The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1884-06-12
Our Army Nurses.

On the 22d ult Mr. Mitchell, of Penn
sylyania, chairman of the Committee on
Pensions, reported back to the Senate, with
amendments an omnibus bill, modifying
and extending The provisions of certain sec
tions of the Revised Statutes in regard to
pensions, as also certain laws enacted since
the revision of the statutes. They embrace
one item Of new legislation that deserves
and doubtless will receive the hearty APP
proval of every veteran. 1t is that which
proposes to add q ninth clause to section
1888 of the Revised Statutes, as follows:
Ninth. Any female who shall have acted as
nurse hospital attendant in the army or navy
for the space of ninety days during the of the
rebellion, shall receive pension at the rate of
eight dollars per month; or, if while acting as
such nurse she shall have contracted disability
which still continues, she shall receive a pension at
the same rate private soldier for like degree
OF disability, to commence on the passage OF this
act.
1t is sincerely to be hoped that this, Or
some measure of a similar character, viii
become law during the present session of
Congress. Our Senators and Representa-
tiyes can well afford to set apart little of
the time spent in passing special pension
bills for the benefit of the widows of distin-
guished officers, for the consideration Of the
claims of this noble class of women, who,
without hope Of reward, and animated solely
by motives of humanity and patriotism, de-
voted themselves so zealously and unselfishly
to the care and succor of our sick and wound
ed soldiers. Their services are not inscribed
or the battle-fags of our armies, nor record
ed in the reports of the War Department,
but they were none the less heroic They,
too, faced death with unfaltering courage in
the crowded wards of our hospitals; like
the soldier, they shared the privations and
hardships of war, and their fortitude fully
equalled his. Who shall say how many pre-
cious lives were saved by their gentle min
istrations how many death beds were shorn
of their horrors by the consolation of their
presence? Day after day, and night after
night, these angels Of mercy lowered over
the touches of our wounded veterans, re-
placing a bandage here, bathing the fevered
flesh there administering cordials, prepar-
| ing delicacies sending messages 10 the dear
ones at home, receiving the last words of the
! dying, whispering the sweet consultations OF
religion to the hopeless and despairing.
Who, that ever watched them on their
rounds, will forget the eager cries OF Lady,
come here! Oh, dear lady, come here, y
which greeted them as they passed on from
cot to cot; the smiles that lighted up the
wan and wasted features Of the occupants,
and the grateful looks which rewarded each
thoughtful and delicate attention? They
were mothers and sisters and sweethearts to
these lonely sufferers, and more than tie
medicine of the surgeons did their womanly
care and their unfailing cheerfulness revive
| the spirits and keep alive the Pickering
spark of life. There are thousands of vet
Grams to-day who owe the preservation OF
their lives to the devotion of these volun-
teer nurses, who took up, in the spirit OF
the most exalted patriotism, the work that
the Government, by the acceptance of their
aid, confessed itself unable to adequately
perform.
Some of these brave spirits have long
since passed away, but of that devoted band