Some Favored Nook, Pt. 2: No. 12, Attending to the Wounded

HIGGINSON:

Attending to the wounded—

Making stretchers for those to be carried—

One man killed instantly by ball through the heart—

Seven wounded,

One of whom will die.

Another, with three wounds—

One of which may cost him his life Would not report himself till compelled

to do so by his officers.

While dressing his wounds, he quietly

talked of what they had done,

And of what they yet could do.

He is perfectly quiet and cool,

But takes this whole affair with the reli-

gious bearing

Of a man who realizes that freedom is

sweeter than life.

DICKINSON:

A death-blow is a life-blow to some; Who, till they died, did not alive become; Who, had they lived, had died,

But when they died, vitality begun.