Page:Margaret Fuller by Howe, Julia Ward, Ed. (1883).djvu/207

192 have taken great pleasure in being with the men. There is scarcely one who is not moved by a noble spirit."

"Night and day," writes the friend cited above, "Margaret was occupied, and, with the Princess, so ordered and disposed the hospitals that their conduct was admirable. Of money they had very little, and they were obliged to give their time and thoughts in its place. I have walked through the wards with Margaret, and have seen how comforting was her presence to the poor suffering men. For each one's peculiar tastes she had a care. To one she carried books; to another she told the news of the day; and listened to another's oft-repeated tale of wrongs, as the best sympathy she could give. They raised themselves on their elbows to get the last glimpse of her” as she went her way.

Ossoli, meanwhile, was stationed, with his command, on the walls of the Vatican,—post of considerable danger. This he refused to leave, even for necessary food and rest. The provisions sent him from time to time were shared with his needy comrades. As these men were brought, wounded and dying, to the hospitals, Margaret looked eagerly to see whether her husband was among them. She was able, sometimes, to visit him at his post, and to talk with him about the beloved child, now completely beyond their reach, as the city was invested on all sides, and no sure means of communication open to them. They remained for many days without any news of the little one, and their first intelligence concerning him was to the effect that the nurse with whom he had been left would at once