had thus struggled with poverty, and the depressing influences
of loneliness and weariness, there came the sad intelligence, that the
husband so dearly loved, was among the slain, or that he had been
captured and consigned to death by starvation and slow torture at
Andersonville, where even now he might be filling an unknown grave, what
wonder is it that in numerous cases the burden was too heavy for the
wearied spirit, and insanity supervened, or the broken heart found rest
and reunion with the loved and lost in the grave.

Yet in many instances, the heart that seemed nigh to breaking, found
solace in its sorrow, in ministering directly or indirectly to the
wounded soldier, and forgetting its own misery, brought to other hearts
and homes consolation and peace. This seems to us the loftiest and most
divine of all the manifestations of the heroic spirit; it is nearest
akin in its character to the conduct of Him, who while "he was a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief," yet found the opportunity, with his
infinite tenderness and compassion, to assuage every sorrow and soothe
every grief but his own.

The effect of this patriotic zeal and fervor on the part of the wives,
mothers, sisters, and daughters of the loyal North, in stimulating and
encouraging the soldiers to heroic deeds, was remarkable. Napoleon
sought to awaken the enthusiasm and love of fame of his troops in Egypt,
by that spirit-stirring word, "Soldiers, from the height of yonder
pyramids forty centuries look down upon you." But to the soldier
fighting the battles of freedom, the thought that in every hamlet and
village of the loyal North, patriotic women were toiling and watching
for his welfare, and that they were ready to cheer and encourage him in
the darkest hour, to medicine his wounds, and minister to his sickness
and sorrows in the camp, on the battle-field, or in the hospital wards,
was a far more grateful and inspiring sentiment, than the mythical watch
and ward of the spectral hosts of a hundred centuries of the dead past.

The loyal soldier felt that he was fighting, so to speak, under the very
eyes of his countrywomen, and he was prompted to higher deeds of daring
and valor by the thought. In the smoke and flame of battle, he bore, or
followed the flag, made and consecrated by female hands to his country's
service; many of the articles which contributed to his comfort, and
strengthened his good right arm, and inspirited his heart for the da