away in the background, with her back to the door, receiving visitors and the greetings that flow in upon her, but only from the women. The men are compelled to stay outside until the feast begins. In the tent the bride remains for fully two weeks, when she is taken to the tent of the bridegroom's parents, where she remains a year, or even eighteen months, receiving only now and then a visit from her future lord. During this time the parents are responsible in every way for her good conduct. At the expiration of the prescribed period she is transferred, on a richly-ornamented camel, to her husband's tent, where she remains. With the poor there is not so much to do about the matter. Although polygamy is not very prevalent with the Turkoman, still he can marry more than one wife if he chooses, but properly he should provide a separate tent for each one. However, two wives often do live in the same tent. He also takes the beautiful black-haired Persian slaves that he captures to his home. With the married women the vail is universally worn, and should a stranger pay a visit to the family-tent, he is required always to give notice of his approach at the door, in order that the women may have time to draw their vails down over their faces. She is then expected to wait upon him and offer him food, and speak to him only in a subdued tone. Under this treatment her youthful beauty soon departs. Mr. Fraser, an English writer, says, that in old age "most of them are extremely ugly, haggard, and withered; the elder ones are particularly frightful." He, too, admits their beauty in youth. THEIR RACIAL CHARACTERISTICS. It is somewhat difficult to determine accurately the characteristic features of the Turkomans considered as a race. The different tribes are undoubtedly of the same origin, but the individual representatives present strong deviations, both in the form of the skull and the features. M. Blocgueville, who was for fourteen months a prisoner among them, describes them as of medium size, being well proportioned, but of no particularly strong muscular development. The skin is white but unhealthy in its appearance; the face is round; the cheek-bones are prominent, and the skull is very broad and thick. The eyes are "almond-shaped," quick and intelligent; the nose is small and slightly turning upward; the hair is of a bronze hue. The pure Tartar physiognomy is only found where the people do not undertake robbing expeditions, and therefore have not introduced the black-haired slaves into their tents. Sir William Burns, an English traveler, was struck with their resemblance to the Tartar features, adding that "the skull of the Turkoman is like to that of a. Chinese." Considered from a phrenological stand-point, he is simply a human animal, energetic, impulsive, and variable; lymphatic in temperament, nevertheless passionate and excitable; and when he is aroused, it is for destruction. man. The width of the brain in the basilar region is enormous, and when we consider that Combativeness and Destructiveness constitute this breadth, we are not surprised at his ferocity. He obeys merely the instincts of the animal His flat face and snub nose indicate his low and undeveloped intellect, while the flatness of the coronal region declares his want of both the religious and the higher moral sentiments. They have excelled in their courage and cruelty, but never in literature and science. They have conquered, but have always been absorbed by the conquered in the process. But, fortunately, their rude rule is now apparently at an end. The progress of the Russians to the shores of the Caspian Sea has already checked them northward,-the British in India bar their way south. Still, they have the Persians for their eastern neighbors, but their importance as a people is gone. Their occupation as marauders, which they have pursued uninterruptedly since their descent from among the Mongolian tribes of northern China, will probably soon be wrested from them. The civilization of Europe is already drawing its lines more and more closely around them, and they will either have to succumb to its influences or be exterminated in the process of resistance. [The Turkomans number, it is computed, a million souls. The number of their tents is estimated at two hundred thousand. How many slaves this estimate includes is unknown, but in Khiva, their capital, alone these number forty thousand.] There's a sinless brow with a radiant crown Ah, well! and summer is coming again, But, oh! it sounds like a sob of pain, There's a beautiful region above the skies, Of the loved one gone before. 8. A. K. FRIENDLY ADVICE.-There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and of a flatterer; for there is no such flatterer as is a man's self, and there is no such remedy against flattery of a man's self, as the liberty of a friend.