Page:Lest We Forget The Sisters of Providence in Civil War Service.djvu/51

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LEST WE FORGET

day there is a distribution of milk punch, beef tea, stimulants of various kinds, medicines, etc., according to the directions of the day, placed at the head of each patient. Dinner at twelve, supper at six, and retirement of the day nurses and the extinction of the lights at nine o'clock. Then come the night-watchers and silence. For hours together, sometimes, there is the stillness of death, when you can hear the tread of a mouse; and yet, amid the stillness there is a vast deal of pain, quietly and uncomplainingly borne by the noble fellows who have been wounded in battle. God bless them for their heroism in the field, and for their equal heroism on their weary couches! A grateful country will remember and reward them.

"Throughout the night at fixed hours, there is distribution of medicines and stimulants, the wetting of bandages, and

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