"Oh, band in the pine-wood cease!
Cease with your splendid call;
The living are brave and noble,
But the dead were bravest of all!
"They throng to the martial summons,
To the loud, triumphant strain;
And the dear bright eyes of long-dead friends
Come to the heart again.
"They come with the ringing bugle
And the deep drum's mellow roar,
Till the soul is faint with longing
For the hands we clasp no more!
"Oh, band in the pine-wood cease
Or the heart will melt in tears,
For the gallant eyes and the smiling lips
And the voices of old years!"
When, at last, we were released from durance vile, the Confederate
army had retreated. Of course, the hospitals must follow it. By this
time my health was completely broken down. The rigors of the winter,
the incessant toil, the hard rations had done their work well. I was
no longer fit to nurse the sick. In February I left the camp,
intending to go for a while wherever help was needed, relying upon a
change to recuperate my exhausted energies.
But from that time there was so much irregularity as far as hospital
organization was concerned that one scarcely knew how best to serve
the sick.
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