among armed men, like the Maid of Saragossa, or in the hospitals, like the heroine of Scutari. But our war has furnished hundreds as intrepid as the one, and as philanthropically devoted as the other. Indeed, we may safely say that there is scarcely a loyal woman in the North who did not do something in aid of the cause - who did not contribute, of time, or labor, or money, to the comfort of our soldiers and the success of our arms. No town was too remote from the scene of war to have its society of relief; and while the women sewed and knit, and made delicacies for the sick, and gathered stores, little girls, scarce old enough to know what the charitable labor meant, went from house to house, collecting small sums of money, the fruitful energy of all keeping the storehouses and treasury of the Sanitary Commission full, and pouring a steady stream of beneficence down to our troops in the field.
Everywhere there were humble and unknown laborers. But there were others, fine and adventurous spirits, whom the glowing fire of patriotism urged to more noticeable efforts. These are they who followed their husbands and brothers to the field of battle and to rebel prisons; who went down into the very edge