Year: 1863




from what you do in New England. You
see the heroic side, see your young and
brave march away with, music and stream
4 ing banners; and although you feel thar
henceforth life has lost much Of its charm
for you, yet you say under the influence Of
that true loyalty that is the glory Of New
England, g Thank God we had such sons
to give to such country"


Only too well do know how many of
those, thus urseIfshly surrendered to coun-
try and God, come back to you how vain
1 ly agonizing tears fall on dead faces. how
dreary the whole earth looks to you, as
wrapping them in their starry shroud, you
leave them in country graveyards and city
tombs. Still, you have the unexpressible.
never-tolbe estimated joy of feeling, that if
death was TO be their portion, if the young
life was to be laid down, you would Infinite
ly rather il would be on these fields of right
and duty, than anywhere else on the earth
Indeed, in every town Of New England
there is more or less of the exalted feeling
that makes men into martyrs for trust and
human progress. Here, on the border we
lose sight to a great degree of those mo-
lives. We are too near the strife. We
see the very foundation of business and So
cie1y broken up; see our streets filled at all
hours by federal soldiers and confederate
prisoners see all our beautiful public build
ipgs crowded with sick and wounded, while
every day scores of frightened exies from,
the interior seek refuge and sympathy in
our midst. Indeed, while clear vision
seems to be given New England, so that
her people see the full me aning of this fear
| fnlstruggle, we whose homes are overturned,
whose villages are desoate, who dread
friends only little less than we fear foes,
sometimes lose all heart and hope, and de-
sparingiy murmnr, 8 How long, Q LORD,
how long -


Often, however, from the chaos of this
unsetling of all things, there gleam as
bright instances of herosm as any that
have shed a glory around your Rerkshire
bills, and made the marshes Of Essex forev-
er famous. Many come 10 our knowledge,
as we stand by the narrow cots where they
lay the wounded from Donelson and Muir
freesboro; and one such let me try to tell
you.


Last summer when Buell. ran that famous
race for the possession of our city, several
regiments of his hoily-pressed, sparcely-fed
men, were encamped around our house so
near, that we never opened blind, or look
ed out of the door but we saw soldier
gazing in. think no soldier ever had a
harder time than these poor fellows endured;
the remnant of those who fought at Pea
Ridge Donelson and Shiloh. A roof had
not sheltered them for months; sometimes
for weeks together they had net even tents
and through that fierce August sun, they
had marched an incredible number of miles
in the least possible time, then rested lit
tie time in our midst, to gain strength to so
out and win the hardly contested field of
Perryville.


They we're in and out of our house, as they
pleased. and usually our daily paper went the
rounds of the camp. One morning young
fellow came for it whom we had not noticed
before, and as we watched him coming up
the walk, we said, i" Whoever he is, con-
sumption has stamped her mark on his face"
Handing the paper, and asking him if be
| was not sick, he admitted that he had
cough which he contracted lying out in the
intense cold after Donelson but assured us
he was all right; Le had seen plenty Of
fellows get well. who were worse than he
was. We took up strong liking for the
cheerful, manly boy, and as there was little
doing in the camp, he spent great many
hours with US, usually lying on settee,
always saying because it seemed SO much
| Ike one his mother had" We were not
surprised that he turned from his coarse,
miserably cooked rations, with absolute
disgust, or that after we overcome his first
scruples of pride, he pariook of our tea and
] toast with almost child's eagerness. To
this day certain articles of food always bring
before our eyes that soldiers thin eager
face, and brilliant eyes. We learned that
/ pleasant home on the far-off prairies of IL
| linois waited for him, that mother and SIS