and still they come. All the food and clothing have passed
under our supervision, and, indeed, almost every garment has been given
out by our hands. Almost every article of special diet has been cooked
by Mrs. Bickerdyke personally, and all has been superintended by her. I
speak of this particularly, as it is a wonderful fulfillment of the
promise, 'As thy day is, so shall thy strength be.'"

Again, writing from Alatoona, Georgia, June 14th: "I have just visited a
tent filled with 'amputated cases,' They are noble young men, the pride
and hope of loving families at the North, but most of them are so low
that they will never again return to them. Each had a special request
for 'something that he could relish,' I made my way quickly down from
the heights, where the hospital tents are pitched, and sought for the
food they craved. I found it among the goods of the Sanitary
Commission--and now the dried currants, cherries, and other fruit are
stewing; we have unsoddered cans containing condensed milk and preserved
fruit--and the poor fellows will not be disappointed in their
expectations."

In the foregoing sketch we have given but a very brief statement of the
labors and sacrifices of Mrs. Porter which were not intermitted until
the close of the war. We have said that her sons were in the army. Her
eldest son re-enlisted at the close of his first term, and the youngest,
after a hundred days' service, returned to college to fit himself for
future usefulness in his regenerated country. Mr. Porter's services, as
well as those of his wife were of great value, and her son, James B.
Porter, though serving as a private only, in Battery A, First Illinois
Light Artillery, has had frequent and honorable mention.

At the close of Sherman's campaign Mrs. Porter finished her army service
by caring for the travel-worn and wearied braves as they came into camp
at Washington where, with Mrs. Stephen Barker and others, she devoted
herself to the distribution of sanitary stores, attending the sick and
in various ways comforting and relieving all who needed her aid after
the toils of the Grand March.

MRS. MARY A. BICKERDYKE.

Among the hundreds who with untiring devotion have consecrated their
services to the ministrations of mercy in the Armies of the Union, there
is but one "Mother" Bickerdyke. Others may in various ways have made as
great sacrifices, or displayed equal heroism, but her measures and
methods have been peculiarl