HER WORK NEVER DONE. 497 bitterness died out of her heart when the wounded in gray uniforms were left to her tender mercies. She became a mother to them, as to the boys in blue. Her work was arduous beyond description. Had she been contented to perform her work as a matter of routine, it would have been easy for her, but this would not suffice her great heart and conscientious. nature. Her work was never done. If anything could be suggested to save a man who was dying, to soothe, or inspire, encourage, or strengthen a patient who was anxious or disheartened, her work was not done until this was accomplished. Nowhere in her department was there neglect or suffering, misrule or waste. Orders had been given to bring the wounded lying in tents into her large hospital, as fast as there was room for them. At last she was informed that the tents were all vacated. With her habit of seeing for herself if the work was done, she went from tent to tent, examining them. Turning from one, she thought she saw a movement under a heap of blankets in a corner. She raised the nauseous, flycovered blanket, and there lay a man, still breathing, but hardly alive. He had been shot through both cheeks, a part of his tongue had been cut off, which was swollen to bursting in his mouth, and the left shoulder and leg were broken. How long he had been forgotten, no one could tell; but the flies had rioted in his wounds, and he was in a most lamentable condition. He was brought on a stretcher immediately to her hospital, when she devoted herself to his restoration, fighting grim death inch by inch, hour by hour, until she came off conqueror, and the man recovered. He 498 CALLS HER "HIS SAVIOR." is living to-day, and is proud to call Mother Bickerdyke his savior. It was something to witness the tempest that burst over the heads of the men who had been commissioned to remove the wounded, and had passed by this poor fellow. Mother Bickerdyke was merciless on such an occasion, and flashed such lightnings of wrath on the offenders as to astonish them into speechlessness. Nothing so aroused her as carelessness, or neglect of the helpless, the sick, or the wounded. She would work day and night herself, to relieve suffering, and she was impatient, even to severity, to witness indifference or neglect on the part of others. Her only thought was to help the poor soldiers; and she did this in a way that secured the favor of man, and the approbation of Heaven. CHAPTER XXV. THRILLING INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF MOTHER BICKERDYKE HER HOSPITAL EXPERIENCES-HER FIRST FURLOUGH RETURN TO THE FRONT - FIGHTING THE DOCTORS-A COW-AND-HEN EXPEDITION. She is much worn down - Extremely Perilous to remain longer without Rest Her Health demands a Respite from her Labors for a Time-Comes to my House on her Furlough - Attends a Wedding-"Have enjoyed your Wedding as if it were a Prayer-Meeting!"- Calls Meetings to raise Supplies - Returns to the Front, organizes and regenerates Hospitals-Re-organizes her Laundries in Memphis - Quarrels with the Medical Director- Outgenerals him- "One of us two goes to the Wall, and 'taint never me!" - The Storm finally ends in Sunshine - They become Friends He sends her North on a Cow-and-Hen Expedition-Returns with a hundred Cows, and a thousand Hens- Improved Condition of the Hospitals-Confided in everywhere - Impatient of Red TapeCared little for Sect, but much for the Comfort of the Soldiers. N November, 1862, Mrs. Bickerdyke was compelled, for the first time, to take a furlough. She was thoroughly worn out, although she would not admit it, and was as indomitable in will, and as Herculean in energy, as at the first. But the medical director and the surgeons under whose immediate direction she was then working, and who were noble men and her personal friends, saw that she had reached a point of nervous exhaustion when it was extremely perilous for her to remain longer at her post. They compelled her to take a furlough. She came direct to Chicago, and, as I had requested, to |