Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1882-06-28
The Heroine Of the Plague.

How the great heart Of the republic
throbbed with sympathy when the news
with daily increasing force, went
through the land, that the yellow fever
was ravaging the fairest portions of the
Sunny South How the people bent to
catch the moaning Of the heart. broken
mothers whose little ones had been torn
from their breasts by the remorseless
nerod Of the plague
Help US, brothers aud sisters, or we
perish = was the panied cry that came
up from The stricken land.
Who were their brothers and sisters !?
Rather who were not?
From the lakes of chilly Maine to the
golden shores of the far off Pacific Iron
the lakes of the North to the warm
shores OF the Gult-the men. and wo-
men OF every race and creed responded
to the call, and reaching out their full
hands they shouted, through their tears:
Keep heart brothers and sisters ia
the yellow haryest-feld Of death. Our
fortunes and our prayers are yours y
And all gave that noble readiness
that made the gifts soothing to the
afflicted people and prayed as though
the death angel lowered over their own
homes.
II was noble in the poor man to give
Of his pttance generous in the rich
man to give Of his abundance; admlra-
BILE for the busy man TO lay aside his
work and give his best efforts to gath
ering aid; but it was God like in those
who left secure and happy homes anc,
taking their precious lives in their own
hands, went down TO nurse The sick and
bury the dead-went down meyer to re-
turn.
who will lead the charge on yonder
guns p
If this request were made by gen.
eral in the excitement of a battle, a
thousand swords would fash from their
scabbards. and thousand heroic voice 5
would shout
Up
who will command The supply ship
and take relief to the people dying in
the South?'
Ten thousand men heard the request,
and the silence that followed it was
broken by one mans CLARION voice:
Tu
And who are you p
The answer was a name unheara be-
fore, but fame caught it up, and death
gave it Immortality.
The river down which he sailed will
be dry, and the land in which be sleeps
washed into the deep, before The name
of Lieutenant Benner passes away, or
the lesson OF his grand herolsm ceases
10 effect mankind.
But others showed self-Sacrihcmg
spirit as sublime, if not so conspicuous
priests and ministers; sisters Of mer-
cy and sisters Of humanity doctors and
students; and the race that so grandly
proved, in the gloomy nights Of deser-
ted, dying Memphis, how white a soul
black body could contain.
Thank God, the trial is over . Thank
God, for the broader, deeper love that
survives 1t
And Mary Bent IN her happy home
that looked down from the Walnut
Hills on the spires and domes OF busy
Cincinnati, read the news from the
fever districts with the sympathetic
earnestness that always precedes ac-
tion.
The only daughter OF rich widowed
mother-thc daughter Of a man who,
| ia sloomier days, had gone down 10 the
South land and fallen, there was every
thing earthly to keep her back. But
all earthly considerations were weak
before the heaven-given impulse that
drew her down TO stricken Memphis.
TO 60, my darling is 10 die. You
are all that is lett me p sObbed Mrs
Bent when her daughter had announced
her purpose.
The God of the widow aud father
less will protect you and me. To neg
lect what l feel is my duty now would
shadow and make wretched century
OF life.' Said Mary, pushing back her
| mothers gray hair, and kissing the dear
smooth brow.
| And so Mary Bent's sense Of duty
prevailed over maternal love, and sh
went TO Memphis.
| She went alone, but the rudest men,
hearing Of her mission, raised their hats
and cheered her; and lips to whlct
I PRAYER was a stranger, INVOKED on th'
| beautiful, heroic Girl the blessing o
Heaven.
! You are unaccustomel to fatigue
! Miss Bent, aud could not bear the hor
rors with which we have grown so lam
: iliar.' said the docter to whom she re
, ported. "Return, my child, Or it ma.
b, too late.'
Il came ito work and cannot turl
hack. leone under no blind impulse
ISbow me the suffering; tell me what
dc, and let nae 90 to work. rephe'
MARY.
| The weary doctors drew fresh courag
feom her en,husiasm, and the news