Providentially, it was one of those cool days which often visit us in the sweet month of May, or more than likely the result would have been serious, for we found ourselves very near being sun struck. After reaching home, however, we soon rallied and joined the ladies, still plying their needles at the Methodist Episcopal Church, "Wesley Chapel," for the soldiers benefit; but we did not escape some little criticism upon our adventure and the amusing result. “A badly sunburnt face," remarked some one of the ladies; that "certainly I merited the title of the 'heroine of the Mississippi,' for doubtless I was the first, and perhaps would be the only lady who would take so povel and perilous a trip during the war." However, the title did not prompt me to make that perilous journey; yet I enjoyed it finely, and also the good humored jokes of the ladies, and hearty laughs about my sunburnt face.

Nothing of interest or special note transpired during the continuation of the society, but the usual routine of labor until its termination, which took place sometime in June, during which time the "Southern Mothers Home" was organized and ready to receive patients.

On the tenth of June my husband volunteered under Capt. Wm. Jackson, of Jackson, West Tennessee, commanding "Jackson's battery," and on the third of July he took his departure with the company, temporarily commanded by Lieut. Stewart-afterwards Captain on his brother's staff, Major General Stewart.

Thus I was left alone, as were thousands of other ladies, to battle with the world and circumstances as best we could. Many can appreciate my utter loneliness-those who have passed through similar trying ordeals; but I had entire confidence in that God who had ever watched over me in my past checkered life, and that He would not forsake me in this my great need. I continued keeping boarding

house, and at the same time rendering every aid to the soldiers that was in my power. I never denied them food or shelter whenever called upon, and I felt blessed in so doing by an approving conscience. Every mark of friendship was shown me by the good people of Memphis. Many soldiers spent weeks in my house while sick, and on their taking leave I realized that comforting feeling spoken of in Holy Writ, "that it is more blessed to give than to receive." I shall ever cherish a kindly remembrance for them for the marked gratitude and reverence they all manifested towards me while under my roof, and the manifest approval of the people of my efforts in behalf of the soldiers.

I learned in July that the regiment to which my son belonged had orders to leave Randolph for a point in Missouri. I felt a great anxiety to see him before he left; and my husband being at the same place, might perhaps go with them. I therefore determined to revisit the camp at Randolph, and on the 24th I took passage on the little steamer Mohawk for the above point, arriving there the same evening, found all well and making ready for the march, which took place on the 27th. I need not say it was one of the saddest days of my life. To bid adieu, perhaps for the last time, to the idol of my heart, my only remaining child, was trying indeed. He was going far out of my reach, where, if he needed my attention when sick or suffering, I could not be present to administer to his wants; but the stern mandates of war had to be complied with. With a heavy heart I bade him farewell. The old adage that "we can get used to anything" was forcibly impressed upon my mind during the protracted war. We thought when loved ones went first into the army, a few weeks absence was a long time, and our hearts yearned to see them; but as time and the ex

citing events moved rapidly by us, and our minds became engrossed with the care of suffering invalid soldiers, a long separation became less painful. Nevertheless, our hearts turned towards the absent ones as steadily as the needle to the pole. We often felt the force of the language of the christian poet :

"At home or abroad, on the land or the sea,

As thy days may demand shall thy strength ever be."

So, God in his great goodness gave me strength to endure all things; and in humbleness of heart, and in deep gratitude, I submitted to His will, believing my friends were in His care, and the result, whatever it might be, would be right. I was comforted.

How grand was the sight of that magnificent steamer with its thousands of noble souls aboard as she moved off from her moorings, with banners flying to the breeze, with stirring and animating music, vibrating through the air, for the seat of war. All on board seemed to be cheerful and gay, and eager for the conflict, thinking perhaps it would be but a frolic and of short duration; but, noble souls, how they were deceived, both in length of time and result. But God in His wisdom casts a veil over the future, and we press forward with buoyant hopes for happy results when disappointment and disaster await us. Thus it is with all other events of human life. Were it otherwise, our hearts would fail within us, and the great sea of human existence would become a stagnant pool.

I stood on the bluff and gazed with untold admiration at the imposing sight. My heart swelled with gratitude to God, and love for my country.

I shall never forget the sympathy manifested by several of the company, to which my son belonged, when I came to bid him farewell-telling me to be of good cheer, they were as a band of brothers, and should my son fall, they would

take care of him. It was then I learned a true soldier was a true friend and gentleman, and he did not cast aside his humanity and finer feelings when he buckled on his armor to go forth to the field of carnage. From that day the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Tennessee Regiment was endeared to me almost as though they had all been my own children, notwithstanding my son was subsequently transferred to the battery to which his father belonged. Not until life with me shall cease will the chord of affection for them be severed.

Imposing and grand was the sight to see those magnificent steamers plowing the waters of the majestic Missisissippi, and the boats seemed almost to manifest pride in having on board so many noble spirits. We watched, intently, the receding boats, giving and receiving farewell signals from our loved ones, until nothing could be seen but the outlines of the deck, on which they stood.

Then, with a sad heart, we left the almost deserted shore, and repaired to the place of our stopping, to await the departure of the next steamer for Memphis, which did not take place until the 29th. Bidding my husband a sad farewell, I took passage on the Grampus, (afterwards known as the "Dare Devil," on account of the many daring deeds it performed, between Columbus, Ky., and Cairo,) which landed us in eight hours after at our lonely home in Memphis. That loneliness was more deeply felt from the fact that I had just come from those that alone could make home happy. The yet sad impressions fresh upon my heart, of my recent trying separation, weighed me down.

Time past on, and nothing occurred of interest in our city, until the arrival of some sick soldiers from Madrid, who were placed at the hospital of the Southern Mothers. Then we had work enough for all. There was no shrinking from a duty which God had assigned to the weaker sexat least, to those who felt they had a duty to perform in

the great struggle that was pressing upon us, and that in the sick room was the place where the ladies were most needed, and where they could accomplish the most good.

The painful feeling that took possession of me on my first entrance into that place of suffering and distress, will never be erased from my memory, while life may last. As soon as intelligence had been received that patients had arrived, I, with one or two other ladies, hastened to the scene of suffering, with no other intention but to assume at once the work of trying to alleviate the sufferings of any who might need our aid, never reflecting for a moment that my heart would fail me in performing the self-selected work. But on entering, the scenes of distress that met my eyes on every side, caused my heart to sink within me, and my nerves to recoil; but rallying myself, I moved forward. On either side of the long room, on neatly arranged beds, lay suffering soldiers. I hastily passed through the ward on the first floor, for I felt too sick at heart to make a halt, and proceeded up stairs. On entering a small room, I found it contained but one patient-a stranger, in the agonies of death. I approached him, and made some brief inquiries concerning his home, friends and his prospects of a future state. I learned that he was a young married man, from Arkansas, having no means to defray the expense of his young and anxious wife to come and attend him in his dying hour; nor yet to send his body to his native home, where his widowed wife and mourning friends could be permitted to perform the mournful duty of shedding the disconsolate tears over the grave of the true and the brave one of that gallant and heroic band from Arkanses, who made themselves renowned upon many a hard tried battle field during the war.

My sympathy for the noble, intelligent looking being I gazed at, listening to his agonizing groans, and his broken. sentences of loved ones at home, and they not aware of his