1. Violence against elegance: Fast-forward to near the end: young man shoots self in his mouth, with long revolver. His friend, not wanting to be caught by the occupying Yankees, rides away on a horse.
The scene immediately changes to the hotel/hospital, where belles in ball gowns are dancing with blue-coated Union Army officers. The family who own the hotel decide that it is in their self-interest to play footsie with those northern invaders. The dance music is lively, lilting and beautiful.
2. Hands in the surgery: unwashed hands, at least what I observed. Hand-washing before surgery may not have been widely practiced at that time. Certainly no gloves were worn during Aurelia's surgery. Many Civil War patients died from filthy surgical practices. Aurelia was fortunate that she survived. Dr. Foster looked too shaky, from his own drug addictional withdrawal symptoms, to insert what looked like a pocket knife. He tried.
Nurse Mary couldn't cut it (pun), either. Samuel Diggs, to the rescue, did a great job in repairing the torn organs. That evil monster, Mr. Silas Bullen, was the horrible man who was responsible for Aurelia's delicate condition, and Aurelia had apparently little patience with the monotonous, slow-acting pennyroyal as an abortifacient.
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The ball gowns are luxuriously beautiful. Even Nurse Mary wore one, and had her hair done up elegantly.
10/10
The scene immediately changes to the hotel/hospital, where belles in ball gowns are dancing with blue-coated Union Army officers. The family who own the hotel decide that it is in their self-interest to play footsie with those northern invaders. The dance music is lively, lilting and beautiful.
2. Hands in the surgery: unwashed hands, at least what I observed. Hand-washing before surgery may not have been widely practiced at that time. Certainly no gloves were worn during Aurelia's surgery. Many Civil War patients died from filthy surgical practices. Aurelia was fortunate that she survived. Dr. Foster looked too shaky, from his own drug addictional withdrawal symptoms, to insert what looked like a pocket knife. He tried.
Nurse Mary couldn't cut it (pun), either. Samuel Diggs, to the rescue, did a great job in repairing the torn organs. That evil monster, Mr. Silas Bullen, was the horrible man who was responsible for Aurelia's delicate condition, and Aurelia had apparently little patience with the monotonous, slow-acting pennyroyal as an abortifacient.
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The ball gowns are luxuriously beautiful. Even Nurse Mary wore one, and had her hair done up elegantly.
10/10
