uline natures, or, in the vocabulary of the times, "strong-minded,"
they were the recipients of many coarse jests, and imputations were
made upon both their modesty and their virtue. But I would that any
satirist had watched with me the good offices of these Florence
Nightingales of the West, as they tripped upon merciful errands, like
good angels, and left paths of sunshine behind them. The soldiers had
seen none of their countrywomen for months, and they followed these
ambassadors with looks half-idolatrous, half-downcast, as if consciously
unworthy of so tender regard.

"If I could jest die, now," said one of the poor fellows to me, "with
one prayer for my country, and one for that dear young lady!"

There was one of these daughters of the good Samaritan whose face was so
full of coolness, and her robes so airy, flowing, and graceful, that it
would have been no miracle had she transmuted herself to something
divine. She was very handsome, and her features bore the imprint of that
high enthusiasm which may have animated the maid of Arc. One of the more
forward of the correspondents said to her, as she bore soothing
delicacies to the invalids, that he missed the satisfaction of being
wounded, at which she presented an orange and a cigar to each of us in
turn. Among the females on board, I remarked one, very large, angular,
and sanguine, who sat at a small table, dispensing luxuries with the
manners of a despot and the charity of a child. She had a large vessel
of boiling coffee, from which she drew spicy quantities at intervals;
and when the troops thronged around eagerly, she rebuked the more
forward, and called up some emaciated, bashful fellows, giving them
the preference. Every soldier who accepted coffee was obliged to
take a religious tract, and she gave them away with a grim satisfaction
that was infinitely amusing and interesting. I ventured to ask
this imperative person for a bottle of ink, and after some
difficulty,--arising out of a mistaken notion on her part that I was
dangerously wounded,--she vaulted over a chair, and disappeared into a
state-room. When she returned, her arms were filled with a perfect
wilderness of stationery, and having supplied each of us in turn, she
addressed herself to me in the following sententious manner:--

"See here! You reporter! (There's ink!) I want to be put in the
newspapers! Look at me! Now! Right straight! (Pens?) Here I am; thirteen
months at work; been everywhere; d