the while a strong desire to insinuate a few of
his own disagreeable knives and scissors into him, and see how he liked
it. A very disrespectful and ridiculous fancy of course; for he was
doing all that could be done, and the arm prospered finely in his
hands. But the human mind is prone to prejudice; and though a
personable man, speaking French like a born "Parley voo," and whipping
off legs like an animated guillotine, I must confess to a sense of
relief when he was ordered elsewhere; and suspect that several of the
men would have faced a rebel battery with less trepidation than they
did Dr. P., when he came briskly in on his morning round.

As if to give us the pleasures of contrast, Dr. Z. succeeded him, who,
I think, suffered more in giving pain than did his patients in enduring
it; for he often paused to ask: "Do I hurt you?" and seeing his
solicitude, the boys invariably answered: "Not much; go ahead, Doctor,"
though the lips that uttered this amiable fib might be white with pain
as they spoke. Over the dressing of some of the wounds, we used to
carry on conversations upon subjects foreign to the work in hand, that
the patient might forget himself in the charms of our discourse.
Christmas eve was spent in this way; the Doctor strapping the little
Sergeant's arm, I holding the lamp, while all three laughed and talked,
as if anywhere but in a hospital ward; except when the chat was broken
by a long-drawn "Oh!" from "Baby B.," an abrupt request from the Doctor
to "Hold the lamp a little higher, please," or an encouraging, "Most
through, Sergeant," from Nurse P.

The chief Surgeon, Dr. O., I was told, refused the higher salary,
greater honor, and less labor, of an appointment to the Officer's
Hospital, round the corner, that he might serve the poor fellows at
Hurly-burly House, or go to the front, working there day and night,
among the horrors that succeed the glories of a battle. I liked that so
much, that the quiet, brown-eyed Doctor was my especial admiration; and
when my own turn came, had more faith in him than in all the rest put
together, although he did advise me to go home, and authorize the
consumption of blue pills.

Speaking of the surgeons reminds me that, having found all manner of
fault, it becomes me to celebrate the redeeming feature of Hurly-burly
House. I had been prepared by the accounts of others, to expect much
humiliation of spirit from the surgeons, and to be treated by them like
a door-mat