The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-11-09

SoR10IAND
Tuesday Morning, November o, 1869.
Mother Bickerdxl.

Among the friends of our soldiers in tbs
late war. none made herself mole useful or
more beloved than Mrs. Mary Ann Bicker-
dyke. better known to soldiers and the eoun-
try at large by the name OF Mother Bicker-
dyke" She is widow woman OF humble Or
igln and an education more useful than orDa-
mental, plain in manners, ready OF speech,
and equally ready with hand and heart 10 90
what humanity and love of country require.
When the war began, she was hOusekefper in
| family at Cleveland, but she soon entered
the service as volunteer nurse among the
sick and wounded soldiers of the Western. ar
mics, where she earned her title by her devo-
ton TO "the boys" che seems to have gone
into the South with Grant, for she was at the
capture of Fort Doneson and the battle of
Shiloh. Afterwald under Sherman, she had
charge of the celebrated Gayoso hospital at
Memphis, where she found things much as
Miss Alcott describes them in her "Hurlybur-
ly hospital at Washington. and lett them in
good condition, after long service as matron.
1t was while here that she procured The dis
charge of surgeon who had neglected his
patients, badly wounded, while he was on
drunken spree; ; and when he went to General
Sherman, afterWard, TO get reinstated, was
asked who got him discharged. After some
hesitation, the fellow said:
"Why, suppose it was that woman, that
Mrs. Bickerdyke."
"Oh, WE'LL" said Sherman, "if it was Moth
er Bckerdiyke, can do nothing for you; she
ranks meP'
She was great favorite both with Grant
and Sherman, and seldom failed to get what
| she wanted from headquarters, il there was
any trouble about her "boys." Mrs. Liver
more says OF her:
"Geu Sherman is the beau ideal Of Mother
Bickerdyke's great man and great soldier.
She would always defend Gen. Grant like
tigress; but it was clear to every one that
Gen. Sherman was the especial object of her
idolatry. And, to-day, l really think that she
would give her life for Sherman if the sacr-
fee were necessary-that she would count it
a small thing to die for him. She rates him
higher than Grant, higher than President
Lincoln, and altogether superior as sold er
to General Washington; and woe TO the luck
less wight, who would dare lower her idol to
his proper place on the pedestal! Gen. Sher-
man, on his side fully appreciates Mother
Bickerdyke, and when he was curt and repel-
liant to all agents and nurses. and employ ees
of the Sanitary and Christian and State COM
missions, she had the entree to his head-quar-
tiers, and the granting of any favors she chose
| to ask. There is something in her character
| akin to his own-both are restless, impeiu-
| Gus, fiery, hard-working and indomitable. AT
| ter the fall of Vicksburg, he asked that Moth
| er Bickerdvke might become an especial at
| tache of his corps-the Fifteenth. Ever alter,
| during the war, she considered hersef in an
| especial sense, under ShemanS direction; and
| the soldiers of the Fifteenth corps always,
and to this day, claim exclusive ownership of
her.
"On one of her brief furloughs, she was
once in Chicago, and made several visits to
| the families of soldiers whom she had left in
| the hospital, carrying aid and comfort with
her. She found one OF these families at this
| time in great distress from poverty. The
husband and iather had been in positions
that had kept him Tor ten months out OF tie
reach OF the paymaster, and the family were
| in great need oil the money which he had fall
| ed to receive. They were owing SIX months
house-rent, and the landlord a penuTious,
hard man, had served writ of ejectment up
on them, and was preparing to put them sum
mariy into the street. Mother Bicke' dyke
| paid him visit at his Office, and sought to
| turn him from his purpose, with all the pecu-
| liar eloquence OF which she was mistress. lie
could not be moved, but scorned her, and or
| dered her from his premises. She rose to go,
and taking Bible from the shell, which had
| probably never been used except to give le-
| gality to oaths, she opened to the sixteenth
| chapter of Luke, and Strengthening to her full
height and putting on her terrible face, before
| an audience of a dozen or more, read these
words: "And it came to pass that the beegar
died, and was carried by angels into Aba-
/ nam DOSOm. ne Ilcn IDdH also uleu, anu
/ was buried; and in helL-IN HELM
HELL"-increasing the terrible emphasis
each time-"he lifted up his eyes, being in
| torments and seeth Abraham a'ar off, and
| Lazarus in his BOSOM" You see what you're
| coming to, sir" she added. "the time may not
be far off. May God have merry on you!