-Bacon. Our Social Relations. Domestic happiness, thou only bliss Of paradise that has survived the fall! WOMAN, AND THE WOMAN'S CLUB BY MRS. GEORGE WASHINGTON WYLLYS THE Woman's Club forms just at present a rather prominent topic of discussion. Every body has something to say for or against it— most generally the latter; and we don't pretend to be any more taciturn than our neighbors. "A club is no place for women!" Well, then, what sort of a place is it for men? If it is such a very dreadful institution, what do the husbands and fathers and brothers of these presumptuous females mean by their adhesion to "New York," "Century," and "Athenæum” clubs? Women have ceased to be treated like children-to have knives and scissors taken away from them, lest they should cut their precious fingers to have their pills administered in sugar-coats, and their bread-and-milk weakened with hot water. If you make a sweeping assertion now, you must give some good, fair, square reason for it. And we have yet to hear the sufficient reason for "putting down" this Woman's Club business. "Women ought to stay at home." Yes, if they want to become miserable dyspeptic creatures, dwarfed alike in mind and body, getting all their ideas at second-hand, and taking their exercise up and down stairs at the heels of a platoon of babies! Whether is worse for them to promenade Broadway, staring senselessly at the fashions, or to rally round a sort of 89cial center, where they can interchange ideas with others of their own sex, and escape, temporarily at least, from the intolerable monotony of daily household care? "Women ought to be satisfied with the sphere of home." So they ought. "Man ought to be satisfied with a good dinner;" but, for pity's sake, is he supposed never to want anything more? If a woman can learn to be s better housekeeper, a truer companion, a more intelligent mother, in the atmosphere of a Woman's Club, ought it not to be encouraged? There is neither sense nor justice in the tirades of the day about "comanly women." A woman, according to our theory, is most womanly when she is most perfectly and completely developed! If you want kitchen girls, say so; if you want housekeepers, nurses, seamstresses, say so; but don't weave such a network of wordy meshes about the simple fact that you want women to wait on you, to minister to your whims, and to be generally subservient to your majesty of manhood! If you are actually so selfish, you have no business to be ashamed of it! And furthermore, why don't you tell us frankly what you mean by your allusions to "Amazons," blue-stockings," and "strong 66 minded females ?" Does the Woman's Club necessarily consist of these elements, and these alone? You see you are talking about what you don't know anything! "Women don't discuss anything but dress!" As long as dress forms a part of their daily life and duty, it is perfectly proper that it should be discussed. Perpetual motion, the authorship of "Junius," and the election franchise are doubtless very interesting topics, but who expects people to talk about them forever? If, under the existing régime, men are driven to hotel reading-rooms, to the columns of the newspaper, and to lectures, for intellectual companionship, as they say they are, it is high time that Women's Clubs were organized to lay the foundation for a more intelligent womanhood! Why should there not be a place where women can meet to educate their brains as well as their fingers-a place where all the topics of the day can be canvassed-where new books are talked of, as well as new fashions where the troublesome domestic problems which make housekeeping yet an unresolved science can be thoroughly discusssed and united action taken? Croquet and archery are very well in their place, as far as they go, but life is not all play, and something must be done in the dull rainy days that come to us all. There are very few so self-reliant, so all-accomplished, that they can afford to do without the suggestions and aids of a Woman's Club. It is the novelty of the thing, after all, that makes it obnoxious to men. Once let it be well established-let them see that it works good instead of evil to the women that sit under their hearths and brighten their homes, and they will be as delighted with it as children with a new toy! What are our female academies, seminaries, and institutes but Women's Clubs? Education does not end when a girl graduates at eighteen; it rather commences. For our part, we bid the new-born institution a hearty and cordial welcome. It has got to weather through the various weaknesses and trials to which all newborn institutions are liable-it must cut its teeth one by one with great tribulation-it must burn its fingers and cut its hands, and have "hairsbreadth 'scapes" just so often, but we hope to live to see it a thriving fact yet! So, scold away, Messrs. Editors and mankind in general; the Woman's Club will prove itself above all such petty hindrances ! AN APPEAL. BY FRANCES L. KEELER. FELLOW-MORTALS! do not linger Yet to feel Truth's sacred showers. AN AMERICAN DRESS. BY JENNY JUNE. WE are not among the advocates of a uniform style of dress for our American women, uniformity being inconsistent with diversity of tastes, ideas, habits, and feelings, and American women are about the last persons in the world to consent to adopt a costume which would give no latitude to taste or fancy. Gratification of tastes, however, and variety in style, color, and material, are not at all incompatible with the adoption by the majority of the American women of the simple "walking suit," which for the past year has steadily gained ground with all classes of American society. No such desideratum has ever before been achieved in fashion as this simple, convenient, out-door dress proves to be. In a climate variable; in neighborhoods somewhat unsettled; among women, simple, independent, yet refined and tasteful in their habits, a ready, convenient, out-door dress, approximating as closely as possible to that of a man, without being at all masculine, was just what was needed; and that such a boon should have been conferred by fashion, that has had to answer for so many follies and vagaries, seems almost too good to be true. As we have said before, it affords plenty of scope for taste and fancy, but it provides, at the same time, a simple, effective, inexpensive costume, which can be adapted to all the changes of weather and climate with the least possible trouble; and if sensible American women everywhere do not eagerly embrace the opportunity, adopt the "walking dress," and make it a permanent institution, they deserve to be subjected to all the vagaries of unreasonable and capricious French milliners for the rest of their natural lives. When the walking dress was first introduced it was very short, and properly called the "short" walking dress. To be becoming, it was supposed necessary to make it short and fanciful, pretty for young girls, but entirely unsuited to ladies more advanced and of matronly character. There was an idea in it, however, and sensible women were not slow to perceive it. Why not cut the plain, gored skirt a few inches longer? Why not complete the suit by a useful, simple sac, without the lappets, double skirts, furbelows, and pendants ?