God, and we would do what we can, for His sake," was the sublime reply.

Take another example. In that little hamlet on the bleak and barren
hills of New England, far away from the great city or even the populous
village, you will find a mother and daughter living in a humble
dwelling. The husband and father has lain for many years 'neath the sod
in the graveyard on the hill slope; the only son, the hope and joy of
both mother and sister, at the call of duty, gave himself to the service
of his country, and left those whom he loved as his own life, to toil at
home alone. By and bye, at Williamsburg, or Fair Oaks, or in that
terrible retreat to James River, or at Cedar Mountain, it matters not
which, the swift speeding bullet laid him low, and after days, or it may
be weeks of terrible suffering, he gave up his young life on the altar
of his country. The shock was a terrible one to those lone dwellers on
the snowy hills. He was their all, but it was for the cause of Freedom,
of Right, of God; and hushing the wild beating of their hearts they
bestir themselves, in their deep poverty, to do something for the cause
for which their young hero had given his life. It is but little, for
they are sorely straitened; but the mother, though her heart is wrapped
in the darkness of sorrow, saves the expense of mourning apparel, and
the daughter turns her faded dress; the little earnings of both are
carefully hoarded, the pretty chintz curtains which had made their
humble room cheerful, are replaced by paper, and by dint of constant
saving, enough money is raised to purchase the other materials for a
hospital quilt, a pair of socks, and a shirt, to be sent to the Relief
Association, to give comfort to some poor wounded soldier, tossing in
agony in some distant hospital. And this, with but slight variation is
the history of hundreds, and perhaps thousands of the articles sent to
the soldiers' aid societies.

This fire of patriotic zeal, while it glowed alike in the hearts of the
rich and poor, inflamed the young as well as the old. Little girls, who
had not attained their tenth year, or who had just passed it, denied
themselves the luxuries and toys they had long desired, and toiled with
a patience and perseverance wholly foreign to childish nature, to
procure or make something of value for their country's defenders. On a
pair of socks sent to the Central Association of Relief, was pinned a
paper with this legend: "These stockings wer