The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-04-16

s'Les Miserables'' was smuggled into the
confederacy. The educated women
eagerly read it between stitches. The
more ignorant men and women read the
title and one at least said, "Now Won
der who has took to writing about Lees
miserables. We knowed they want
comfortable, but what's the use of tellin'
it everywherel'
All work and no play began to tell
upon our nervously organized women.
Some of them turned for relief, when any
of the soldiers were home, to reunions
called, from the absence of any refresh
ments save cold water, starvation par
ties.'
To these came the young officers who
danced as gaily as though There were no
serried ranks of the enemy confron ing
them to do battle to the death. perhaps on
the morrow. There were charades, private
theatricals and tableaux. One lovely
young woman, who has since bloomed
into an authoress of much renoWn, per-
sonated a marble Niobe embracing her
antiquity have left us no more beautiful
statue.
OUR HOSPITAL NURSES.
The hospital nurses were largely
women, and mostly ladies'.
What they did is recorded in the Fbook
of life,' but mortal pen would fail to
depict their loving service amidst the
horrors OF military hospitals near the
battle fields. The food was generally
prepared by private families; delicate
breads, strong broths, or ounces of the
precious E'real tea and coffee'' were
daily taken in baskets, and the soothing
voices of the nurses could be heard whis-
pering hopes of victory and home, or
murmuring comforting texts from the
scripture, while the sufferers were fed !,
or cooling lotions poured upon the dress
ing of their wounds.
| wish it were possible to give the names
of these devoted women who ministered
to the wounded, soothed the dying and re-
ceived the little tokens and last messages
for their absent families. The list would
be too long here, but their names are
household words in every southern home
and ''when shall there glory fade?''
HOW DEFEAT WAS BORNE.
How can justice be rendered to the
wives of the common soldier? On these
women fell the burden of deprivation I'M
heard of. In silence they sowed and
reaped the land, clothed and tended their
children, buried them when they sank
under want and exposure. or themselves
laid down in solitude and died.
It was the exception when the men in
the field knew the trials to which their
wives were subjected. The women were
vocal in hope, silent in despair. The
wives Of the common soldiers labored and
sorrowed without the expectation OF
earthly honor or ecIat. For if the men
of their household persisted in battle it
was only collective glory" acquired for
the army, for their cause, not for them
selves; a nameless grave their share.
When the last sad days of the struggle
drew nigh, and every heart was cast down,
the women were the most cheerful.
When the young and old non combat
ants were summoned to man the trenches
there were no tears and repinings. Such
preparations as were practicable for the
comfort of the aged or infirm citizen
guards were quietly made, and the men
were dispatched with as much cheer. as
trembling lips could summon,
And last, when General Lees half
starved army must be withdrawn from
before the overwhelming force of the
enemy. he sent an officer to inform Mr..
Davis of the fact. The message was de-
livered in st. Paul's church during morn
ing service, where the president had gone
to pray for his people.
The congregation OWNED the purport
of the dispatch, and though they ex-
pected, as the outcome of it, that their
homes would be burned and the
city laid waste, there was no
panic, no plea for protection. The
women gathered about Mr.. Davis and
said: s'Leave us to our fate if you can
save the country. Perhaps some time
you may win Richmond back; but if not.
we know you have done your best, and
you must not grieye over u.s."
In this spirit our women met defeat,
starvation. labor, humiliation, and ali
the heart-rending conditions Of 'srecon-
struction.o
The placid, gray haired matrons of to-
day have covered with decorous pride the
scars of that dread struggle, but they are
no less veteran conquerors in mortal
conflict in which every noble aspiration