Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/619

468 would bring the tables from the rooms, placing them end to end through the hall, making a long table, where all the men able to leave their beds sat down to a home-like meal."

Mrs. Hazen relates the case of Sergeant Eli Hudson, of Pennsylvania, who was wounded in the knee in the spring of 1865. He was a mere boy, but had served over four years, and had for several months been a patient in her ward. The surgeons hail held several consultations, l)ut he was failing rapidly, his disease being hemorrhage of the stomach. When the verdict was given that he could live but a few flays, Mrs. Hazen asked per- mission to give him what he wanted to eat while he lived; and the doctor surrendered the entire charge of him to her care. She says : " I at once removed the bandages, as he complained that they were uncomfortable. As soon as the patients were all cared for, I went to a market-garden and bought a head of cabbage. He had often said he wanted something green. When the cabbage was cooked, I carried him some with cider vinegar. He ate all on the plate, asked for more, which was brought, and still a third and fourth plate, till he had eaten the whole cabbage. From that dinner in May he began to improve, and on the 14th of June I started with Sergeant Hudson on a stretcher for his home." He recovered, but had a stiff knee.

At this time the demand for lemons, jellies, farina, and other delicacies was so great through- out all the hos|)itals that the Sanitary and Christian Connnissions' supplies were ex- hausted. Mrs. Hazen, remembering that the Rev. Dr. Hepworth had said to her, "If you ever need hospital supplies, let Mrs. l^ird, chairman of the Aid Society, know what is needed, and we will .send direct to you," sent a letter to Mrs. Bird. This appeal was received in Boston Saturday evening- and read in Dr. Hepworth's church the next day. Before night three large boxes were filled and started for Washington. They contained three hundred dollars' worth of supplies. Mrs. Hazen received them with delight, distributing them not only to the boys in her own ward, but to all the wards of Columbian Hospital. She says: "The Aid Society also .sent beautiful flannel shirts, socks, towels, and everything to fit out all my boys when able to return to the front. The girls? in the Everett School, Boston, sent two barrels of books through one of the teachers, Mrs. Emma F'. W. Titus, many of them new publications, purchased expressly for the soldiers."

Miss Dix visited the hospital every month, and called all the nurses to meet her in the matron's room. Mrs. Hazen pays the follow- ing loving tribute to her memory: "She always came for me, saying: 'Child, go quickly as possible. Tell the nurses I wish to see them without delay.' She was kind and thought- ful for all, but very strict in enforcing all her rules and regulations. She never wasted a minute, and had no patience with those who were slow. I shall ever remember Miss Dix with the warmest love and gratitude, and with the greatest reverence decorate her grave in Mount Auburn every Memorial Day."

After returning from Washington at the close of the war, being prevented on account of poor health from going South to teach, Miss Titus accepted a position in the grammar school in North Chelsea, now known as Re- vere, Mass. Caleb Richardson was the prin- cipal of this school.

It was while accompanying Sergeant Hudson to his home, in June, 1865, as above noted, that Miss Titus first met her future husband, Charles Richard Hazen, a native of Hartford, Vt. The wedding took place August 5, 1866, at her home in Vershire, in the same room in which she was born. Mr. Hazen enlisted in the Nineteenth Massachusetts Infantry, and served till April, 1864, when he was honorably discharged. He was a military courier connected with the United States Sanitary Commission, his line of official duty being from Washington, D.C., to Harrisburg, Pa.

Mr. and Mrs. Hazen lived in North An- dover, Mass., for two years after their marriage and in Lawrence the next four years. The health of Mr. Hazen was impaired by his army service, and by the atlvice of a physician he followed the occupation of farming for four years in Chelmsford, Mass., where they bought the "Robbins Hill farm," the highest elevation of land in that part of the State.