oken at length elsewhere in this
volume. Mrs. Colwell, the wife of Hon. Stephen Colwell, a man of rare
philosophic mind and comprehensive views, who had acquired a reputation
alike by his writings, and his earnest practical benevolence, was a
woman every way worthy of her husband.

It was early determined to allow Mrs. Harris to follow the promptings
of her benevolent heart and go to the field, while her colleagues should
attend to the work of raising supplies and money at home, and furnishing
her with the stores she required for her own distribution and that of
the zealous workers who were associated with her. The members of the
society were connected with twenty different churches of several
denominations, and while all had reference to the spiritual as well as
physical welfare of the soldier, yet there was nothing sectarian or
denominational in its work. From the fact that its meetings were held
and its goods packed in the basement and vestry of Dr. Boardman's
Church, it was sometimes called the Presbyterian Ladies' Aid Society,
but the name, if intended to imply that its character was
denominational, was unjust. As early as October, 1861, the pastors of
twelve churches in Philadelphia united in an appeal to all into whose
hands the circular might fall, to contribute to this society and to form
auxiliaries to it, on the ground of its efficiency, its economical
management, and its unsectarian character.

The society, with but moderate receipts as compared with those of the
great organizations, accomplished a great amount of good. Not a few of
the most earnest and noble workers in the field were at one time or
another the distributors of its supplies, and thus in some sense, its
agents. Among these we may name besides Mrs. Harris, Mrs. M. M. Husband,
Mrs. Mary W. Lee, Miss M. M. C. Hall, Miss Cornelia Hancock, Miss Anna
M. Ross, Miss Nellie Chase, of Nashville, Miss Hetty K. Painter, Mrs. Z.
Denham, Miss Pinkham, Miss Biddle, Mrs. Sampson, Mrs. Waterman, and
others. The work intended by the society, and which its agents attempted
to perform was a religious as well as a physical one; hospital supplies
were to be dispensed, and the sick and dying soldier carefully nursed;
but it was also a part of its duty to point the sinner to Christ, to
warn and reprove the erring, and to bring religious consolation and
support to the sick and dying; the Bible, the Testament, and the tract
were as truly a part of its supplies as the