de till the next train 'to-morrow!' Think
what this _would_ have been, and you are ready to appreciate the relief
and comfort that _was_. No men were turned back. You fed and you
sheltered them just when no one else could have done so; and out of the
boxes and barrels of good and nourishing things, which you people at
home had supplied, we took all that was needed. Some of you sent a stove
(that is, the money to get it), some of you the beef-stock, some of you
the milk and fresh bread; and all of you would have been thankful that
you had done so, could you have seen the refreshment and comfort
received through these things.

"As soon as the men hobbled up to the tents, good hot soup was given all
round; and that over, their wounds were dressed,--for the gentlemen of
the Commission are cooks or surgeons, as occasion demands,--and,
finally, with their blankets spread over the straw, the men stretched
themselves out and were happy and contented till morning, and the next
train.

"On the day that the railroad bridge was repaired, we moved up to the
depot, close by the town, and had things in perfect order; a first-rate
camping-ground, in a large field directly by the track, with unlimited
supply of delicious cool water. Here we set up two stoves, with four
large boilers, always kept full of soup and coffee, watched by four or
five black men, who did the cooking, under our direction, and sang (not
under our direction) at the top of their voices all day,--

'Oh darkies, hab you seen my Massa?'
'When this _cruel_ war is _over_.'

Then we had three large hospital tents, holding about thirty-five each,
a large camp-meeting supply tent, where barrels of goods were stored,
and our own smaller tent, fitted up with tables, where jelly-pots, and
bottles of all kinds of good syrups, blackberry and black currant, stood
in rows. Barrels were ranged round the tent-walls; shirts, drawers,
dressing-gowns, socks, and slippers (I wish we had had more of the
latter), rags and bandages, each in its own place on one side; on the
other, boxes of tea, coffee, soft crackers, tamarinds, cherry brandy,
etc. Over the kitchen, and over this small supply-tent, we women rather
reigned, and filled up our wants by requisition on the Commission's
depot. By this time there had arrived a 'delegation' of just the right
kind from Canandaigua, New York, with surgeons' dressers and
attendants, bringing a first-rate supply of necessities and comforts