Asleep. Where wild birds build their nests,
Unmindful of the brave.
John P. Force.
There were yet many patients, so that our work at the hospital went on as before, while waiting for further orders; while all soon became conscious of a general relaxation of the imperative discipline that had made our hospital a model of general courtesy, neatness, and order.
CHAPTER XXIV
PREPARING FOR A VISIT TO RICHMOND, THE CAPITAL OF THE LOST CONFEDERACY
“In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free.”—Abraham Lincoln.
A few days after the evacuation and capture of Richmond, a small party led by Mr. J. Yates Peek, of Brooklyn, still superintendent of the Sanitary Commission at City Point, arranged to make an early start on the morning of April 11th, to see the smoking city. Everything must be arranged over night, and I planned so as to jump quickly into my clothing, placing my only pair of good boots on a near-by chair, to lose no time. But in the morning, almost at the last moment, the boots were missing. When all had joined in the search, to no effect, the mystery increased.
We had a boy orderly, named Jack, who was more officious than useful, and often much in the way, and he volunteered in the search. Returning to my little room after a moment’s absence, to my astonishment I beheld the boy on the floor with his head in my trunk, which he had had the temerity to unlock. He was rummaging and disarranging everything as if with a pudding stick. I exclaimed: “Jack, what are you doing?” in no pleasant tone of voice.
“I thought the shoes might be in the trunk,” he quite coolly replied, “but I’ve been through every darned thing in it and they ain’t there.”