me and strength; as the
writer, who for a while was 'Mistress of the Robes,' can testify. From 7
A. M. till dark we toiled; and when at last we dragged ourselves back to
the hotel, too wearied for anything but bed, 'tired Nature's sweet
restorer' was hard to woo, because of aching feet and swollen muscles.
But the experience was well worth it! Besides the joy of administering
to the suffering, what we learned of human nature (mostly good, I am
glad to say) would fill volumes. To be sure, there were shadows, as well
as lights, in the picture. Greed and hypocrisy, jealousy, malice, and
the reverse of Christian charity, came sometimes unpleasantly to the
fore, to be offset by the magnificent generosity of the American nation,
and the knowledge that in most quarters our efforts were appreciated.
Most of us were unused to manual labor, and all had left comfortable
homes--some at considerable financial sacrifice of well-salaried
positions, not for earthly gain or self-aggrandizement, but from pure
love of the splendid cause of the Cross of Geneva.

"In that Rag Fair department of old clothes, the ludicrous and pathetic
called for an equal blending of smiles and tears. It seemed as if every
household, from Maine to California, from the St. Lawrence to the Rio
Grande, had rummaged its attics for the flood sufferers. Merchants
delivered themselves of years' accumulations of shop-worn
goods--streaked, faded, of fashions long gone by--but a great deal
better than nothing for the destitute. There were at least a million
shirtwaists, all thin and summery, though cold winter was at hand, when
frequent 'northers' chill the very marrow in one's bones, and ice and
snow are not unknown on Galveston Island. There was another million of
'Mother Hubbard' wrappers, all of the sleaziest print and scrimpest
pattern, with inch-wide hems at bottom and no fastening to speak
of--wrappers enough to disfigure every female in Southern Texas. Fancy a
whole city full of women masquerading in those shapeless garments--the
poorest of their class; and then remember that, a few years ago, the
great and glorious State of Pennsylvania found it necessary to pass a
law--presumably for the peace of mind of her male citizens--forbidding
the wearing of 'Mother Hubbards' in the street!

"One day there came to our warehouse a large case of beautiful, buttoned
shoes, of the kind called 'Sorosis.' 'What a bonanza!' we thought, when
that box was opened--and through o