Military life in Italy : sketches - Societa italiana di storia militare

394 MILITARY LIFE.
what could
have prevented them from coming, what misfortune
could have happened, and in that state of anxiety the
sense of their sufferings became more intense.
" They don't
come, and they won't come now, and I am so ill, I shall
not last until to-morrow, and I shall die all alone
"
Ah ! here they are ! This moment was too sweet for words.
The nurses in the military hospitals were all soldiers, o
course ;
but in many places they were nurses in the other
hospitals too, and for the entire time during which no one
was to be found among the populace who would render this
service, not even with the promise of large payments, because
the fear of death outweighed any cupidity for money,
as well as any feeling of pity. The soldiers offered their
services spontaneously. The officer of the week asked :
" Who will go ? "
And half companies took a step forward
or raised their hands. When the question was put to an entire
battalion, on the parade ground, in the presence of many
people, the reply was a solemn and touching sight. One day,
on the slopes of Mount Pellegrino, near Palermo, six or seven
companies of the 53d infantry were standing drawn up in
line of battle, after the drill was over, when the colonel and
major, both on horseback, stopped
in front of the middle
company, and the former made a sign that he wished to speak.
The officers ordered silence. The colonel told them in a loud
voice of the sad state of the city the cholera had been raging
there for days, of the hospitals in which nurses were lacking ;
of the duty involving upon every good
citizen to lend his assistance
in the time of public misfortune, and ended by saying,
louder still :
" I
impose no duty upon you ;
I exhort you to
a sacrifice ;
all are at liberty to reply yes or no, according as