237
XXII DICK TO THE FORE 250
XXIII RECAPTURE 259
XXIV VICKSBURG 272
XXV MADAME AGAIN 280
XXVI JEANNE MEETS FRIENDS 290
XXVII A PRISONER OF WAR 302
XXVIII THE SIEGE BEGINS 314
XXIX MADAME FOR THE LAST TIME 324
XXX THE END OF THE SIEGE 334

A DAUGHTER OF THE UNION

CHAPTER I

WHAT GIRLS CAN DO

"That finishes everything," exclaimed Jeanne Vance, placing a neatly
folded handkerchief in a basket. "And oh, girls, what a little bit of a
pile it makes!"

The five girls drew their chairs closer to the basket and gazed ruefully
at its contents.

"How many handkerchiefs are there, Jeanne?" asked one.

"There are fifty handkerchiefs and five pairs of socks. It seemed like a
great many when we took them to make, but what do they amount to after
all?"

"There isn't much that girls can do anyway," spoke another. "If we were
boys we could go to the war, or, if we were women we could be nurses. I
don't like being just a girl!"

"Well, I wouldn't mind it so much if there was anything I could do,"
remarked Jeanne who seemed to be the leader. "But when Dick is in the
army, father in government service, and mother at work all day in the
Relief Association, it is pretty hard not to be able to do anything but
hem handkerchiefs and make socks."

"A great many persons don't even do that," said Nellie Drew, the youngest
girl of the party. "And they are grown-up people, too."

"Then the more shame to them," cried Jeanne indignantly. "In such a
war as ours every man, woman and child in the United States ought to be
interested. I don't see how any one can help being so. For my part, I
am going to do all that I can for the soldiers if it is only to hem
handkerchiefs."

"What else could we do? We can't help being girls, and Miss Thornton was
pleased when we asked for more work. She said that our last socks were
done as well as women could do them. I am sure that that is something."

"That is true," admitted Jeanne soberly. "I have heard mother say that
some of the things were so poorly made that the ladies were ashamed
to send them to