-and the thing was done. Now, I am not condemning the ornamental walking dress. I consider a street dress that clears the ground, and that does not require a huge mass of skirts or whalebone to support it, something to be thankful for in itself, and am quite willing that individuals should exercise their own taste, judgment, or want of judgment, in getting it up; but fanciful designs and elaborate trimming require professional aid, besides creating a necessity for continual change and novelty; and what I want to impress most distinctly upon the minds of the intelligent American women who read the PHRENOLOGICAL JOURNAL, and have other things to do than consulting fashion plates, that in the "walking suit" they have now just what they require,-a complete and convenient dress, which even in the simplest material looks lady-like, and can be rendered, by unanimous consent, superior to any caprice of fashion. The sac should be cut plain, and loose for the sake of convenience, and simplicity in making, and also because it affords the opportunity of putting in a loose lining of flannel to increase the warmth, or of wearing with it a loose flannel sac for the same purpose, which can be worn, or not, at pleasure. This is an incalculable advantage in our climate, which changes so suddenly from the heat of the tropics to the freezing temperature of an icebound latitude, and which varies so much in the different sections of the same territory. A sensible out-door dress might endure for all time, or at least for one generation of time; sashes, frills, fringes, bows, cuttings in here, or roundings out there, must necessarily live only the butterfly's life, and die the butterfly's death. WHAT THE AMERICAN WALKING DRESS SHOULD BE MADE OF. One great advantage of the suit is, that it looks well in almost any plain material; but to be serviceable, it ought always to be made of a fabric that will stand exposure, that will either wash or that can be cleaned, and that does not shrink or change color from being caught" in the rain. Pure mohair alpaca is one of the very best materials for the purpose, but it is not warm enough for winter in a cold climate. Cloth is excellent, however, and there was a ribbed material, speckled like the cloths for men's wear, introduced here last winter, under the name of "Exposition" cloth, which formed a most beautiful and durable winter fabric for suits. Scotch tweed cloths, all-wool ribbed poplins, and empress cloths are all good for suits, and much cheaper in the long run than light mixtures of cotton and wool, that look shabby after the first month of wear, and scarcely pay for the time and thread used in making them up. Women to whom utility and economy of time, labor, and money are objects, will find it beneficial to take an idea from the system employed in making clothing for men. Men can not sew, they can not be employed all the time in altering and changing their garments, and they are constantly engaged in active outdoor labor. Clothing, therefore, so far as they are concerned, has been reduced to a science. Cloth in winter, linen in summer, are the staples, and serve their purpose exceedingly well. Now, without reducing ourselves to that absolute standard of usefulness and simplicity, why could not the great body of American women take an idea from it, and endeavor to unite in their out-door dress the advantages which heretofore men have almost exclusively enjoyed? One of the difficulties to be met at the outset is the habit which the mass of women have of expending the maximum sum upon their one or two party or handsome dresses, and making anything, old or new, answer for every-day wear, in which, after all, they are seen all the time. I do not mean to be understood here as recommending silks, satins, or velvets for walking dresses, though I have no objections to persons using them who can afford it; but I do counsel those whose means are limited, to care less for the quality of a silk which they only wear once in a while, and more for the real excellence of the dresses they depend upon for active service. Our national fault in dress, manufactures, and many other things, is a tendency to substitute an imitation for a real article, on the plea that it looks "just as well." It may look just as well for a day, or a week, or a month, but its innate meanness and falsity soon betray themselves. It does not last, it does not retain its beauty, and soon loses its use. It would be infinitely better to have paid a little more in the beginning, and had something whose genuine excellence would have made it a beauty and a joy forever. DRESS AND CHANGE OF SEASON. The main thing, of course, is to secure a material which for winter wear combines in as high a degree as possible lightness and warmth. There is, then, the possibility of lining