Great Treat of Ice Cream

Cheguei tarde sem sono e peguei o livro quadriculado. American Food Writing: An Anthology. Folheando, encontro um texto com o título A Great Treat of Ice Cream escrito por...Walt Whitman! Uma carta enviada a sua mãe durante a Guerra Civil americana. Que privilégio ler isso.
E olha só a data.

"Washington, June 3, 1864

Mother, if this campaign was not in progress I should not stop here, as it is now beggining to tell upon me, so many bad wounds, many putrefied, and all kinds of dreadful ones, I have been rather too much with – but as it is, I certainly remain here while the thing remains undecided. Is is impossible for me to abstain from going to see and minister to certain cases, and that draws me into others, and so on. (...) O, I must tell you I gave in Carver hospital a great treat of ice cream, a couple of days ago – went round myself through about 15 large wards – (I bought some ten gallons, very nice). You would have cried and been amused too. Many of the men had to be fed; several of them I saw cannot probably live, yet they quite enjoyed it. I gave everybody some – quite a number of Western country boys had never tasted ice cream before (...)."

O texto está no livro The Wound Dresser: A Series of Letters from the Hospitals in Washington during the War of Rebbelion.

*Para mim, o sorvete era de tapioca