Page:The Story of Aunt Becky's Army-Life .djvu/13

Rh two thousand dollars with which to purchase her a home. The "Story" had been thought of in the meantime, and her reply was, "Let those who would help me buy a book, and then they will get the worth of their money. If I have done anything for my country's soldiers, I am glad of it; but Congress has enough of its own little bills to pay."

Now, with a heart too large for the slender frame which holds it, no weariness is brought up as an excuse when a sufferer calls for aid, and her readiness to watch by the bedside of the sick and dying is widely known, and many drafts are made and honored upon the broad humanity which, although "the feet were worn through till blood wet the shoe soles," has not withheld its hand from those who asked and needed help.

It was an undertaking from which many shrank, because the cry was loud, "It is no place for women," and although many dared to brave the tide, few held to post longer or more faithfally than she. Some swept with silken trains through the well-kept hospitals, ordering what should be done, and one, as she held up her sumptuous riding-habit with her jewelled hand, looking scornfully on the humbly-apparelled woman who was dressing a painful amputation, said, "That is no work for you."

But her heart said anything was her work which