Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1910-02-24
WoMAN,s PART IN WAR.

4 y
| personal experience as nurse in tn,
union army, and in relief work a
home, in hospitals, camps, and a
the front, during the war OF the re
bellion. In her Story of the War
written in 1889. she says:
AT meeting III Washington dur
ing the war called In the lnterts o.
the sanitary commission, Presiden
Lincoln said: l am not accustomed
to use the language OF eulogy. l have
never studied the art of paying com
| pliments to women; but | must say
that if all that has been said by OF
ators and poets since the creation OF
the world in praise of the women oi
! America, it would not do them jus
tice for their conduct during this
war. | will close by saying, Goo
bless the women of America!'
Again, says Mrs. Livermore: THE
great uprising among men, who *.
nored party and politics and forgot
sect and trade, in the fervor of their
quickened love of country, was par
alleled by a similar uprising among
women. The patriotic speech and
song, which fired the blood of men
and led them to enter the lists as
soldiers, nourished the self-sacrifice
of women, and stimulated them TO
the collection of hospital supplies,
and to brave the horrors and hard
ships of hospital life If men re-
sponded to the call of the country
when it demanded soldiers by the
hundred thousand, women planned
moneymaking enterprises whose vast
ness of conception and good business
management yielded millions of dol
lars to be expended in the interest
OF sick and wounded soldiers. If men
faltered not, and went gayly to death
that slavery might be exterminatec
and that the United States might
remain intact and undivided, women
strengthened them by accepting the
policy of the government uncomplain-
ingly. 1t is easy to understand how
men catch the contagion of war es-
pecially when they feel their quarrel
to be just One can comprehend
how, fired with enthusiasm and In
spired by martial music, they marca
TO the lannon's mouth where the
iron hail rains heaviest and the ranks
r,nwnd dnuyr -,
vest. But for women to send forth
their husband, sons, brothers anc
lovers to the fearful chances of the
battlefield, knowing we'll the risks
they run,-this involves exquisite sur
fering, and calls for another kind or
heroism. This women did through
out the country, forcing their white
lips to utter a cheerful ''good-bye"
when their hearts were nigh break
ing with the fierce struggle. The
transition of the country from peace
to the tumult and waste of war was
appalling and swift-but the regen-
GRAFTON of its women kept pace with
it. They Topped Off superfluities, re-
trenched in expenditures, became
deaf to the calls of pleasure and
needed not the mandates of fashion.
The incoming patriotism of the hour
swept them to the Hottest height OF
devotion, and they were eager to 90,
to bear, or to suffer for the beloved
country. The letters of caste and
conventionalism dropped at their
feet, and they sat together, patrician
and plebian, protestant and catholic,
and scraped lint and rolled bandages
Or made garments for the poorly
clad soldiery
"An order was sent to Boston for
5000 shirts for the Massachusetts
troops at the south. Every churcn
in the city sent a delegation OF
needle-women to union hall heretofore
used as ballroom. The Catholic
priests detailed 500 serving girls to
the pious work. Suburban towns rang
the bells of the town hall to muster
the seamstresses. The plebian Irish
catholic of South Boston ran the
sewing-machine, while the patrlc1an
protestant of Beacon street basted,-
and the shirts were made at the rate
Of a thousand day. On Thursday,
Dorothea Dix sent out an order for
500 shirts for her hospital in Wash
ington. On Friday they were cut,
made and packed-and were sent on
their way that night. Similar events
were of constant occurrence in ev-
cry other city. The zeal and devo-
through all discouragements and re-
verses maintained sympathetic
unity between the soldiers and them
selves, that gave to the former a
marvellous heroism.
1T was summer, and the army was
to move southwark to be exposed TO
the torrid heats of the season ana
climate. A newspaper "reminiscences
of the good service rendered British
troops in India by General Havelock
set the ball in motion. He had de-
vised a white linen head-dress to be
worn over the caps of the men.
which defended them from sunstroke,
and in his honor it was named the
havelock. Our men must, of course,
be equipped with this protection, and
forthwith inexperienced women, and
equally inexperienced men in the
army. gave orders for the manufac-
ture of hayelock. What Juror there
was over them, Women who could
not attend the sewing-meetings where
the havelocks we're being manutac-
tuEed ordered the work sent to their