that ' stimulants in large quantities are to be admin- ' istered to a patient, you will know that his ' case is all but hopeless, and that, if he be saved, ' he will owe his life to the constancy with which ' you watch over him, aud keep him supplied ' with nourishment.' With ceaseless devotion and energy the in- structions were obeyed. What number of lives were saved — saved even in that pest-stricken hospital of Kullali — by a long, gentle watchful- ness, when Science almost despaired, no statistics of course can show ; and still less can they gauge or record the alleviation of misery effected by care such as this ; but apparent to all was the softened demeanour of the soldier when he saw approaching his pallet some tender, gracious lady intent to assuage his suffering, to give him the blessing of hope, to bring him the food he liked, and withal — when she came with the medicine — to rule him like a sick child. Coarse expressions and oaths deriving from barracks and camps died out in the wards as though exorcised by the .^acred spell of her presence, and gave way to murmurs of gratitude. When conversing in this softened mood with the lady appointed to nurse him, the soldier used often to speak as though the worship he owed her and the worship he owed to heaven were blending into one senti- ment ;(^) and sometimes indeed he disclosed a wild faith in the ministering angel that strained