One day, while I was trying to bathe away the fever from the head and hands of a young officer, General Butler entered the tent with some of his staff, and thanked me for my care of this favorite, asking that I would do all in my power to make him comfortable.
Another patient, Chaplain Eaton, of a Connecticut regiment, was recovering from typhoid, and, though not very ill at this time, still claimed a good deal of my attention. I felt, however, that it was a waste of time to spend many minutes talking with him, or in reading the Bible to him, while so many others were really suffering and needing special care. But I wrote to his wife and did what I could. He was very grateful, and wished to prove it by presenting to me a handsome black horse, that his orderly brought daily to the tent for inspection and petting. The animal was so intelligent that he seemed really to recognize me. The chaplain’s insistence upon my accepting the horse was quite annoying; and at last I said to him that “it would be a great pity to turn such a beautiful creature into an ‘elephant’, which he would certainly become on my hands.”
CHAPTER X
EXPERIENCES AT POINT OF ROCKS
On Miss Barton’s return I found myself very much “de trop,” though she treated me kindly. I saw very little of her work, but her extreme deliberation, when one day I had run to her quite breathless from the operating tent for bandages, etc., for the surgeons who were waiting, was very irritating. She asked about my health, urged me to take a seat, and very slowly rummaged about for the necessary supplies. The only time I saw her actively engaged was on a day when there had been a skirmish at the front, and she started for the field with the ambulance and an orderly, and a small box of bandages, condensed milk, etc.
One bright moonlight night, I was startled by strange sounds of melodious singing in the distance, and, with an orderly, I went to ascertain its meaning. We soon came upon a large fire surrounded by a circle of perhaps forty negroes, men and women, crooning and singing. They were often led by a high falsetto, then sinking to a low monotone, when suddenly another voice would rise changing to a new refrain, while not one lost the time or pitch or made discords. They danced hand in hand in a slow rythmic circle, while one, more excited than the rest, would spring up to a remarkable height shouting, “Glory! bress de Lawd!” “I’s a-comin’ Lawd!” etc. All “eyes in a fine frenzy rolling,” shone like great black beads in the firelight, while their white teeth gleamed brightly. All were in solemn seriousness as they sang simple couplets like the following:
“If I’d a died when I was young,
I wouldn’t a had dis risk to run.”
“Some folks is bery good on de sing,
But dey don’t know nuffin ’bout de hebbenly King.”