ment' has receded and receded, like the cup of Tantalus, but the backward movement came suddenly upon us, like a thief in the night."

"The Hutchinson family, than whom no sweeter songsters gladden this sorrow-darkened world, have been singing in Washington, to the President, and to immense audiences, every where giving unmixed delight. Week before last they obtained a pass to the camps the other side of the Potomac, with the laudable purpose of spending a month among them, cheering the hearts of the soldiers, and enlivening the monotonous and barren camp life with their sweet melody. But they ventured to sing a patriotic song-a beautiful song of Whittier's, which gave offense to a few semi-secessionists among the officers of the army, for which they were severely reprimanded by Generals Franklin and Kearny, their pass revoked by General McClellan, and they driven back. to Washington. A backward movement was ordered instanter, and no sooner ordered, than executed. Brave Franklin! heroic Kearny victorious McClellan! why did ye not order a Te Deum on the occasion of this great victory over a band of Vermont minstrels, half of whom were-girls! How must the hearts of the illustrious West-Pointers have pit-a-patted with joy, and dilated with triumph, as they saw the Hutchinson troupe-Asa B., and Lizzie C., little Dennett and Freddy, naive Viola, melodeon and all-scampering back through the mud, bowed beneath the weight of their military displeasure! Per contra to this expulsion, be it remembered that it occurred within sight of the residence of a family, in which there are some five or six young ladies, who, it is alleged, have been promised "passes" to go South whenever they are disposed to do so,-carrying, of course, all the information they can for the enemy. The bands of the regiments are also sent to serenade them, and on these occasions orders are given to suppress the national airs, as being offensive to these traitors in crinoline."

During the year 1862, Mrs. Livermore, besides the constant

flow of communications from her pen, visited the army at various points, and in company with her friend, Mrs. Hoge, travelled over the Northwestern states, organizing numerous Aid Societies among the women of those states, who were found everywhere anxious for the privilege of working for the soldiers, and only desirous of knowing how best to accomplish this purpose, and through what channel they might best forward their benefactions.

In December of that year, the Sanitary Commission called a council, or convention of its members and branches at Washington, desiring that every Branch Commission in the North should be represented by at least two ladies thoroughly acquainted with its workings, who had been connected with it from the first. Mrs. Hoge and Mrs. Livermore were appointed by the Chicago Branch.

They accordingly proceeded to Washington—a long and arduous journey in mid winter, but these were not women to grudge toil or sacrifice, nor to shrink from duty.

Both these ladies had laid their talents upon the altar of the cause in which they were engaged, and both felt the pressing necessity at that time of a determined effort to relieve the frightful existing need. Sanitary supplies were decidedly on the decrease, while the demand for their increase was most piteously pressing. There was a strong call for the coming "council" of friends.

There were hindrances and delays. Delay at starting, in taking a regiment on board the cars, necessitating other delays, and waiting for trains on time through the whole distance.

The days spent in Washington were filled with good deeds, and a thousand incidents all connected in some way with the great work. Of the results of that council, the public was long since informed, and few who were interested in the work, did not learn to appreciate the more earnest labor, the greater sacrifice and self-devotion which soon spread from it through the country. Spirits, self-consecrated to so holy a work, could scarcely meet

without the kindling of a flame that should spread all over the country, till every tender woman's heart, in all the land, had been touched by it, to the accomplishment of greater and brighter deeds.

While in Washington, Mrs. Livermore spent a day at the camp near Alexandria, set apart for convalescents from the hospitals, and known as "Camp Misery." The suffering there, as we have already stated in the sketch of Miss Amy M. Bradley's labors, was terrible from insufficient food, clothing and fuel, from want of drainage, and many other causes, any one of which might well have proved fatal to the feeble sufferers there crowded together. The pen of Mrs. Livermore carried the story of these wrongs all around the land. While she was in Washington, eighteen half sick soldiers died at the camp in one night, from cold and starvation. "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church," and the blood of these soaking into the soil where dwelt patriotic, warm-souled men and women, presently produced a noble growth and fruitage of charity, and sacrifice, and blessed deeds.

