ter and more interesting. As the wife of the Chaplain of the
Regiment, the men all recognized the fitness of her position, and she
shared with him all the duties, not strictly clerical, of his office,
finding great happiness in their mutual usefulness and sustaining power.
She also saw the same men oftener, and became better acquainted, and
more deeply interested in their individual conditions, and she had here
facilities at her command for the preparation of all the little luxuries
and delicacies demanded by special cases.

While the regiment held Fort Albany, and others of the forts forming the
defenses of Washington, the officers' quarters were always such as to
furnish a comfortable home, and Mrs. Barker had, consequently, none of
the exposures and hardships of those who followed the army and labored
in the field. As she, herself, has written in a private letter--"It was
no sacrifice to go to the army, because my husband was in it, and it
would have been much harder to stay at home than to go with him. * * * I
cannot even claim the merit of acting from a sense of _duty_--for I
wanted to work for the soldiers, and should have been desperately
disappointed had I been prevented from doing it."

And so, with a high heart, and an unselfish spirit, which disclaimed all
merit in sacrifice, and even the existence of the sacrifice, she entered
upon and fulfilled to the end the arduous and painful duties which
devolved upon her.

For nearly two years she continued in unremitting attendance upon the
regimental hospitals, except when briefly called home to the sick and
dying bed of her father.

All this time her dependence for hospital comforts was upon the Sanitary
Commission, for though the regiment was performing the duties of a
garrison it was not so considered by the War Department, and the
hospital received none of the furnishings it would have been entitled to
as a Post Hospital. Most of the hospital bedding and clothing, as well
as delicacies of diet came from the Sanitary Commission, and a little
money contributed from private sources helped to procure the needed
furniture. Mrs. Barker found this "camp life" absorbing and interesting.
She became identified with the regiment and was accustomed to speak of
it as a part of herself. And even more closely and intimately did she
identify herself with her suffering patients in the hospital.

On Sundays, while the chaplain was about his regular duties, she was
accustomed