Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1882-07-29
The Heroine Of the Plague,


lie throbbed with sympathy when
the news with a 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 moth
ers whose little ones had been torn
from their breasts by the remorseless
Herod of the plague J
Help US brothers and sisters or
we perish J" was the panied cry that
came up from the stricken land.
Who were their brothers and sis
tiers ? Rather who were not
From the lakes of chilly Maine to
the golden shores of the far-off Pa
cihc-from the lakes of the North to
the warm shores of the Gulf-the
men and women 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,
in the yellow harvest field of death
Our fortunes and our prayers are
yours !"
And all gave with that noble read
mess that made the gifts soothing to
the afflicted people; and prayed as
though the death angel lowered over
their own homes.
1t was noble in the poor man to
give of his pittance; generous in the
rich man to give of his abundance;
admirable for the busy man to lay
aside his work and give his best
efforts to gathering aid; but it was
odlike in those who left secure
and happy homes and, taking their
precious lives in their own hands,
went down to nurse the sick and
bury the dead-went down never to
return.
"Who will lead the charge on
yonder guns ?"
If this request were made by a
general in the excitement of a battle
a thousand swords would flash from
their scabbards, and a thousand
heroic voices would shout, 81 -
"Who will command the supply
ship and take relief to the people
dying in the South ?"
Ten thousand men heard the re-
quest, and the silence that followed
it was broken by one mans clarion
voice:
I'll"
"And who are you ?"
The answer was a name unheard
before, but fame caught it up, and
death gave it immortality.
Theriver down which he sailed will
be dry, and the land in which he
sleeds washed into the deep, before
the name of Lieutenant Benner
passes away, or the lesson of his
grand heroism ceases to affect man
kind
But others showed a self-sacrifc
ing spirit as sublime, if not so con
spicuous- priests and ministers;
sisters Of mercy and sisters of hu-
manity: doctors and students; and
the race that so grandly proved, in
the gloomy nights Of deserted, dying
Memphis, how white a soul a black
body could contain.
Thauk God, the trial is over
Thank God, for the broader, deeper
love that survives it
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
action.
The only daughter Of rich, wild
owed mother-the daughter of a
man who, in gloomier days, had
gone down to the South land and
fallen, there was everything earthly
to keep her back. But all earthly
considerations were weak before the
heaven-given impulse that drew her
down to stricken Memphis.
"To go my darling is to die. You
are all that is left me ?" sobbed Mrs.
Bent, when her daughter had an
nounced her purpose.
"The God Of the widow and faith,
erless will protect you and me. To