Mrs. Livermore has given her impressions of the President, gained from a visit made to the White House during this stay. She was one capable fully of appreciating the noble, simple, yet lofty nature of Abraham Lincoln.

Early in this year, Mrs. Livermore made a tour of the hospitals and military posts scattered along the Mississippi river. She was everywhere a messenger of good tidings. Sanitary supplies and cheering words seem to have been always about equally appreciated among the troops. Volunteers, fresh from home, and the quiet comfort of domestic life, willing to fight, and if need be die for the glorious idea of freedom, they yet had no thought of war as a profession. It was a sad, stern incident in their lives, but not the life they longed for, or meant to follow. Anything that was like home, the sight of a woman's face, or the sound of her voice, and all the sordid hardness of their present

lives, all the martial pageantry faded away, and they remembered only that they were sons, brothers, husbands and fathers. Everywhere her reception was a kind, a respectful, and even a grateful

one.

There was much sickness among the troops, and the fearful ravages of scurvy and the deadly malaria of the swamps and bottom-lands along the great river were enemies far more to be dreaded than the thunder of artillery, or the hurtling shells.

During this trip she found in the hospitals, at St. Louis, and elsewhere, large numbers of female nurses, and ladies who had volunteered to perform these services temporarily. The surgeons were at that time, almost without exception, opposed to their being employed in the hospitals, though their services were afterwards, as the need increased, greatly desired and warmly welcomed. For these she soon succeeded in finding opportunities for rendering the service which they desired to the sick and wounded.

Were it possible in the space allowed for this sketch, to give a tithe of the incidents which came under the eyes of Mrs. Livermore, or even a small portion of her observations in steamer, train, or hospital, some idea of the magnitude and importance of her work might be gained. But this we cannot do, and must content ourselves with this partial allusion to her constant and indefatigable labors.

The premonitory symptoms of scurvy in the camps around Vicksburg, and its actual existence in many cases in the hospitals, so aroused the sympathies of Mrs. Livermore and Mrs. Hoge, on a second visit to these camps, that after warning General Grant of the danger which his medical directors had previously concealed from him, these two ladies hastened up the river, and by their earnest appeals and their stirring and eloquent circulars asking for onions, potatoes, and other vegetables, they soon awakened such an interest, that within three weeks, over a thousand bushels of potatoes and onions were forwarded to the army, and by their timely distribution saved it from imminent peril.

་

In the autumn of 1863, the great Northwestern Sanitary Fair, the first of that series of similar fairs which united the North in a bond of large and wide-spread charity, occurred. It was Mrs. Livermore who suggested and planned the first fair, which netted almost one hundred thousand dollars to the Sanitary Commission. Mrs. Hoge, had at first, no confidence in the project, but she afterward joined it, and giving it her earnest aid, helped to carry it to a successful conclusion. It was indeed a giant plan, and it may be chiefly credited, from its inception to its fortunate close, to these indefatigable and skilful workers. The writer of this sketch was present at the convention of women of the Northwest called to meet at Chicago, and consider the feasibility of the project, and was forcibly impressed with the great and real power, the concentrated moral force, contained in that meeting, and left its doors without one doubt of the complete and ultimate success of the plan discussed. Mrs. Livermore held there a commanding position. A brilliant and earnest speaker, her words seemed to sway the attentive throng. Her commanding person, added to the power of her words. Gathered upon the platform of Bryan Hall, were Mrs. Hoge, Mrs. Colt, of Milwaukee, and many more, perhaps less widely known, but bearing upon their faces and in their attitudes, the impress of cultured minds, and an earnest active resolve to do, which seemed to insure success. Mrs. Livermore, seated below the platform, from time to time passed among the crowd, and her suggestions whether quietly made to individuals, or given in her clear ringing voice, and well selected language to the convention, were everywhere received with respect and deference. As all know, this fair which was about three months in course of preparation, was on a mammoth scale, and was a great success, and this result was no doubt greatly owing to the presence of that quality, which like every born leader, Mrs. Livermore evidently possesses-that of knowing how to select judiciously, the subordinates and instruments to be employed to carry out the plans which have originated in her mind.