se of the heart, and in May, 1864, ended her
active and useful life, had rallied around it a corps of noble and
faithful workers. But there were yet hundreds, aye, thousands, who felt
that they must do more than they were doing for the soldiers. The
organizations we have named, though having a considerable number of
auxiliaries in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, did not by any
means cover the whole ground, and none of them were acting to any
considerable extent through the Sanitary Commission which had been
rapidly approving itself as the most efficient and satisfactory agency
for the distribution of supplies to the army. In the winter of 1862-3
those friends of the soldier, not as yet actively connected with either
of the three associations we have named, assembled at the Academy of
Music, and after an address from Rev. Dr. Bellows, organized themselves
as the Women's Pennsylvania Branch of the Sanitary Commission, and with
great unanimity elected Mrs. Maria C. Grier as their President, and Mrs.
Clara J. Moore, Corresponding Secretary. Wiser or more appropriate
selections could not have been made. They were unquestionably, "the
right women in the right place." Our readers will pardon us for
sketching briefly the previous experiences and labors of these two
ladies who proved so wonderfully efficient in this new sphere of action.

Mrs. Maria C. Grier is a daughter of the late Rev. Dr. Cornelius C.
Cuyler, a clergyman, formerly pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church in
Poughkeepsie, and afterward of the Second Presbyterian Church,
Philadelphia, and married Rev. M. B. Grier, D.D., now editor of the
"Presbyterian," one of the leading papers of the Old School Presbyterian
Church. Dr. Grier had been for some years before the commencement of the
war pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Wilmington, at the outbreak of the war, shared with Charleston and
Mobile the bad reputation of being the most intensely disloyal of all
the towns of the South. Dr. and Mrs. Grier were openly and decidedly
loyal, known everywhere throughout that region as among the very few who
had the moral courage to avow their attachment to the Union. They knew
very well, that their bold avowals might cost them their lives, but they
determined for the sake of those who loved the Union, but had not their
courage, to remain and advocate the cause, until it should become
impossible to do so longer, bearing in mind that if they escape