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596 pointment. One of the best of her productions is an admirable bust of her noble benefactor:

, October 18, 1857.


 * Will you allow me to convey through you to the Mercantile Library Association "The Beatrice Cenci." This statue is in execution of a commission I received three years ago from a friend who requested me not only to make a piece of statuary for that institution, but to present it in my own name. I have finished the work, but cannot offer it as my own gift—but of one who, with a most liberal hand, has largely ministered to the growth of the arts and sciences in your beautiful city. For your sake, and for mine, I would have made a better statue if I could. The will was not wanting, but the power—but such as it is, I rejoice sincerely that it is destined for St. Louis, a city I love, not only because it was there I first began my studies, but because of the many generous and indulgent friends who dwell therein—of whom I number you most generous and indulgent of all, whose increasing kindness I can only repay by striving to become more and more worthy of all your friendship and confidence, and so I am ever affectionately and gratefully yours,

Wayman Crow, Esq.

The very active part that the women of Missouri had taken in the civil war, in the hospitals and sanitary department, had aroused their enthusiasm in the preservation of the Union and their sense of responsibility in national affairs. The great mass-meetings of the Loyal Women's Leagues, too, did an immense educational work in broadening their sympathies and the horizon of their sphere of action. So wholly absorbed had they been in the intense excitement of that period, that when peace came their hands and hearts, unoccupied, naturally turned to new fields of achievement. While in some States it was the temperance question, in St. Louis it was specifically woman suffrage.

We are indebted for the main facts of this chapter to Mr. Francis Minor, Mrs. Rebecca N. Hazard, Miss Couzins and Miss Arathusa Forbes, who have kindly sent us what information they had or could hastily glean from the journals of the time or the imperfect records of the association.

The labors of Mrs. Minor and Mrs. Couzins were exceptionally protracted and severe. The letter offered her services as nurse at the very opening of the war. The letters received from men in authority show how highly their services were appreciated. Dr. Pope who writes the following, was the leading surgeon in St. Louis:

, April 26, 1861.

—Dear Madam: Your note in which, in case of collision here, you generously offer your services in the capacity of nurse, is just received. Should so dire a calamity befall us (which God forbid), I shall, in case of need, most assuredly remember your noble offer. With high regard and sincere thanks, I am,

Yours very truly,

Brig., Mo. Vot., St. Louis, Mo., Aug. 23, 1861.

Mrs., present—Madam; I received your kind letter, dated Aug. 17. Accept my heartfelt thanks for your generous offer. I regard the nursing of our wounded soldiers by the tender hands of patriotic ladies as a most effectual means