nati?" This resulted in a call the next day for a meeting of
gentlemen to consider the subject. Committees were appointed, an
organization effected and circulars issued on the 13th of November. On
the 19th, the ladies met, and Mrs. Mendenhall was unanimously chosen
President of the ladies' committee, and subsequently second
Vice-President of the General Fair organization, General Rosecrans being
President, and the Mayor of the city, first Vice-President. To the
furtherance of this work, Mrs. Mendenhall devoted all her energies.
Eloquent appeals from her facile pen were addressed to loyal and
patriotic men and women all over the country, and a special circular and
appeal to the patriotic young ladies of Cincinnati and the Ohio valley
for their hearty co-operation in the good work. The correspondence and
supervision of that portion of the fair which necessarily came under the
direction of the ladies, required all her time and strength, but the
results were highly satisfactory. Of the two hundred and thirty-five
thousand dollars which was the net product of this Sanitary Fair, a very
liberal proportion was called forth by her indefatigable exertions and
her extraordinary executive ability.

The aggregate results of the labors of the Women's Aid Society, before
and after the fair, are known to have realized about four hundred
thousand dollars in money, and nearly one million five hundred thousand
in hospital stores and supplies.

The fair closed, she resumed her hospital work and her duties as
President of the Women's Soldiers' Aid Society, and continued to perform
them to the close of the war. Near the close of 1864, she exerted her
energies in behalf of a Fair for soldiers' families, in which fifty
thousand dollars were raised for this deserving object. The testimonies
of her associates to the admirable manner in which her hospital work was
performed are emphatic, and the thousands of soldiers who were the
recipients of her gentle ministries, give equally earnest testimonies to
her kindness and tenderness of heart.

The freedmen and refugees have also shared her kindly ministrations and
her open-handed liberality, and since the close of the war her
self-sacrificing spirit has found ample employment in endeavoring to
lift the fallen of her own sex out of the depths of degradation, to the
sure and safe paths of virtue and rectitude.

With the modesty characteristic of a patriotic spirit, Mrs. Mendenhall
depreciates her