CHAPTER V.

AT THE ROOMS OF THE SANITARY COMMISSION-ITS WORKERS AND ITS VISITORS-HEART-RENDING SCENES AND INCIDENTS-THE RECORD OF A DAY.

Rooms of the Chicago Commission

The Din of Draymen and PackersSewing-Rooms for Soldiers' Families-"The Perfume of the Sanitary" -The dingy little Office- Immense Work performed in it- Judge Skinner, the President - Mr. Blatchford, Treasurer - The "Quartette" of the Office- -John Freeman, the "Man of all Work" - William Goodsmith, our "Sheet-Anchor" - Mrs. Hoge, my Friend and CoWorker - Volunteer and transient Help - Women, Girls, and Soldiers -Drayloads of Boxes-Ladies seeking Information - Express Messengers The Morning Mail - The aged Father and his dead Son"What ails the little Fellow ?"-A Bevy of Nurses- A sorrowstricken Mother Soldiers from the City Hospitals More loaded Drays More Men and Women come and go - The Day declines Return to my Home - "A Suburb of Heaven."

HE headquarters of the Chicago, or "Northwestern Sanitary Commission," as it was correctly re-christened-for all the Northwestern states became its auxiliaries were the least attractive rooms in the city. Except during a brief period of its early existence, it occupied the large rooms under McVicker's Theatre, then, as now, on Madison Street. They seemed smaller than they were, because they were generally crowded with boxes and packages, huddled together to suit the convenience of those who opened, unpacked, assorted, stamped, and repacked their contents. Drays were continually unloading

and re-loading with a furious racket; and the draymen were not possessors of "soft, low voices." The din was further increased by incessant hammering and pounding within, caused by opening and nailing up boxes. Horse-cars passed to and fro every minute, and heavily laden teams, omnibuses, carriages, carts and wagons of all descriptions, rolled by with intermitting thunder.

The sewing-rooms of the Commission were located on the floor above us, where between thirty and forty sewing-machines ran all day. Upstairs, and downstairs, and over our heads, the women of the soldiers' families maintained a ceaseless tramp from morning till night, coming to sew, to receive or return work, or to get their greatly needed pay. Add to this a steady stream of callers, on every imaginable errand, in every known mental mood - grieved, angry, stupid, astonished, incredulous, delighted, agonized all talking in the tones of voice in which these various moods betray themselves was there an element of distraction omitted?

The odors of the place were villanous and a perpetual torment. Codfish and sauer-kraut, pickles and ale, onions and potatoes, smoked salmon and halibut, ginger and whiskey, salt mackerel and tobacco, kerosene for the lamps, benzine for cleansing purposes, black paint to mark the boxes, flannel and unbleached cotton for clothing, - these all concentrated their exhalations in one pungent aroma, that smote the olfactories when one entered, and clung tenaciously to the folds of one's garments when one departed. We called it "the perfume of the sanitary," and at last got used to it, as we did to the noise.

From one corner of this room an office was par

titioned, so economical, in dimensions that ten people crowded it. One large window lighted it, the lower half of ground glass. The upper half of the partition was also of glass, for the double purpose of light, and of keeping easily in communication with our coworkers in the outer room. The floor was carpeted with ingrain, and desks of the simplest pattern and chairs of the hardest wood completed the furnishing.

In these uninviting quarters the work of the Northwestern Sanitary Commission was outlined or performed. Here were packed and shipped to the hospitals or battle-field 77,660 packages of sanitary supplies, whose cash value was $1,056,192.16. Here were written and mailed letters by the ten thousand, circulars by the hundred thousand, monthly bulletins and reports. Here were planned visits to the aid societies, trips to the army, methods of raising money and supplies, systems of relief for soldiers' families and white refugees, Homes and Rests for destitute and enfeebled soldiers, and the details of mammoth sanitary fairs.

Hon. Mark Skinner of Chicago was president of the Commission through the darkest and most arduous days of its existence. Just as its work had become so organized and systematized that anxiety concerning it was at an end, and the machinery ran with very little friction, Judge Skinner was compelled to resign because of ill-health, and Mr. E. B. McCagg of Chicago succeeded to the office. It was indeed a bereavement to lose Judge Skinner from the board. The weight of his name and character, and his worth as an adviser, greatly strengthened the organization with the outside community; while the charm of his manner, and the subtle humor that

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GOOD AT ANY KIND OF WORK.

brightened his speech, rendered his almost daily visits to the rooms a pleasure that was keenly anticipated.

Mr. E. W. Blatchford of Chicago was treasurer till the Commission disbanded. His office was no sinecure, for he not only received the money, but expended it. No language can describe the promptness, accuracy, and conscientiousness, which he carried into this work. Nor is it possible to measure in words the courtesy, patience, kindness, and fineness of spirit, which all felt who were brought into relations with him. I shall always congratulate myself that the work of the Sanitary Commission brought me into association with Mr. Blatchford. For I learned of him an exactness and promptness, and a careful attention to detail in matters of business, that, as a woman, I should have learned nowhere else. Both Judge Skinner and Mr. Blatchford had large business and professional engagements of their own, demanding all their time and attention, which rendered their devotion to the cause of hospital relief more noteworthy.

The constant habitues of the little office were four. Mr. John Freeman was nominally the shipping clerk; but if there was any kind of work connected with the rooms at which he did not lend a hand, I have yet to learn what it was. He attended to the boxes, to the packing, to the shipping; helped soldiers to obtain transportation back to their regiments, or assisted them, when feeble and wounded, to reach their homes; went on the most surprising and unheard-of missions, and accomplished them, — in short, did anything and everything, whether in the line of his duty or not. and always did it well. He was a man of remarkabl good-nature, which no contretemps could disturb, and

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OUR SHEET-ANCHOR."

this made him a universal favorite.

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He possessed

that "tact which is almost talent," and a discretion which bore him safely through many peculiar experiences where another would have blundered. Not the least valuable of his accomplishments was his keen sense of the ludicrous. Rarely did he return from one of his many expeditions-sorrowful though they sometimes were-without a comic story to narrate, or a funny incident to describe. Seasoning both with a spice of native waggery, he would cause the rooms to resound with laughter, and render us all oblivious for a moment to both work and care. We regarded him at such times as a benefactor.

Mr. William Goodsmith was a man of different temperament. Care did not sit lightly on his shoulders. Under Mr. Blatchford's directions he made purchases of supplies, which were always selected with care, paid bills, transacted business with banks, and all difficult and delicate matters were entrusted to his management. All relied implicitly on his judgment, good sense, and honor. So careful was he in all transactions, so absolutely faithful and painstaking in everything, that limitless confidence was reposed in him. I have never known a more trustworthy person. His ideal of excellence was very lofty, and his spirit so unselfish that at times he was unjust to himself. With all his recognized abilities, there was a hint of reserved power in his speech and manner, that made one sure he would be equal to the duties of a much higher position than he held. The Commission was very fortunate to command his services. We sometimes called him our "sheet-anchor."

Mrs. Jane C. Hoge and myself completed the quartette of the office. Rarely were we both absent at