Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands

Excerpt: ...now. Poor fellow! I could not undeceive him. I think the fancy happily caused by the touch of a woman s hand soothed his dying hour; for I do not fancy he could have lived to reach Scutari. I never knew it for certain, but I always felt sure that he would never wake from that dream of home in this world. And here, lest the reader should consider that I am speaking too highly of my own actions, I must have recourse to a plan which I shall frequently adopt in the following pages, and let another voice speak for me in the kind letter received long after Balaclava had been left to its old masters, by one who had not forgotten his old companion on the sick-wharf. The writer, Major (then Captain) R , had charge of the wharf while I was there. Pg 100 Glasgow, Sept. 1856. Dear Mrs. Seacole , I am very sorry to hear that you have been unfortunate in business; but I am glad to hear that you have found friends in Lord R and others, who are ready to help you. No one knows better than I do how much you did to help poor sick and wounded soldiers; and I feel sure you will find in your day of trouble that they have not forgotten it. Major R was a brave and experienced officer, but the scenes on the sick-wharf unmanned him often. I have known him nervously restless if the people were behindhand, even for a few minutes, in their preparations for the wounded. But in this feeling all shared alike. Only women could have done more than they did who attended to this melancholy duty; and they, not because their hearts could be softer, but because their hands are moulded for this work. But it must not be supposed that we had no cheerful scenes upon the sick-wharf. Sometimes a light-hearted fellow generally a sailor would forget his pain, and do his best to keep the rest in good spirits. Once I heard my name eagerly pronounced, and turning round, recognised a sailor whom I remembered as...