Year: 1862

eager interest IN individual su Herring that Su
! prised me. When l first came upon the empt


bed of one who had been my particular car,


and who had passed beyond the reach Of


ministry, wept as If had lost a brother.


forgot aching limbs and weary head whe


moistening lips blacBened BY fever, cooling ia


stiffsne,l bnndages or turning the heated pill


low. The close, heavy air ceased to sicken me


my nerves shrank no longer at cries Of pail


or sight Of gaping wounds, if so I could pre-
pare cordial or battle the sinking puse bacl


10 life again.


Two weeks had passed, anl had won tht


confidence of the surgeon who had opposed ny
admission most decidedly He was abrup


and cold in his manner, but he had a warn


and feeling heart; these men had found it out
beneath his brusquc exterior, for no woman :


toucb was more gentle, though so firm and


rapid in all that required to be done.
| had never obtruded myself upon him, but


l noticed with a pleasure like the award o.


commendalion, that he began to trust his or
ders to me more and more; that he singled me
out for cases that required the most constant
watchfulncss. This day he said to me. after
giving his directions, You have not broken
down yet, poor thing poor young thing p


1t was as if my father had pitied and ca
ressed me but it was so unlocked for that
almost gave way to tears before him.


That same afternoon fouad myself passing
ward that had been prepared some days for
new arrivals, just as they were bringing in
those sad and touching burdens. Men helpless
as infants clung to the arms that supported
tlIem or tot;ered to the beds prepared for
them Ike little children just learning to walk;
stretchers as gastly as bierS passed and repass-
ed with those to whom all places were alike, 50
that motion would cease and they might be
allowed TO die in peace others moaned or
shrieked at the torture of the tenderest touch;
and all were, without exception, squalid and
wretched 10 the last degree. | wondered to
see them so, even while l passed from one to
another with restOratves bat still | had not
heard that they were Paroled prisoners, fresh
from the filth and privations of the rebel
capital. No; there was not even a tremor Of
possible hope that l might hear his name or
his story among that suffering crowd, as one
passed before me.


stopped at length over IA wan and wasted
figure laid upon the bed in The most remote
corner. The face was hollow and emaciaicd.
the eyeballs sunken, the dry lips parched by
fever the dark hair and heavy oeard were
closely shaven; the thin hands cIasped together,
as if death had already released this poor
sufferer. | thonght it must be so ut first but
as bent down more closely the eyeids were
feebIy lifted, the lips qniyercd painfully.


"Ycs-it is heaven :"


caught the feeble, wandering whisper; but,
oh, my Heavenly Father! was my mind wan
derng, too? Had pity ciouded my brain


They mast have thought | had gone mad
Perhaps he kind surgeon thought 50 when he
turned, the moment after, 10 fluid me kneelng
by the bed with that poor wasted. shriveIed
face Graded in my arms, and my paehonate
outcries for help startling the painful qaiet
around US, for life seemed 10 have Ackcred and
gone out with the look Of recognition [ had
cangiIt.


had said, oh how often ! that wou,d b.
content if he could die in my arms and there
he lay slipping away from me into eternity


knew it was best, when they unwouni my
arms that blessed morning, AMI the surgeon
Iiftel me us If l had been child and carried
me from the room; but l crouched down by
The doar bic: sing the fall rg dlkEess hat she,-
tered me, and when he passed ont crop hack
again to that bedside. Surely we might be
trusted we did not exchange one word
Sight and touch were sufTiciQnt the graceful,
almost adoring l,o!s from those large, bril-
liant eyes, as my hand passed softly over his
forehead. wooing from him the sleep that
would save him, and praying that it might
avail him. And at last the lids fell softly, the
hand that clasp"d sunk away, the painfully
intense expression faded from his face, and ] be
gan to find that it was no cheating dream, but
a blessed, hopefll reality, that Arthur had
been given back to me from the dead


How did l return to the home I had left
with such a breaking heart? As bride in
deed, with the blessed consciousness that, but
for my presence and watehfnl care Arthur
would have been at that moment lying among
the crowded unknown dead of soldiers
burial ground. There had been no trace OF
his name or home, for the fever had been on
him when he went 0ut 10 the battle field, and
he was carried away from it to prison shell
ter, wounded and raving in dtirum.


Think of the change in my, heart and life
when l entered the room in which l had suf-
fercd those long. slow weeks Of torture; when
l knelt by the whte-robed bed, too specchIess-
ly thankful for words or tears, with Arthur's
arm cIaSping me, and his dear voice thanking
God for both of us. and for the strange deliver
ance which he had wrought