Our surgeon was about to operate upon a little powder-monkey, a lad of about fifteen years of age, who had received a ball in the shoulder. Lying by the lad’s side was his father, whose leg had just been removed, the pitch with which the stump had been smeared still smoking.  In spite of the pain caused by the rough-and-ready surgery, the father grasped his son’s hand, encouraging and comforting the boy, as the surgeon probed for the bullet.