I have read a few of Specimen Days deciding which to write about every week and I am enamored at Walt's compassion and empathy for the wounded soldiers he goes to visit. He just sits with them, listens with them, watches them, feels for them and wants to be near, helping as little he can,
"He had turn'd over on his left side to get a better view of the singers, but the mosquito-curtains of the adjoining cots obstructed the sight. I stept round and loop'd them all up, so that he had a clear show, and then sat down again by him, and look'd and listen'd."
This entry, Home Made Music, caught my eye, (had no idea it would be about wounded soldiers) because I had just been singing out loud in my house, just because I was in a good mood I guess, but it turned out to fit into my blog :)
I love to see that Walt is always entranced by life's little beauties, he notices the
"the shadows down the lower and upper parts of the ward" or takes note of the " voices up to the high, whitewash'd wooden roof, and pleasantly the roof sent it all back again"
I like that he notes back to his love of New York as well, mentioning the New York opera and saying he had just as much pleasure in this moment of home made music as he has the best opera.
I usually pick a entry that moves me and this is just such a beautiful moment of peace,captured by Walt, for men that have been under an intense amount of stress. Home made music for the pure enjoyment of it. I think I'll go make my own...
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