ipal scene of these labors.

But the time had come for other and more engrossing labors for the sick
and wounded, and she was to be inducted into them by the avenue of
personal anxiety for one of her sons. In that fearful "change of base"
which resulted in the seven days' battle on the peninsula, when from the
combined influence of marsh malaria, want of food, overmarching, the
heat and fatigue of constant fighting, and the depression of spirits
incident to the unexpected retreat, more of our men fell down with
mortal sickness than were slain or wounded in the battles, one of Mrs.
Husband's sons was among the sufferers from disease, and word was sent
to her that he was at the point of death. She hastened to nurse him, and
after a great struggle and frequent relapses, he rallied and began to
recover. Meantime she had not been so wholly engrossed with her care for
him as to be neglectful of the hundreds and thousands around, who, like
him, were suffering from the deadly influences of that pestilential
climate and soil, or of the wounded who were wearing out their lives in
agony, with but scant attention or care; and every moment that could be
spared from her sick boy, was given to the other sufferers around her.

It was in this period of her work that she rendered the service to a
young soldier, now a physician of Brooklyn, New York, so graphically
described in the following extract from a letter addressed to the writer
of this sketch:

"I was prostrated by a severe attack of camp dysentery, stagnant water
and _unctuous_ bean soup not being exactly the diet for a sick person to
thrive on. I got "no better" very rapidly, till at length, one
afternoon, I lay in a kind of stupor, conscious that I was somewhere,
though where, for the life of me I could not say. As I lay in this
state, I imagined I heard my name spoken, and opening my eyes with
considerable effort, I saw bending over me a female form. I think the
astonishment restored me to perfect consciousness (though some liquor
poured into my mouth at the same time, may have been a useful adjunct).
As soon as I could collect myself sufficiently, I discovered the lady to
be a Mrs. Husband, who, with a few other ladies, had just arrived on one
of the hospital boats. Having lost my own mother when a mere child, you
may imagine the effect her tender nursing had upon me, and when she laid
her hand upon my forehead, all pain seemed to depart. I sank into a
sweet sleep, and awo