the sac or pelisse with flannel, or of wearing a loose flannel sac under the one belonging to the suit. In addition to this, care should be exercised in regard to the underclothing. Women do wear knitted merino vests in winter to a great extent; but instead of their cotton, or cotton-flannel drawers, they might advantageously wear the knitted merino drawers worn by men, which fit so much more closely and hold the warmth so much better than the loose, sometimes half open cotton article. With a light, warm, all-wool flannel skirt, a "Boulevard" worn over the hoops, added to her substantial walking dress, the most delicate woman would find protection enough even in the coldest weather, and if more were needed for extra cold or storms, the tartan, or waterproof wrap, would abundantly afford it. I mention the "Boulevard" skirt particularly in this connection, because its simple, gored shape, without plaits, its warmth and lightness, its durability and power of resistance, qualify it eminently for the position of the favorite American winter walking skirt. I have seen the whole process by which they are manufactured, the wool they are made of, the different operations (precisely like those of making felt hats) by which the loose fiber becomes the firm, compact, solid cloth, and I know they are as good as they profess to be. Furs have grown very expensive of late years, but, excepting the muff, there is no necessity for furs in conjunction with a proper winter dress, and even this could be made of the same material as the suit, and simply trimmed with fur-an economical idea which fashion sanctions. WINTER WALKING OUTFIT. A comfortable walking outfit, therefore, for winter wear, would consist of merino vest and drawers, added to the usual chemise, a flannel skirt, a small, covered hooped skirt, a gored "Boulevard" skirt, a dark walking suit, the sac or pelisse lined with flannel, and, if liked, bonnet and muff of the same material as the dress, trimmed with narrow bands of fur. The whole suit might, indeed, be trimmed in this way at an exceedingly moderate cost, and would form a complete walking costume, whose good taste and good sense would attract attention even upon Broadway, and commend it to the intelligence and judgment of women everywhere. The secret of effect in dress lies in preserving the unities. Make the tone of your toilette uniform, especially out of doors, where color and contrast become mixed and confused, but rarely blend happily with their surroundings. Suppose your walking suit to be of gray, dark green, blue, or brown cloth, choose narrow bordering of fur to match, or gray or black Astrachan, but not bordering of any high color or flimsy stuff, which would cheapen the appearance of your fabric-better have no trimming at all. A complete winter dress of the kind indicated, underclothing and all, would, if made at home, cost less than fifty dollars. PRESENT FASHIONS. I have not pretended in this sketch to give the latest fashions, but simply endeavored to unite the prevailing fashions to use and economy. A more fashionable garment, for instance, this fall than the sac will be the pelisse, cut in to the figure, buttoned in a diagonal line down the front and belted in at the waist. It is prettier and more stylish than the loose sac, but for that reason would not suit half so many ladies as a plainer design. An outside garment, fitted to the figure, requires care and skill in making and an elegant person to properly display it. A simpler style was therefore preferred, which every lady who reads these lines can adapt to her own sense of the true, the beautiful, and the useful. SILENT TEACHERS. "WHAT! another flower, Tom? is not your window-sill full already?" "They don't eat nor drink, bless 'em, and it does me and my wife good to look at 'em." It was but a passing bit of conversation that I heard, and yet it set me thinking. The man with the flower-pot in his arm was a roughno, I shall not say "rough"-he was a sturdy son of toil, and I was amused to hear his fervent blessing on his flowers. His acquaintance, who had expressed surprise at another flower in Tom's possession, had pulled a short pipe out of his mouth when he spoke; and no doubt his love for tobacco cost him much more than Tom's love of flowers. Then as to the gain. The smoker would gain a dry, hot mouth, a foul breath, yellow teeth, sallow skin, dull eyes, drowsiness, and headache-that's what his pipe would do for him, even if he did not drink. But Tom with the flower would refresh his eyes with its bloom, and his smell with its sweetness, and he would adorn his window with its beauty, and gladden his wife and his children by bringing them such a pretty gift. What innocent delight would they all feel in looking at it! And more than all that, they would learn something from the flower. It would tell them of the wisdom and love of God; how he sent these beautiful flowers into the world to please the eye of man: "To comfort man, to whisper hope Whene'er his faith grows dim, For who so careth for the flowers, Will much more care for him." I think flowers teach neatness and order. The wife and children like to have a clean room, so that the flower, in its purity and grace, may not shame them. And then, too, a poor man likes to feel that he has an ornament in his dwelling similar to that which a rich man chooses as the best embellishment of his drawing-room. The cottage and the mansion differ very much in structure and in furniture; not one article of furniture may at all resemble the other, but a pretty flower, carefully watered and tended, often blooms as well in a cottage as in a palace window.