The Washington herald., 1914-10-22

Fifty years ago today Miss Helen l.
Gibson, OF Boston, one OF the unsung
heroines Of the war, was minIsterlng 10
the needs Of the sick soldiers in Grant
army before Petersburg and at City
Point with devotion that won her the
esteem Of an who met her.
Among the hundreds Of noble women
who gave strength and soul for the ben
eft OF the soldiers at the front none
than Miss ellison. She followed the
Army of the Potomac IN all its cam
paigns. In the grand campaign of 1854
she worked among the sick and wound
ed In the field hospitals. Her voice was
sweet and sympathetic and she sang
old melodies Of home that seemed like
angelic music to many a soldier whose
sickness was intensified by unceasing
longing for kindred.
She smoothed the pillow Of the dying.
prayed for the parting soul, closed the
eyes of the dead. For the weak she
cooked tempting food and prepared COOL
ing drafts. She brought flowers or lit
tie presents to the hospitals; she wrote
letters for soldiers to the folks at
home"
Miss ellison was a good. earnest,
Christian young woman who felt that
she must give her all Of strength and
courage. for the men who had suffered
for tho flag.
The nane OF Miss ellison is not IA
miliar to the present generation, nor
was il known to great numbers in the
war time; yet her acts were as much
entitled to the worlds admiration as
these of Florence Nightingale.
A native Of Boston, Miss Gibson was
barely twenty years old when sine went
TO the front to offer her services to the
soldiers. She was a schoolteacher and
a niece of Francis B. Fay, mayor OF
Chelsea. Mass. who distinguished himself
as a humanitarian by giving his time
and means to helping the soldiers at the
front from the beginning Of the war to its
end. Denied a place as an army nurse
because of her youth. Miss ellison Joined
her uncle in his work, which was similar
to that done by the sanitary commits
sion. In 1862 she served on hospital steam
ers plying to the army bases in Virginia.
Later she went into the field.
Sang OF Home and Country.
William Howell Reed. an agent OF the
sanitary commission who worked in the
same field as Miss ellison. has left a
bright, though all too brief, record OF
her work in a book called Hospital
Life in the Army Of the Potomac" which
was published in 1866. He first describes
her as she appeared in the temporary
hospital at Fredericksburg. after the
bloody battles of the Wilderness and
Spottsylvania.
zone afternoon" he wrote, when the
atmosphere Of our rooms was close and
foul. and all were longing for a breath
Of our cooler northern air, while the
men were moaning in pain, or were rest
less with fever, and our hearts were
sick with pity for the sufferers, / heard
a light step upon the stairs, and looking
up I saw a young lady enter. who
brought with her such an atmosphere
of calm and cheerful courage, so much
freshness, such an expression OF gentle
womanly sympathy, that her mere
presence seemed to revive the dropping
spipds OF the men and 10 give a new
power OF endurance through the long
and painful hours of suffering.
First with one, then at the side OF
another, a friendly word here. a gentle
nod and smile there. a tender sympathy
with each PROSTATE sufferer, a sympathy
which could read in his eyes his long
ing for home love, and for the presence