The National tribune., 1902-08-28

tai. Ihe surgeon IN cnarSe WIS III.
Brinton, with the same Medical Director
in supervision of the hospitals of the city
who held that position in April when
made my first acquaintance with general
hospitals. As l knew from experience
what it meant to sit on ones feet at
table for cOnvalescents, and as L WIS
pretty sick myself, Notwithstanding the
opinion of the kind young doctor l met
on the boat to the contrary, L stuck to
my bed until / was ashamed to keep it
any longer, for as long as q patient re-
manned bedridden he could mot ask for
better treatment. In a week or 10 days
DR.. Brinton had me up and around, and
then the convalescent fun began again.
MANSION HOUSE HOSPITAL.
Mansion House was the place where
Col Ellsworth was killed, in the Spring
Of 1861. 1t was now being used as
hospital, but as such was no improve
ment over Prince Street. Our table,
dishes, soup, salt, potato and bite of meat,
tea, coffee, water and bread were of the
same order and served in the same de-
lightful manner. In no case were we
allowed soup and bite of meat and po-
tato at the same meal, and at no meal
was the health-giving teaspoonful of salt
withheld any more than at Prince Street
Hospital; but at the Mansion House there
was one noticeable improvement worthy
of record: When our meals had been
prepared with such wonderful culinary
skill and the table arranged with such
artistic care, it was certainly right and
proper that the officials in authority at
Al sA,1 II nd
for that reason the convalescents were
never allowed to enter the dining-room
until the table, with its bountiful array
Of luscious fruits, choice viandS and
sumptuous rOasts, was thoroughly in
spected by the Surgeon and his staff.
Imagine several hundred half-starved sol
diers waiting for from 10 minutes to
three-quarters of an hour, as we often
did, until the tea, coffee or soup was as
cold as it could get in July or August for
q lot of chumps to go through the farce
of inspecting the diet Of worms. This
is no josh. The worms could always be
found in the pressed vegetable soup If
the inspectors cared to look closely for
them. Those pressed vegetables were
very nutritious and, for a convalescent,
far superior to vegetables freshly gather
ed from a garden; for that reason they
were used in the hospitals when fresh
vegetables could be obtained readily, for
carrots, turnips, parsnips, etc, etc, there
were the sweet and delicious worms that
could not be found in the fresh, and when
they were all pressed nicely together and
made into rich soup, is it wonder that
1t filled the patriotic soul of the GONZALES
cent soldier with renewed ardor, as it
filled his stomach with the new inspiration
Of health? When little down at the
heel there was really nothing to be COM
pared to a cup of pressed vegetable soup |
to put him firmly on his feet, especially |
when he stood up to eat it; therefore no |
chairs. or other seats. were allowed in |
the dining-room. / did not stand at the |
conyalescent table in the Mansion House |
Hospital basement many days; in fact, |
only a few days were required to make |
any man robust and ready for duty. Be |
sides, on the 9th of August the battle of |
Cedar Mountain was fought, and the |
wounded were sent in from the front. |
Then, also, many of the attendants, nurses |
and wardmasters, on duty in the hospital, |
were sent to their regiments in the field |
and their places filled from the GONZALES |
cents.
The room wherein sojcurned was filled |
with wounded from this battlefield, and l |
was detailed as the attendant of that
room. l had under my care seven or
eight patients. none Of them severely |
wounded, but, while confined to their
rooms and beds, had excellent appetites.
] had the care Of the room and was ex
pected also to look after the needs and |
supply the wants Of these wounded men.
The first day after assuming my new
duties, when the time came for dinner, 1 |
went into side kitchen or pantry where |
the head waiter or boss of the ward, who |
brought the food for the patients from |
the main kitchen in the basement, dishtd |
out or divided up the rations for the in |
mates of the several rooms in the ward. |
1c,,df ata 70
satisfy the hunger of the men under my |
care, and when / returned for more it |
was CURLY refused me. ! had some IN
pleasant words with the boss, and, not |
being able to obtain the food supply that |
would satisfy the appetites Of my patients,
went below to interview the chief cook
or any other person of higher authority |
where an appeal might lie, but was met |
with a fat refusal to discuss the matter |
ut all. Nevertheless, l persisted in dis |
cussing and cussing as the occasion re-
Quired Until the Hospital Chaplain hap |
pened to come that way, to whom l re-
1erred the situation. The Chaplain kind |
ly consolidated his forces with mine and |
together We captured the fort. When |
we arrived at settlement I got food |
sufficient for dinner for the men in my |
room, and thereafter 1 was never re-
fused anything l asked for in that kitchen, |
and tie men in my charge got all they |
and, besides, did not live SO very poorly |
myself.
While at this hospital a certain Mas
Bachusetts lady, by the name Of Mrs. Wag |
GOner, called in the interest Of Massachu- |
sets soldiers particularly and in the inter- |
est of Union soldiers in general She bad |
with her the usual supply and assert |
meht Of tracts, pamphlets and other |
reading matter for the soldiers. which |
the Surgeons in charge always allowed to
be freely distributed. Mrs. Waggoner
also had, in addition, some canned goods, |
such as jellies and fruits, that had been
contributed by the good people of the Old
Bay State for the good Of her soldiers and
other Union soldiers in the hospitals,
which she attempted to distribute; but our
wise and vigilant Medical Director, DIR.
Summers, caught on to what was being
done and forthwith interposed his au-
fhority to prevent the further continual
ton of such malpractice, by which the
health and the lives of the soldiers under
his charge were being placed in jeopardy
The old Doctor worked himself into a
frightful passion and fumed and ragged
Hike a mailman, ordering Mrs. Waggoner
TO take her trash out of the hospital, say
ing that the patients therein were sup
piled with an abundance of wholesome
food, and that such stuff would serve no
other purpose than to make them sick
and keep them away from the front,
where they were needed.
think perhaps no other officials In the
service of the United States possessed
the spirit of self-sacrifice In such q re-