THE SOLDIER'S FRIEND. lying on their backs, and most are evidently in fearful pain. Of the few who are not, one is whitt- 1Mg a stick, some are reading books or scraps of newspapers, and one, whose eyeballs are nearly starting out of his head, is devouring, rather than perusing, a letter from home." The scenes of agony and misery which were of hourly occurrence in the hospitals are ghastly and sickening in description ; what must they not have been to witness ! On the 5th of November, Miss Nightingale, ac- companied by Mr. and Mrs. Bracebridge, and her nurses, arrived at Constantinople, and the whole party was speedily established at their new quarters in the Barrack Hospital at Scutari. This was a handsome building, capable of holding an immense' number of soldiers, the court-yard alone being suf- ficiently large to afford space for exercising twelve thousand men, and the corridors, running the whole length of the barrack, being estimated to comprise four miles in extent. On three sides of the building were galleries, in which were ranged, in double rows, the beds of the patients. Five rooms which had been set apart for wounded general officers, were happily vacant ; and thesewere assigned to Miss Nightingale and her friends. The appearance of the delicate, tender, thoughtful nurses was hailed with delight and raptures of grati- tude by the objects of their sympathy and devotion. One poor fellow burst into tears, and exclaimed, "I can't help crying when I see them. Only think of lo
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