Her face was bronzed and deeply lined with care
and suffering. Her eyes were bent on the ground, her arms folded, her
features rigid as marble. I stood beside her, but she did not notice me.
I laid my hand upon her shoulder, but she heeded me not. I said 'Is this
young man a relative of yours?' No answer came. 'Can't I help you?' With
a sudden start that electrified me, her dry eyes almost starting from
the sockets and her voice husky with agony, she said, pointing her
attenuated finger at the senseless boy, 'He is the last of seven
sons--six have died in the army, and the doctor says he must die
to-night.' The flash of life passed from her face as suddenly as it
came, her arms folded over her breast, she sank in her chair, and became
as before, the rigid impersonation of agony. As I passed through another
hospital ward, I noticed a man whose dejected figure said plainly, 'he
had turned his face to the wall to die.' His limb had been amputated,
and he had just been told his doom. Human nature rebelled. He cried out,
'I am willing to die, if I could but see my wife and children once
more.' In the silence that followed this burst of agony, the low voice
of a noble woman, who gave her time and abundant means to the sick and
wounded soldiers, was heard in prayer for him. The divine influence
overcame his struggling heart, and as she concluded, he said, 'Thy will,
O God, be done!' ''Tis a privilege, even thus, to die for one's
country.' Before the midnight hour he was at rest. The vacant bed told
the story next morning."

The object of these visits was to examine those hospitals which were
under the immediate supervision of the Branch, and report their
condition, also to investigate the excellent mode of working of the
finely conducted, and at that time numerous hospitals in St. Louis. This
report was made and acted upon, and was the means of introducing decided
and much needed reforms into similar institutions.

The value of Mrs. Hoge's counsel, and the fruits of her great experience
of life were generally acknowledged. In the several councils of women
held in Washington, she took a prominent part, and was always listened
to with the greatest respect and attention--not by any means lessened
after her wide relations with the Sanitary Commission, and her special
experience of its work, had become known in the following years.

Mrs. Hoge was accompanied to Washington, when attending the Women's
Council in 1862, by her frien