While to her heart her son she presses,
Then breathes a few brave words and brief,
Kissing the patriot brow she blesses—
With no one but her secret God
To know the pain that weighs upon her,
Sheds holy blood, as e’er the sod
Received on Freedom’s field of honor!
Soon, all too soon, the provision for the care of the sick and wounded was found to be insufficient, and the Southern women then entered into their highest and most exalted labor, blessed and blessing. There was some little trouble in the beginning, perhaps, as young girls wanted to visit the hospitals at inconvenient times, and paid but little heed to a surgeon’s orders, regarding diet, when the sufferer was handsome or otherwise interesting. Every visitor wanted to do something for the soldiers. A joke was current in Richmond in those days which is worth recalling. The scene is in a Confederate hospital:
Lady: (presumably young and at the bedside of a sick soldier.) “How d’ye do? Is there anything you want?”