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"SHE SAVED MY LIFE."

I enclosed to the bereaved wife her own letter and photograph taken from the dead hands of her husband, and told her all I knew of his death. A correspondence ensued, which stretched itself along the next three years. In the depth of her triple bereavement, the saddened woman found comfort in the belief that her children and husband were united. "I sometimes believe the children needed him more than I," was her frequent assertion.

"She

While writing of Miss Safford, let me add the testimony of one of the captains of the Fifty-Seventh Illinois Volunteers, which regiment was badly cut up, a few days later, at the battle of Shiloh. "God bless Mary Safford!" he writes. saved my life. When I was wounded at Shiloh I was carried on board the hospital boat, where she was in attendance. My wound got to bleeding, and, though I was faint from loss of blood, I did not know what was the matter. She found it out, for she slipped in a pool of blood beside my bed, and called a surgeon to me, just in time to save my life. Gracious! how that little woman worked! She was everywhere, doing everything, straightening out affairs, soothing and comforting, and sometimes praying, dressing wounds, cooking and nursing, and keeping the laggards at their work. For herself, she seemed to live on air.

They brought

"And she had grit, too, I tell you. Sam Houston's son aboard, wounded, a rebel officer, wearing the Confederate uniform, and ordered one of the privates removed from a comfortable berth he had, to make room for this young traitor. You should have seen Miss Safford! She straightened up, as if she were ten feet tall, and declared, in a

THE CAIRO ANGEL.

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grand way, that the humblest Union soldier should not be removed to make room for a rebel officer, not if that officer were General Lee himself!' She stood by the berth, and looked so resolute that they were glad to find another berth for Sam Houston's son. I do not wonder that all the boys called her the Cairo angel!' She did as she pleased everywhere, and the biggest sort of men obeyed her. She was the only one that seemed to know what to do on that boat."

Many another Union soldier in the West owes his life to Mary Safford, and is proud to acknowledge it. After the battle of Belmont, she was the first to go on the field, in the face of the enemy's guns, which ploughed the ground around her with their plunging shot. Tying her handkerchief to a stick, she waved it above her head, as a flag of truce, and continued her ministrations to the wounded, whose sufferings were aggravated by a keen wintry wind sweeping over them. When war broke out in Italy, she was in Florence, and, at the invitation of Madame Mario, immediately joined the Italian ladies in their preparations for sick and wounded soldiers. So ingrained is her inclination to help the needy, that in Norway, Switzerland, and Germany, I heard of her devising ways and means for the assistance of poor girls who desired to emigrate to America, where they could find employment, and had relatives.

Her experiences during the war undoubtedly decided her future career. Returning from Europe with improved health, she determined to fit herself for medical practice. Graduating from a medical college in the city of New York, she returned to Europe, enlarging her knowledge in studies at Zu

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A HELP IN TIME OF TROUBLE.

rich and Vienna, where she had especial advantages in clinics. She is to-day one of the Professors in the Boston University School of Medicine, where she takes high rank as lecturer, physician, and surgeon. Her home life is as charming as though she were not a professional woman. Her residence is in a delightful part of the city of Boston, where she passes the brief leisure of her busy life, with the children of her love and adoption. But neither the charm of her home and family, nor her literary and professional labors, render her oblivious to the demands of the poor and friendless, who are sure to find in her "a present help in time of trouble." She listens patiently and tenderly to all who need her assistance, and the humblest have reason to bless God for the life of this grand, good woman.

CHAPTER IX.

AWAITING THE BATTLE OF SHILOH - PREPARATIONS FOR

THE WOUNDED-AWFUL SLAUGHTER-VARIED PHASES OF HOSPITAL LIFE-"MISSING."

A Perfect Military Hospital - "Mother Angela," the Lady "Supérieure " "White-winged Sun-bonnets"-Battle of Shiloh - Appalling Slaughter on Both Sides - Rebel Prisoners' Ward-"You-uns is very good to weuns!" The Rebel Surgeon's Fear - Meet an Old Acquaintance among the Rebel Wounded - The Valiant Eleventh Illinois - Great Prejudice against Protestant Nurses - The "Sisters" preferred-" They never see anything, nor hear anything, and tell no Tales!"-Good General Strong, Post Commander at Cairo-Am sent to St. Louis for Invalid Soldiers Turner's "Descriptive List" Missing - Found in the Clerk's Office -General Curtis discharges him-He also Furloughs young Brackett — Great Jollification in the Ward - They accompany me to Chicago.

FROM Cairo we proceeded to Mound City, Paducah, Bird's Point, and other places where hospitals were established. Except in Mound City, everything was in a chaotic condition, compared with the completer arrangements afterwards made. The hospital at Mound City occupied a block of brick stores, built before the war, to accommodate the prospective commerce of the town. They had not been occupied, and, as the blockade of the Mississippi rendered it uncertain when they would be needed for their legitimate use, they were turned over to the Medical Department for hospital use.

At the time of my

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A SUPERIOR MILITARY HOSPITAL.

visit, the Mound City Hospital was considered the best military hospital in the United States. This was due to the administrative talent of Dr. E. S. Franklin, of Dubuque, Iowa, who, despite paucity of means and material, transformed the rough block of stores into a superb hospital accommodating one thousand patients. Fifteen hundred had been crowded into it by dint of close packing.

The most thorough system was maintained in every department. There were an exact time and place for everything. Every person was assigned to a particular department of work, and held responsible for its perfect performance. If any one proved a shirk, incompetent, or insubordinate, he was sent off on the next boat. A Shaker-like cleanliness and sweetness of atmosphere pervaded the various wards, the sheets and pillows were of immaculate whiteness, and the patients who were convalescing were cheerful and contented. The "Sisters of the Holy Cross" were employed as nurses, and by their skill, quietness, gentleness, and tenderness, were invaluable in the sick-wards. Every patient gave hearty testimony to the kindness and skill of the "Sisters."

"Mother Angela" was the matron, the “ Supérieure," ," of these "Sisters"—a gifted lady, of rare cultivation and executive ability, with winning sweetness of manner. She was a member of the Ewing family, and a cousin of Mrs. and General Sherman. The "Sisters" had nearly broken up their famous schools at South Bend, Ind., to answer the demand for nurses. If I had ever felt prejudice against these "Sisters" as nurses, my experience with them during the war would have dissipated it entirely. The world has known no nobler and no more heroic