iral had declared
brusquely that they did not want a parcel of women in the place. When
at last Mary Seacole's stores were put ashore, she started business in
a rough little hut, made of tarpaulin, on which was displayed the name
of the firm--Seacole and Day. The soldiers, however, considered that
as Mary Seacole's skin was dark, a better name for the firm was Day and
Martin, and as such it was generally known.

Towards the end of the summer, Seacole and Day's British Hotel was
opened at Spring Hill. It had cost L800 to build, and was an excellent
place for sick officers to rest. Adjoining the hotel, and belonging to
the same proprietors, was a store at which could be purchased creature
comforts and useful articles. At first the store was opened every day
of the week. Mary Seacole had a strong dislike to opening it on
Sunday, but the requirements of the soldiers made it almost a
necessity. After a time, when the most pressing needs of the men had
been met, she gave notice that the store would be closed on Sundays,
and this rule she refused to alter, in spite of being constantly urged
to do so.

Many officers, instead of going into hospital when ill, became boarders
at Mary Seacole's, and among these was a naval lieutenant who was a
cousin of Queen Victoria. These officers she doctored and nursed with
her customary skill, and for every vacancy in her hotel there were
half-a-dozen applicants.

One day it became known in camp, that among the things which Mary
Seacole had received from a recently arrived ship was a young pig,
which she intended to fatten and kill. Immediately she was overwhelmed
with orders for a leg of pork, and if the pig had possessed a hundred
legs she could have sold every one of them. An officer to whom she did
eventually promise a leg of pork was so anxious that there should be no
mistake about the matter, that he made the following memorandum of the
transaction:--'That Mrs. Seacole did this day, in the presence of Major
A-- and Lieutenant W--, promise Captain H--, a leg of _the_ pig.'

Every portion of the pig was sold long before the animal was fit to be
killed, and then the purchasers began to fear that it would be stolen.
Everybody took an interest in tins pig, and it was considered the
correct thing for every soldier who passed the sty to assure himself
that the animal was still there. One day two officers, coming off
duty, galloped up to the hotel and shouted excitedly, 'Mrs. Sea