-British Workman. ELIZA POTTER, THE UNION NURSE IN SOUTHERN HOSPITALS. THIS lady is evidently blessed with an excellent constitution and abundant vital ity. She ought to live a hundred years, and doubtless would, if she lived in a prudent manner and escaped accidents. She has inherited a good deal of her father's nature-his will-power, courage, energy, and thoroughness, besides considerable ambition, a fair share of pride, a strong will, and a disposition to finish what she begins. She appreciates greatness and eminence; reverences whatever is good, high, and noble. Hope is not a very strongly marked organ; she depends more on what she can do herself than what can be done for her; and if she makes a promise, generally puts in a condition, "If the weather be favorable," "if my health is good," "if nothing intervene to render it impossible," "I will do so and so if I can;" consequently she is regarded as a woman of her word, for if she fails to accomplish anything, she has always a proviso to help her out. She has a sympathy which is easily turned to those who are in trouble, and it matters little whether they are of her own nation, or color, or creed, or way of thinking: it is enough for her to know that the child is in danger-she would rescue it first, and ask questions about it afterward. She is an accurate reader of character; strangers seem luminous or transparent to her; her first judgments of nearly everything are her best, and she generally acts on them. Her perceptives are large; her mind takes in all surrounding knowledge and remembers facts, places, faces, and experiences with remarkable clearness. Fortunately she has body enough to support her brain, so that there is a healthy vigor of mental action. Language is sufficient to enable her to talk and write well. She would have become a good mathematician if properly trained in that direction; she would do well also in business; as a good manager, she is much above the average of women; can influence people; she can bring circumstances into form, so that they will conspire to produce desired results; she has the strong elements which understand conditions, as a machinist understands the wheel within a wheel of his work. She appreciates property; would enjoy the pursuit of business by which money is made, and she would be able to manage large affairs well, because she has the power of swaying the minds of others, and magnetizing people, as it were. Her social nature is strong; she thinks everything of her friends, and never forgets them. Those qualities which constitute the fond and affectionate mother, the true friend and loving wife, are eminently hers. Being properly mated, she would love her husband better than anybody else; her next strongest love would be for a child; the next for her mother; and the rest of the human race come in in one grand class under the head of benevolence. She is frank and truthful; some people do not tell lies, but they seldom speak the plain truth; there is a sort of reserve that leads them to hide the facts, but she inclines to utter the truth heartily and earnestly; she does not believe in crooked, disguised statements, but speaks what she thinks and feels, and takes the consequences. She is more cautious in conduct PORTRAIT OF ELIZA POTTER. than in speaking. More Secretiveness would be of advantage. Her force of character and perseverance render her earnest, and with her good judgment she is eminently successful in her sphere of activity. BIOGRAPHY. The heroism, devotion, and self-sacrifice of the loyal women of the South have never been fully appreciated. Many women, in other sections of the country, labored patiently and unremittingly for the soldiers, or contributed and forwarded such hospital stores as they needed; other women watched faithfully and tenderly the fever-stricken or sorely wounded soldier, enduring for his sake the hardships and privations of camp or hospital life, though reared in elegant and luxurious homes; but the loyal Southern women did all this, and in addition encountered, with unfaltering spirit, the contempt and abuse of nearly all their previous associates and professed friends, and oftentimes malignant persecution for their unwavering adherence to the national cause. One of the noblest of these heroic spirits is the subject of our sketch. Mrs. Potter was born in the north of Ireland, of Scottish parents, and came to this country when about thirteen years of age. She married and settled in Charleston before she was fifteen. The early education she had received from her wealthy and intelligent parents, added to much natural quickness of intellect and a sparkling wit, made her one of the most attractive and graceful of the ladies of the Southern metropolis. She was early called to sorrow, and in the very prime of womanhood found herself a widow with a group of young but interesting children looking to her as their only earthly friend and protector. Some years later she was again married, very happily, to Mr. Lorenzo T. Potter, for thirty years past a prominent and wealthy merchant of Charleston, though a native of Providence, R. I. Few families were more pleasantly and delightfully situated than Mr. Potter's prior to the Their affection for each other and for war. their children was strong and abiding, yet not injudicious; and the younger members of the family grew up amiable, dutiful, and possessed of all those graces which could delight the hearts of their parents. The tastes of all were simple, but their hospitality was boundless, and their piety and large-hearted liberality so well known, that they were universally beloved and honored. Mr. Potter was an