s in having the immense satisfaction of distributing these
things, which all of you, hard at work in villages and cities, were
getting ready and sending off, in faith.

"Canandaigua sent cologne with its other supplies, which went right to
the noses and hearts of the men. 'That is good, now;'--'I'll take some
of that;'--'worth a penny a sniff;' 'that kinder gives one life;'--and
so on, all round the tents, as we tipped the bottles up on the clean
handkerchiefs some one had sent, and when they were gone, over squares
of cotton, on which the perfume took the place of hem,--'just as good,
ma'am.' We varied our dinners with custard and baked rice puddings,
scrambled eggs, codfish hash, corn-starch, and always as much soft
bread, tea, coffee, or milk as they wanted. Two Massachusetts boys I
especially remember for the satisfaction with which they ate their
pudding. I carried a second plateful up to the cars, after they had been
put in, and fed one of them till he was sure he had had enough. Young
fellows they were, lying side by side, one with a right and one with a
left arm gone.

"The Gettysburg women were kind and faithful to the wounded and their
friends, and the town was full to overflowing of both. The first day,
when Mrs. ---- and I reached the place, we literally begged our bread
from door to door; but the kind woman who at last gave us dinner would
take no pay for it. 'No, ma'am, I shouldn't wish to have that sin on my
soul when the war is over.' She, as well as others, had fed the
strangers flocking into town daily, sometimes over fifty of them for
each meal, and all for love and nothing for reward; and one night we
forced a reluctant confession from our hostess that she was meaning to
sleep on the floor that we might have a bed, her whole house being full.
Of course we couldn't allow this self-sacrifice, and hunted up some
other place to stay in. We did her no good, however, for we afterwards
found that the bed was given up that night to some other stranger who
arrived late and tired: 'An old lady, you know; and I couldn't let an
old lady sleep on the floor.' Such acts of kindness and self-denial were
almost entirely confined to the women.

"Few good things can be said of the Gettysburg farmers, and I only use
Scripture language in calling them 'evil beasts.' One of this kind came
creeping into our camp three weeks after the battle. He lived five miles
only from the town, and had 'never seen a rebel.' He heard w