Page:Lest We Forget The Sisters of Providence in Civil War Service.djvu/20

women and vagabond men turned it into a monstrous brothel. It seemed likely to turn out a nuisance so gross as to justify its destruction and make it necessary to spend a few hundred dollars to tear down what it cost $30,000 to erect. But the war came, and with it the gathering of forces and its accompanying evils and sickness. There were but very inadequate accommodations in the camp for the sick; none in fact, for the time. The City Hospital seemed a special providence, sent in the very nick of time. It was exactly what was most needed. The frail, damp structures of the camp could protect the sick but little better than tents; and the dry, clean airy bed chambers that cure far better than medicine, were out of the question. The City Hospital could supply all, and of the best construction.