to aid
them in procuring supplies for the wounded soldiers, and were that day
to receive the reply of the chamber.

Mrs. Bickerdyke went with the ladies, and the President of the Chamber,
in his blandest tones, informed them that the Chamber of Commerce had
considered their request, but that they had expended so much recently in
fitting out a regiment, that they thought they must be excused from
making any contributions to the Ladies' Aid Society. Mrs. Bickerdyke
asked the privilege of saying a few words in the way of answer. For half
an hour she held them enchained while she described, in simple but
eloquent language, the life of the private soldier, his privations and
sufferings, the patriotism which animated him, and led him to endure,
without murmuring, hardships, sickness, and even death itself, for his
country. She contrasted this with the sordid love of gain which not only
shrank from these sacrifices in person, but grudged the pittance
necessary to alleviate them, while it made the trifling amount it had
already contributed, an excuse for making no further donations, and
closed with this forcible denunciation: "And you, merchants and rich men
of Milwaukie, living at your ease, dressed in your broad-cloth, knowing
little and caring less for the sufferings of these soldiers from hunger
and thirst, from cold and nakedness, from sickness and wounds, from pain
and death, all incurred that you may roll in wealth, and your homes and
little ones be safe; you will refuse to give aid to these poor soldiers,
because, forsooth, you gave a few dollars some time ago to fit out a
regiment! Shame on you--you are not men--you are cowards--go over to
Canada--this country has no place for such creatures!" The Chamber of
Commerce was not prepared for such a rebuke, and they reconsidered their
action, and made an appropriation at once to the Ladies' Aid Society.

Immediately after the surrender of Vicksburg, Mrs. Bickerdyke
surrendered her hospital at Memphis into other hands, and went thither
to care for the wounded. She accompanied Sherman's corps in their
expedition to Jackson, and amid all the hardships and exposures of the
field, ministered to the sick and wounded. Cooking for them in the open
air, under the burning sun and the heavy dews, she was much exposed to
the malarious fevers of that sickly climate, but her admirable
constitution enabled her to endure fatigue and exposure, better even
than most of the soldiers. Though