Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-05-03

aid and cooperation of Woman 10 it's
work, by opening for her door of
membership. | am glad that this
has been done, not only because it
was just and decent that it should be
done, but because in the department
of benevolent reform the power of
woman is far greater than that of
man. She can, if she will, by an
influence peculiarly her owp, make
way against evils which mock at the
efforts of man for their reduction or
determination. In proof of this l
point you TO what she is accomplish
ing in the line of temperance effort
TO the triumph she has achieved,
with weapons peculiarly her own, in
her encounters with the giant curse
of the nineteenth Century. The
mightiest instrument she Yields is
Christian Love, breathing itself
out in kindness and prayer and bless
ing. This beats the Graham law
all to nothing. 1t is better than any
legislation. 1t is the highest law
put into execution, and the devil is
always defeated when you bring
that into play. Let me then say to
you, Ladies', who wear the regalia of
the degree of Rebeccs, that the an
gelic ministry, the womanly sympa-
thy and pity, the self-sacrificing
devotion, which wrought their mir
acles during our sad civil war, heal
ing the sick, restoring the lame, and
raising the dead, need not lie idle
for want of employment. There
are fields right at home upon which
your power may be welded, and
objects in plenty upon which it may
be exerted for their redemption.
Look every whore at the great army
of assaulted, struggling, contepding
humanity, who, exhausted in the
desperate strife, and full of wounds
which no kind hand binds up, fall to
| rise no more. These overborne,
conquered, and slain men. all of real
life, all of maniness and reliance
gone out of them, hope dead, and the
eyes closed to any vision of better
things; are all around you, may be
are living with you. You can
scarcely turn without meeting them.
And vast numbers of them will go
down to their graves, as vast num-
bers have done before them, the
whole of life ending in sad and
mournful failure. 1t is for this per-
ishing class plead 10 the name of
Odd Feliowship-for those who are
struggling on battle-felds compared
with which those of Gettysburg,
and Lookout Mountain, and Corinth.
were mere play grounds. And they
are sinking down, these set upon
and contending people, full of weari-
ness and wounds, and without help
must surely perish. Whence shall
help com Q? Whence can it come in
the kind demanded, and in sufficient
supply, cave from the source which
has poured into the asylums of the
insane such measures of blessing,
and into our prisons such tide of
redemption, and whence flowed such
helpful sympathy and kindness into
our camps and hospitals as filled
them with cheer and home-comfort
and gladness 1t is from you, my
sisters, and those with whom you
shall Join hearts and hands, that the
needed help must come +; and it
must come in the shap 9
of remedy. You alone can supply it,
or teach others how to save. Only
your hands can lift up the perishing
people amid better surroundings,
beat back the outward temptations
which assail them, and bind up their
wounds and make them whole.
What an opportunity for earning the
soldiers God bless you! A story
will tell you what this is, and with
it will close
If any you we're 10 Grants army
while it was encamped ct Young
Point, opposite Vicksburg, you know
to what discomforts Of every kind
it was exposed, and how that the
endurance and patriotism of our men
were taxed to the uttermost. 1t
was an awful place, and the scene OF
sickness and suffering and death,
hard to be described. A gentleman
visiting there at about the gloomiest
time, says that one day in wan
dering about the outskirts of the
camp he came across a soldier sitting
by stump, his elbows resting on
his knees, and his hands underneath
his chin supporting his dead. His
uniform was ragged and dirty, his
shoes iull of holes, and the remains
, of WORKOUT hat decorated his
head. He was not only the picture
of hard times, but Of despair; for he
was wasted and gaunt, his face
pinched and haggard, and his eyes
lusterless. Hope had died out of the
poor fellow, and he thought tina,
there were none to care for him, land
that he was forgotten. The gentle
man stopped before him, and entering
into conversation with him, ELECTED
, from him what l have Just stated
, that he was utterly discouraged and
: broken down under the influence OF
the cheerlessness, damp and miasm
, of the swamp in which they were
encamped. And he would have IT
that there were none to think Of
him, and that at the north the SOL
dier was forgotten. Promises Of
sympathy and care had been made
. him only TO be broken, and he had
rather die than live. The gentleman
replied by telling of what the
} women ia Wisconsin, Iilionois, Mich
igan, and all the loyal States were
doing for the soldiers-of the organ.
. ization of aid societies, the establish
ing of soldiers rests and homes, the
gathering of immense supplies il
r every city. village, hamlet and neigh
; borhood for camp and hospital; and O.
: the general and enthusiastic out.
D pouring of sympathy and kindly and
affsctionate remembrance. AS h'
! went on with his story OF wha'
: mothers, and wives, and daughters
{ and sweethearts were doing, anc
{ showed that never for moment