 | MRS. S. BURGER STEARNS. Women of the war : |  |
MRS. S. BURGER STEARNS.
WHEN the great organized charities that did so much
to bless the soldier were first instituted, the people
were, for the most part, ignorant of the system upon which
they operated, and the precise method in which they accomplished
their benign results. There was, moreover,
much scepticism as to the genuineness of their charity.
Many could not be convinced that the active agents of the
Sanitary Commission were not instigated by some selfish
motive, and were, in fact, seeking wealth or promotion
under a saintly guise.
What becomes of all the magnificent sums of money that
are received from our Sanitary Fairs? Who are benefited
by these tons upon tons of delicacies and luxuries which
are constantly forwarded to the poor wounded soldier?
Does he receive them? Is the condition of our disabled
men as much above that of armies in all previous wars as
the unexampled generosity of our people would imply?
To answer questions like these; to explain the objects,
the origin, and the working of the Sanitary and Christian
Commissions; to illustrate the manner in which they
reached the soldier on the battle-field or in remote hospitals;
to show the utility of lady nurses in military hospitals,
and the good accomplished by them; to give
thus proving the value of past contributions, and affording
warrant for new sacrifices and larger generosity, — in order
to secure all these ends there was demanded a new and
peculiar class of self-sacrificing laborers. The Commissions
were too much occupied with their duties in the field
to undertake a home enterprise like this. Those ladies
whose hearts were wholly enlisted in the work could find
in the hospital and on the battle-field a life more engrossing,
whose romance would in a manner compensate for its
hardships.
A few could be named, as Mrs. Hoge in the West, and
Mrs. Harris in the East, whose fine natural gifts and social
position enabled them to be singularly effective and useful
in both lines of service. They were indefatigable at the
front, and at the same time, with their pens or in oral
addresses, stimulated fresh largesses from their friends
at home.
Mrs. Stearns's mission was somewhat different. As her
husband was a colonel in active service, she held it her
duty to be in readiness to go to attend upon him the moment
he should became disabled. She accordingly devoted
herself earnestly to home labor in explaining, illustrating,
and recommending those magnificent systems of sanitary
usefulness. Her mission and her work were, during the
war, to relieve, cheer, and strengthen the brave soldier in
the field, and the anxious patriot at home, by eloquent
words. While she fully appreciated the value of all unselfish
workers in all parts of the harvest-field, she felt that
the example of that noble corps of co-laborers ought to be
were taking no share in the work; and therefore she took
upon herself the task of rousing the indifferent, and employing
the inactive, through the influence of lectures upon
"Our Soldiers' Aid Societies," and upon the "United States
Sanitary and Christian Commissions." In Michigan, where
these lectures commenced, and in most of the large towns
of that state where they were delivered, Mrs. Stearns was
known as a highly accomplished and earnest young woman,
who had made special efforts to secure for herself and others
of her sex the advantages of a complete classical course of
studies in the State University of Michigan.
When the war broke out, and her husband went into
active service, though prompted to accompany him to the
field, she was sure she could engage in a more important
line of activity at home. She accordingly visited Washington,
and the hospitals in its vicinity; and becoming familiar
with the system of the Commissions and the wants
of the soldier, she came before the people full of arguments
and incidents illustrative of the untold good that has been
done by Soldiers' Aid Societies and their public representatives
and almoners, the two Commissions. Her own
example was rich in the virtue of self-sacrifice. Without
pecuniary recompense were her labors, but not without
rich reward. She so fully appreciated the soldier's brave
devotion, that it was ever a joy to her to offer him her
tribute of praise, and a double joy to find her zealous and
loyal words inciting others to generous gifts and abundant
labors in his behalf.
Aside from the direct aid to the soldier thus secured,
beneficial in showing how much good can be effected by
any accomplished and true-hearted woman, without transcending
the proprieties of her sex, or violating the decorum
of society. Referring to her lecture before a large audience
in the Representatives' Hall, an editor says, "Her discourse
was listened to for an hour, with profound attention, by
as many persons as could find seats in the hall. Some of
the audience came to hear Mrs. Stearns partly out of curiosity;
but all went away with the conviction that it is
possible for a lady to speak effectively to a promiscuous
audience in behalf of suffering humanity without stepping
out of her true sphere, or compromising her modesty and
dignity as a woman."
The Hon. Schuyler Colfax, in an address at Washington,
alluding to the example of Mrs. Stearns and some others
who were equally zealous and earnest, says, "We have on
record the example of the prophetess Deborah, who, in her
rejoicing song before the children of Israel, poured out her
praises upon those who, as she declares so strikingly, jeoparded
their lives unto the death in the high places of the
field, and her curses upon the inhabitants of Meroz, because
they came not to the help of the Lord — to the help of the
Lord against the mighty; and I have not found in that
sacred record that she was regarded as unsexing herself by
public comments on the patriotism of her fellow-citizens."
In other cities, notices equally kind and complimentary
appeared after the lectures of Mrs. Stearns; and her example
now remains before the American public a proof of
how much good may be effected by one loyal, accomplished,
devoted, without reserve, in a holy cause.
The advantage to their sex from such instances as Mrs.
Hoge and Mrs. Stearns is very great. The boundaries
which public opinion had placed on the legitimate activities
and the proper sphere of woman have been enlarged. They
have shown that a wife, a mother, or a sister is never more
truly lovely than when she pleads, even before a large and
promiscuous assembly, the sacred cause of humanity, presenting
reasons that flow from the fountains of charity, and
descend from the celestial heights of religion.
| MRS. S. BURGER STEARNS. Women of the war : | |