Hospital Sketches

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Pages: 74

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Read by Aaron Elliott · 3 h 8 min · 6 parts

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Chapter 01 - Obtaining Supplies
23:11
Chapter 02 - A Foreward Movement
20:42
Chapter 03 - A Day
29:43
Chapter 04 - A Night
42:05
Chapter 05 - Off Duty
40:05
Chapter 06 - A Postscript
32:33

Hospital Sketches (1863) is a public domain work.

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About this book

A wish for useful work becomes a plan to nurse soldiers when Alcott's narrator takes up her brother's suggestion. Preparations for Washington turn into domestic comedy as the family imagines a model hospital and the narrator sorts clothes with the language of military service. Louisa May Alcott's 1863 sketches use this lively first-person voice to connect a household's enthusiasm with the practical business of accepting an appointment and arranging travel.

The hospital scenes bring a different kind of attention to the demands of nursing wounded men. While a surgeon treats John, the narrator recognizes his need for companionship and offers comfort that he gratefully accepts. The encounter shows how ordinary kindness can matter alongside medical care. With humor in the preparations and close observation at the bedside, these personal sketches give readers a view of Civil War service through the daily responsibilities of a volunteer nurse.

About the author

Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels Good Wives (1869), Little Men (1871), and Jo's Boys (1886).