The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-10-31
Heroines of the Epidemic.
Misses Matte stevenson of Illinois, and
Lula Wilkinson of Memphis.
[From the Memphis Ledger.

From the Memphis Ledger.l
In the midst of so much suffering,
dismay and confusion, many noble acts
are unrecorded, and many a hero or
heroine unheard of except in the cham
ber of sickness and death. Some of
these are brought to notice by mere
chance, others will scarcely be heard of
until the great day of fual accounts.
They can we'll afford to wait, for an APP
proving conscience is more to be de
sired than any reward or plaudit of the
world.
There are two names, however, which
deserve more than accidental fame; two
girls who have risked their lives more
than ever did Florence Nightingale /;
worth more than thousand fippanc
advocates of woman rights on the ros-
trum. They both lie dangerously i'll
with yellow fever, at the Walthall in
frmary, heroic sufferers in the cause of
humanity.
Their names ale Matte Stevenson of
Tonawanda, ILL.,, and Lula Wilkinson of
Memphis, mere girls, scarcely twenty
years old. When the fever first broke
out here and the fact became known,
Miss Stevenson was on visit to New
England among some relatives. She
resolved to come here to nurse the
sick, and without informing any one Of
her purpose lest her friends might in
terfere, she left them, and came direct
ly to Memphis, paying her own way,
and rendered her services to the How
ards. The president sent her to the
Lehner house to await orders. That
night DR.. Blackburn had terrible case,
mentioned in the Ledger at the time,
Scotchwoman who died of the fever,
unconscious that a dead babe, which
had Just come into the world, as yellow
as saffron, lay by her side. When he
sent to the Lehner house for a nurse,
the evening before the woman with the
yellow fever babe died, he was aston
ished to see a young, delicate girl, not
apparently eighteen years old, present
herself. No one else could be had, and
she promised to do all she could All
night long. after the very evening she
came to Memphis, she staid by the dy-
ing woman and performed the part of
faithful nurse. She knew by instinct,
as it were, what was required. After
ward she was assigned to other patients,
and in every case was faithful, efficient
nurse.
Miss Wilkinson is a Memphis girl, al
though we know little of her history
except that she is an orphan. She, too,
offered her services, and was most as
siduous in her attentions to the sick.
DR.. Blackburn will testify that more
efficient, skillful and enduring nurses
never stood around the bedside of pa
tient than Miss Matte Stevenson and
Miss Lula Wilkinson.
But they worked too much. Both
took the fever, and they now lie dan
gerously i'll at the Walthal infrmary,
the pt is of DR.. Blackburn, who knows
what noble souls they are, and receiving
all possible attention at the hands Of
the most skillful attendants. Both are
thought to be improving. 1t is to be
hoped they will both recover, and re-
ceive the recognition they so richly de-
serve at the hands of our best people.
They are entitled to higher badge
than was ever bestowed upon q member
of the legion of honor, and when our
troubles are ended, we hope they will
have troops of friends to award them
the praise they so richly deserve.