The author in this work leads us into an entirely new field of literature. He treats of a subject never before taken up in such pretentious shape. So vivid are his pictures of the great conflict and of the noble and humane work done by these self-sacrificing “angels” that the reader comes face to face with the sterner realities of the war. The book is an altogether readable one, and is a worthy adjunct to the already published literature of the Civil War.—Burlington (N. J.) Democrat.
All Will “Welcome This Delightful Volume With Its Sprightly Narrative.”
Everyone who took part in the late war, on either side, will welcome this delightful volume of reminiscence of one of the most beautiful and touching aspects of that history so full of misfortune and horrors. The special friends and admirers of the Sisterhoods, whose members participated, will all seek to possess it, and also many Catholic apologists and students of American history. The narrative is sprightly and abounds in anecdotes. This publication well deserves the large sale it is sure to have.—The (St. Louis) Church Progress.
The “Clear, Crisp Newspaper English” One of Its Good Points.”
The fact that a writer has actually found a field or phase of our national history unrecorded, or as newspaper men would say, uncovered, by a book is sufficient to entitle this volume to mention by the newspapers. The work has been well done, not only as to the amount and systematic presentation of evidence, the authenticity of which is confirmed by numerous authorities of unquestionable standing, both in and out of the Catholic Church, but also in the manner of treatment, the language being the clear, crisp newspaper English, without which no book need be expected to meet with any great degree of popular success.—The Camden (N. J.) Post.
Illustrating “The Extent and the Superb Courage” of the Sisters.
To the story of the part which our American womanhood played in the war for the Union Mr. Barton has contributed some new data in the field of our war literature which hitherto has been untouched. Moved by a spirit of gentle enthusiasm, Mr. Barton has painstakingly told in a book of several hundred pages how the Sistershoods of the Roman Catholic Church toiled in the lowliest and most perilous offices of the nurse, as they followed the armies into the very storm of shot and shell. The book is full of anecdotes of historic value in illustrating the extent and superb courage of the labors of these useful women. Let us hope that when the true history of the Civil War shall be written, as it has yet to be, there will be a place in it for them as among the noblest of their sex.—“Penn,” in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.
“A Comprehensive Book That Makes History, and Valuable History.”
Mr. Barton has written a book that makes history, and valuable history. It is not one of the kind that, according to the proverb, his enemies (if he has any) need rejoice over, but a tribute to the noble band to which every kindly heart, irrespective of religious faith, will respond. The author gives us a compact presentation of the history of these noble women in the matricidal strike of the 60’s, a subject which has been hitherto sadly neglected. The humility of the Sisters made the collection of data difficult, but stories included in the work have been gathered after much painstaking effort.—Louis N. Megargee in the Philadelphia Times.