e immediate
foundation of the proper establishment or establishments, for the
reception of the contemplated recipients of its benefits. The fund
accrued from military fines and unclaimed pay of members of the service,
was to be handed over to the use of the Asylum as soon as a
corresponding sum was raised by public gift.

Unfortunately for the success of the organization, the meeting of the
corporators for that purpose was appointed for the day afterward so
mournfully conspicuous as that of the funeral obsequies of our
assassinated President. Amidst the sad and angry excitement of the
closing scenes of that terrible tragedy, it was found impossible to
convene a sufficient number of the corporators (although present in the
city) to form a quorum for the transaction of business. The opportunity
thus lost did not recur, and though an effort was made to substitute
proxies for actual members of the body, it was unsuccessful, and an
organization was not effected.

Thus a year dragged its slow length along. Miss Baker was busy enlarging
her sphere of influence--encountering and overcoming opposition and
obstacles, endeavoring to secure co-operation, and in securing also
personal possession of the property at Point Lookout, Maryland, which
she believed to be a desirable site for the Asylum. Her object in this
was that she might hold this property until the organization was
effected, and it might be legally transferred to the corporators.

Point Lookout was a watering-place previous to the war. The hospital
property there consists of three hundred acres of land, occupying the
point which divides the mouth of the Potomac River from Chesapeake Bay,
at the confluence of the former with the Bay. One or more large hotels,
numerous cottages and other buildings remained from the days of peace.
The Government also established there, during the war, Hammond General
Hospital with its extensive buildings, and a stockade and encampment for
prisoners. The air is salubrious, the land fertile, a supply of
excellent water brought from neighboring heights, and an extensive
oyster-bed and a fine beach for bathing, add to its attractions.
Believing the place well calculated to meet the wants of the Asylum,
Miss Baker desired to secure the private property together with a grant
from the Government of that portion which belongs to it. She succeeded
in securing the latter, and in delaying the contemplated sale of the
former.

A change being impe