MRS. JAMES HARLAN,

HERE have been numerous instances of ladies of high social position, the wives and daughters of generals of high rank, and commanding large bodies of troops, of Governors of States, of Senators and Representatives in Congress, of Members of the Cabinet, or of other Government officials, who have felt it an honor to minister to the defenders of their country, or to aid in such ways as were possible the blessed work of relieving pain and suffering, of raising up the downtrodden, or of bringing the light of hope and intelligence back to the dull and glazed eyes of the loyal whites who escaped from cruel oppression and outrages worse than death to the Union lines. Among these will be readily recalled, Mrs. John C. Fremont, Mrs. General W. H. L. Wallace, Mrs. Harvey, Mrs. Governor Salomon, Mrs. William H. Seward, Mrs. Ira Harris, Mrs. Samuel C. Pomeroy, Mrs. L. E. Chittenden, Mrs. John S. Phelps, and, though last named, by no means the least efficient, Mrs. James Harlan.

Mrs. Harlan is a native of Kentucky, but removed to Indiana in her childhood. Here she became acquainted with Mr. Harlan to whom she was married in 1845 or 1846. In the rapid succession of positions of honor and trust to which her husband was elevated by the people, as Superintendent of Public Instruction, President of Mount Pleasant University, United States Senator, Secretary of the Interior, and again United States Senator, Mrs. Harlan proved herself worthy of a position by his side. Possess

field, and her labors were

Her position as the wife

ing great energy and resolution and a highly cultivated intellect, she acquitted herself at all times with dignity and honor. When the nominal became the actual war, and great battles were fought, she was among the first to go to the bloody battle-fields and minister to the wounded and dying. After the battle of Shiloh she was one of the first ladies on the incessant and accomplished great good. of a distinguished senator, and her energy and decision of character were used with effect, and she was enabled to wring from General Halleck the permission previously refused to all applicants to remove the wounded to hospitals at Mound City, St. Louis, Keokuk, and elsewhere, where their chances of recovery were greatly improved. At Washington where she subsequently spent much of her time, she devoted her energies first to caring for the Iowa soldiers, but she soon came to feel that all Union soldiers were her brothers, and she ministered to all without distinction of State lines. She lost during the war a lovely and beautiful daughter, Jessie Fremont Harlan, and the love which had been bestowed upon her overflowed after her death upon the soldiers of the Union. Her faithfulness, energy, and continuous labors in behalf of the soldiers, her earnestness in protecting them from wrongs or oppression, her quick sympathy with their sorrows, and her zealous efforts for their spiritual good, will be remembered by many thousands of them all over the country. Mrs. Harlan early advocated the mingling of religious effort with the distribution of physical comforts among the soldiers, and though she herself would probably shrink from claiming, as some of her enthusiastic friends have done for her, the honor of inaugurating the movement which culminated in the organization of the Christian Commission, its plan of operations was certainly fully in accordance with her own, and she was from the beginning one of its most active and efficient supporters.

Mrs. Harlan was accompanied in many of her visits to the army by Mrs. Almira Fales, of whom we have elsewhere given

an account, and whose husband having been the first State Auditor of Iowa, was drawn to her not only by the bond of a common benevolence, but by State ties, which led them both to seek the good of the soldiers in whom both felt so deep an interest. Mrs. Harlan continued her labors for the soldiers till after the close of the war, and has been active since that time in securing for them their rights. Her health was much impaired by her protracted efforts in their behalf, and during the year 1866 she was much of the time an invalid.

NEW ENGLAND SOLDIERS' RELIEF

ASSOCIATION.

HE “New England Society," of New York City, is an Association of long standing, for charitable and social purposes, and is composed of natives of New England, residing in New York, and its vicinity. Soon after the outbreak of the war, this society became the nucleus of a wider and less formal organization-the Sons of New England. In April, 1862, these gentlemen formed the New England Soldiers' Relief Association, whose object was declared to be "to aid and care for all sick and wounded soldiers passing through the city of New York, on their way to or from the war." On the 8th of April, its "Home," a building well adapted to its purposes, was opened at No. 198 Broadway, and Dr. Everett Herrick, was appointed its resident Surgeon, and Mrs. E. A. Russell, its Matron. The Home was a hospital as well as a home, and in its second floor accommodated a very considerable number of patients. Its Matron was faithful and indefatigable in her performance of her duties, and in the three years of her service had under her care more than sixty thousand soldiers, many of them wounded or disabled.

A Women's Auxiliary Committee was formed soon after the establishment of the Association, consisting of thirty ladies who took their turn of service as nurses for the sick and wounded through the year, and provided for them additional luxuries and delicacies to those furnished by the Association and the Govern

ment rations. These ladies, the wives and daughters of eminent merchants, clergymen, physicians, and lawyers of the city, performed their work with great faithfulness and assiduity. The care of the sick and wounded men during the night, devolved upon the Night Watchers' Association, a voluntary committee of young men of the highest character, who during a period of three years never failed to supply the needful watchers for the invalid soldiers.

The ladies in addition to their services as nurses, took part in a choir for the Sabbath services, in which all the exercises were by volunteers.

The Soldiers' Depôt in Howard Street, New York, organized in 1863, was an institution of somewhat similar character to the New England Soldiers' Relief, though it recognized a primary responsibility to New York soldiers. It was founded and sustained mainly by State appropriations, and a very earnest and faithful association of ladies, here also bestowed their care and services upon the soldiers. Mrs. G. T. M. Davis, was active and prominent in this organization.