up a constant correspondence
with these societies, but wrote regularly to the soldier-boys who had
been under her care, after they returned to their regiments, and thus
retained her influence over them, and made them feel that somebody cared
for them, even when they were away from all other home influences.

Besides these labors, which were seemingly sufficient to occupy her
entire time, she visited continually the hospitals about the city, and
always found room in her house for any sick one, who came to her begging
that he might "come home," rather than go to a boarding-house or to a
hospital. Three young officers, who came to her with this plea, were
received and watched over till death relieved them of their sufferings,
and cared for as tenderly as they could have been in their own homes;
and those who came thither were nursed and tended till their recovery
were numbered by scores.

To all the hospital workers from abroad, and the number was not few, her
house was always a home. There was some unappropriated room or some
spare bed in which they could be accommodated, and they were welcome for
the sake of the cause for which they were laboring. Had she possessed an
ample fortune, this kindness, though honorable, might not have been so
noteworthy, but her house was small and her means far from ample. In the
midst of these abundant labors for the soldiers, she was called to pass
through deep affliction, in the illness and death of her husband; but
she suffered no personal sorrow to so absorb her interest as to make her
unmindful of her dear hospital and home-work for the soldiers. This was
continued unfalteringly as long as there was occasion for it.

Few, if any, of the "Women of the War," have been or have deserved to
be, more generally beloved by the soldiers and by all true
hospital-workers than Mrs. Bigelow.

MISS SHARPLESS AND ASSOCIATES.

What the Hospital Transport service was under the management of the
Sanitary Commission, we have elsewhere detailed, and have also given
some glimpses of its chaotic confusion, its disorder and wretchedness
under the management of government officials, early in the war. Under
the efficient direction of Surgeon-General Hammond, and his successor,
Surgeon-General Barnes, there was a material improvement; and in the
later years of the war the Government Hospital Transports bore some
resemblance to a well ordered General Hospital. There was not, indeed,
the complete or