The National tribune., 1901-12-19

%@AAl0.l''
MOTHER BICK ERDYKE.
instant he caught sight of the black
gowncd figure. his grimcss fed, and,
rcaching out his hand, he said, cordially,
/ why, Mother, how are yOu! Still rank
| ing everything but God | SUPPOSE
/ And then how lac did laugh when
Mother Bickerdykc responded quickly:
"Wcll-yes, Uncle Billy. You see. God
and | work right along together. j redl-
on that accounts
Gen Sherman was giving the cele-
bratcd army nurse Il sly dig on an incl
| dent of more than 80 years before 1t
was after the fall of Yicksburg, and Mrs.
Bick"rdykc by order of Gen. Sherman,
was attached To the Fifteenth Corps, ard
/ felt herself IN Il special sense under Gen.
| ShermuMS direction. She found that an
officer who had charge of sanitary sup
! plies was daily using the dclicacics i'll
| tended for the SICK and wounded to cke
ont the officers mess to which he be-
| lOnged.
Mother Bickcrdylie descended on the
unlucky officer like an avcnging demon,
and took all the gold off his Captains
buttons with her tonguc-lashing. But he
swelled up like a toad after her wrath
had exploded, and ordered her out of the
hospital, declaring that he would report
her directly TO the General commanding.
And who's hc!" asked Mother Bick-
| erdyke loftily, as she turned the key in
the door before the amazed officers very
eyes and dropped it in her capacious
| pocket.
Now, sonny, just rIIn along and report
me. The nice things for my precious
boys won't be suffering while you're
gOne," and she trotted away.
The officer reported in due form and
| in person TO the General commanding
that "a woman was making herself very
offensive about the hospital supplies, and
was usurpinG his authority.
Who is she!' inquired the General.
"a woman whom the men style Mother
Bickerdyke,' the officer replied.
''Oh, -" returned Gen. Sherman;
''she ranks me! You must apply to Pres
! ident Lincoln"
| In this plain woman whose indomtable
VIII and energy have cut her name indel
! IDLY in the hospital history of the war Of
( the rebellion there is q subject for the
student of heredity.
| Her grcat-grcat-g grandfather. Thomas
Rodgers, came over in the May yilOwer.
Another of her great ancestors was old
Diederich Knickcrbocker, who wrote Il
History of New York from the begin
ming of the world to the end of the Dutch
dynasty" The titlc-page of this queer
old volume, which was in Mother Bick
erdykc's library, says among other things
that it contains, among many surprising
and curious matters, the unuttcrable pom
dering of Walter the DOubter; the dis
astrous projects Of William the Testy,
and the chivalric achievements of Peter
the HeadstrOng, the three Dutch Gov
ernorS Of New Amsterdam, being the only
authentic history of the time chat ever
hath been or ever will be published" The
blood Of William and Peter also flowed
in her veins.
Late in 1900 three brothers. by the
name of Ball, came from England and
landed ut Newark, \. ]. One of these
went TO Virginia, and ''the beautiful Mary
Ball" who became the mother of Wash
ington, was his granddaughter. One
| brother died young, in Connecticut, and
the third, David, settled in Newark. n.
j., and was the grandfather of Mrs
Bickerdykc. So she and the other Mary
Ball were third cousins. His son Tim
othy, born in 1876, was Mrs. Bicker-
dykes patcrnal grandfather and Il Revo-
lutionary soldier.
| Her mothers father John Rodgers,
| three removes from Mayflowcr fame, was
one of the boy heroes of the Revolution.
| At 16 years of age he went barefooted
into the battle of Bunker Hill. During
the long seven years Of war he proved
his faith by his endeavor.
Eight of this one Rodgers family served
in the War of 1872, and this same John
Rodgers rode from his new home in cen
trail Ohio, on Il black thoroughbred stall
| lion, to visit the boys and carry them
| bundle Of home comforts. when they Law
in camp at Lundy's Lane.
From this distinguished and illustrious
ancestry sprang this woman OF the pco-
pie, i'll whom with tcnfOld strength there
| centerCd the best attributes of all, linked
20 Il sound common sense, that set her
wide apart from all others.
David Ball was her Patterson of
Timothy of Revolutionary famc-and
Ohio the State whom her nativity hon
Ors. 1t was on July 10, 1917, that Mary
Ball was born, i'll Knox County, near
Mount Vernon, named by the Balls in
honor of that other Mount Vernon, in
Virginia, now the Mecca of all loyal, lib
erty-lovins Americans. The death of her
mother, when Mary was yet an infant,
sent her to the care of her Rodgers grand
parents, and in this OffshOot of a stern
Puritan household she grew to young
womanho0d. Spinning, weaving, dairy
maid, cook, hOusekeepcr-she learned it
all i'll district school, and among her
dearest possessions when death claimed
her was some linen which her childish
hands fostered from plant to loom, then
wOvc and sewed into the finished gar
ment.
She was a sunshine child, fond of out
door sports, sturdy of frame, fair of face,
with dimpled checks and eyes as blue as
the sky she loved. And, oh, how she did
hate to see anything hurted,'' said one
of her Irish boys in blue to the writer.
once upon Il time when some one ruth,
lessly trOd on Il little dog in the rush to
shake hands with her at a Reunion in
Topeka, Kan.
Now, just stop, all of you.' she COM
manded. IN not touch another hand
till that dog is mt right I'm harn h,, ,,o
where it won't get hurt again." and nm
came the bewildered dog to perch ON the
stand-table under her eye. Then she or
dered the procession to ''gO on and it
went.
LOVE OF JUSTICE
was the dominant note of Mother Bick-
erdyke's character.
Mary Ann Ball inherited from her dis