the guard, told them to break open the
barn and carry out the straw, and him to fire, if he thought it is duty;
but he must reach them through her. The man's orders were to guard the
barn; with the straw out of it he had nothing to do. The men moved side
and side, going in and out, and she kept in range to cover them until
the last armful had been removed. It was taken away and was to be
distributed; but there was still so little compared to the need, that
there must be consultation about the manner of using it. Mrs. Ingersol
thought it should be made into small pillows, and volunteered to
undertake that work; as the Commission could furnish muslin, I thought
this best. She found a loft, and engaged several Fredericksburg women
to work for pay. They worked one day, but did not return on the second.
There were a good many Union women there by this time, who should have
helped, but few could confine themselves to obscure work in a loft, when
there was so much excitement on the streets. There was no authority to
hold any one to steady employment; and so about two-thirds the helpers
who reached Fredericksburg, spent a large part of their time in an
aimless wandering and wondering, and finding so much to be done, could
do nothing.

So, most of the time Mrs. Ingersol was in her loft alone, except the
orderlies who stuffed her slips, sewed up the ends and carried them off
to the places she designated; but she had nimble fingers, and
sleight-of-hand, and turned out a surprising number of small straw
pillows.

As my allowance came, the question was what to do with them. They were
too precious for use. What should I do with those scraps of white on
that field of grime? Our gaunt horror became grotesque, in view of such
unwonted luxuries. What! A whole dozen or two little straw pillows among
one hundred and sixty men! Who should elect the aristocrats to be
cradled in such luxury amid that world of want?

When my aristocrat was elected, how should his luxury be applied? Would
I put it under his head or mangled limb? I think I never realized our
destitution until those little pillows came to remind me that sometimes
wounded men had beds! Oh, God! would relief never come? Like the Scotch
girl in the besieged fortress of India, I felt like laying my ear to the
ground, to harken for the sound of the bagpipes, the tramp of the
Campbells coming. It did seem that, without surgical aid or comforts of
any kind, my men must soon be all pa