i Good byep Then the resolute woman sought
another home for the soldiers family, and
| rested not in her humane work until she had
i 40 m IN
/ months in advance"
She continued in the employ OF the Sani-
/ itary Commission and in other kinds of work
lor the soldiers till the war closed, and was
| unsurpassed in what the did. Since the war
she has been laboring for the freedmen, for
prisoners, the incorporate, and all the un-
| fortunateS who need sympathy and effort in
their behalf For the last three weeks she
has been IN New England, chiefly in Boston,
| where she has made the acquaintance of the
| best people, and has set ON foot several good
enterprises. She is now working for Mr..
Charles Stearns's project for giving the freed
/ men Of Georgia homes, and for this purpose
| will address meetings with very good
4 effect, but her interviews" with people are
| said to call forth most her magnetic power
over mems hearts. She called on Gov. Claf-
lin few days ago TO ask oil him letter to
Gen. Burnside, and his excelIency became
deeply interested in what she had to say of
the matters she takes to heart. We wish she
might come to Springfield and inspire our peo-
pie with the great-hearted generosity with
| which she undertakes any work she believes
to be hers. Such a woman is the best argu-
ment for woman suffrage, and when Gal
| Hamilton expressed a wish that she might
see her critic, DIR. Todd, siding up to Mother
Bckerdyke, with Lis impertinent advice
about what woman ought and ought not to
do, she called up very ludicrous picture
What the Rev. Mr.. Fulton would sav TO her,
We don't know. She certainly is one ''wo-
man as God made her," and yet we dare say
Mr.. F-never dreamed of such when be
wrote his little sermons. As specimen of
her sermons, MIS-. Livermore has this account
of one she gave at Milwaukee,
She had rendered great service to almost
all the Wisconsin regiments in the " estern
army, and the people of Milwaukee, who were
Just then holding iair for the RELIEF of
wounded and sick soldiers, would not be
denied the pleasure of a visit from her. L was
obliged to accompany her, for she refused to
| 90 anywhere to be lioniZed, III less some one
was with her to keep her in countenance.
She was overwhelmed with attentions. The
Milwaukee chamber OF commerce, which had
| made an appropriation OF 81, 200 month, fol
the relief OF wounded soldiers, to be continued
to the end OF the war, invited her to their hall
to receive from them a formal expression OF
| gratitude for what she had done for Wisconsin
soldiers A number OF ladies accompanied heI
| son change" for otherwise she would moi
| have gone. A very handsome address was
made her. by tue president OF the chamber, IL
| behalf of the State of Wisconsin,, and she was
| eloquent.y commended, and heartily thanked.
for her patriotic labors, and informed of the
recent appropriation OF the board. Then q
| reply was evidently expected o. her, which
feared she would decline to make. Instead
of this, she answered briefly, simply, aud with
great power. pm much Obliged to you,
gentlemen, for the kind things you've said,
| haven't done much; no more than ought
Neither have you. Pm glad you're going L
give 81 200 month 1or the poor fellows il
the hospital, but it's no more than YOU ough
to do, and it isn't half as much as the soldier
in the hospitals have given for you. Sup
pose, gentlemen, you had got to give to-nlgh
$1,000 or your right leg-would it take yol
long to decide which to give? $4,000 or you
right arm? $1,000 or your right eye? Al
you've got, or your life? And yet I've gol
eighteen hundred boys in my hospltal az
Chattanooga, who have given, some, Que I'm I'm
| and one leg, and some have gwen uotn, 'uu !
| vet they haven't thought theyV uoue SIed,
| deal for their country. Ana ihe graveyard
ahont the hospital, and the Datlle nelu ltt e
fartbor off contains the bodies OF thousands
,rhn have freely given their lives to save YOU
!. nS yonr homes and youI country, from RUE
: or u Gentlemen don't let us be telling of what
we have given and what we have done! We
| have done nothing, in comparison with them
And it is our duty to keep on giving. and do
| inc lust as long as there's a soldier down