enterprising and public-spirited citizen, and to him Charleston was indebted for many public improvements which had facilitated commerce and increased the value of property. So marked had been his efforts for the public good, that he had more than once received the thanks of the municipal government for his services to the city. In his long business career he had been very successful, and at the time of the secession of South Carolina possessed an ample competence. His wife, too, was well known for her personal sympathy with the sick and suffering; in the repeated visitations of yellow fever to which Charleston had been subjected, she had again and again fearlessly braved the pestilence, and remained in the hot and feverstricken city to minister to those who were smitten by the disease. When the demagogues of the South resolved upon secession as the remedy for their fancied ills, Charleston was the hot-bed from which the measures of secession first matured; and so rampant were its principles there, that he was a bold man and a brave one who dared to avow his opposition to it. The number of such men in Charleston was very few, but among them none was more decided and outspoken than Mr. Potter. He could not well leave the city, but it was clearly understood from the beginning to the end of the secession movement that he had no sympathy with it, and that he submitted to the rule of the revolutionists only on compulsion. His wife and children were as decided in their loyalty as the husband and father. Mrs. Potter, availing herself of her foreign birth, sought British protection, and avowed herself, for the sake of retaining greater liberty, a subject of Queen Victoria. For a little time after the war commenced, the only service they could render to the Union cause was to bear patiently the taunts of the secessionists, and manifest quietly their regard for the national flag. But the time came soon for more decided action. In the autumn of 1861 a few sick and wounded Union prisoners reached Charleston. Mrs. Potter at once sought them out and ministered to their necessities, and was gratified to be the means of their restoration to health. A season of family affliction followed, culminating in the death of their eldest daughter, a sweet and devotedly pious young lady, whose loss was deeply felt by the mother, who, in the defection of many professed friends, had felt that she could lean upon this daughter, and confide in her in the time of trial which was coming; but so peaceful and happy was her death, that the parents could only feel that she was taken from the evil to come. Early in June, 1862, occurred the disastrous and ill conducted battle of James Island, in which the Union forces lost more than four hundred prisoners, the greater part of them wounded. These were brought into Charleston, and there exposed to much cruelty and indignity. The poor fellows were stripped of their clothing, many of them being left entirely nude, and exposed with their gaping and undressed wounds to the torture of the numberless insects of that semi-tropical climate; the only hospital vouchsafed to them was a filthy negro mart and the negro kitchens adjacent; and they were thrown upon the ground without beds, straw, blankets, or any covering, to suffer, groan, and die; scanty, filthy, and loathsome food and drink were furnished them; the most degraded wretches in the city assigned as nurses to them, and the brutality with which they were treated was almost incredible. The surgeon in charge avowed many times a day his wish that they were all dead, and his determination to finish them as soon as possible, and his assistants and nurses but echoed the sentiment. It was into this den of misery that Mrs. Potter resolved to penetrate, in the hope of being able to do something for the relief of the poor fellows who had so gallantly, yet so unhappily for themselves, fought for their country and their flag. She encountered the most strenuous opposition, both from the military authorities and the surgeon; was at first positively forbidden to attempt to go to the hospital, but by the exercise of a woman's skillful diplomacy, by promises of assistance and bribes, she was at last enabled to enter the so-called hospital. She had provided herself with such cordials, clothing, and other appliances as she could bring in a first visit; and accompanied by her eldest son, a boy of fifteen, she entered the place. Such a scene of wretchedness she had never before witnessed. After ministering to the poor fellows so far as she was allowed, Mrs. Potter applied to the surgeon to be appointed a nurse in this hospital. He at first refused, saying, truly enough, that it was not a fit place for a lady, but finally, on her assuring him that she would require no wages and rations, he consented, though still protesting that the place was not a fit one for her. She entered upon her duties, but was constantly thwarted and harassed by the low creatures who had been employed as nurses. They utterly refused to wash any clothing for the wounded men; and after she had supplied them with beds, bedding, and clothing, she found that in order to retain these for them, she must hire them washed herself. She expended over eleven hundred dollars in this work, and in spite of all obstacles finally succeeded in making this wretched place a more cleanly and better arranged hospital than any in Charleston, the rebel surgeon taking, meantime, all the credit of it to himself. 'This," he would say to the medical inspectors, "is the way I keep my hospital." More than once he was censured by the rebel authorities for making the prisoners so comfortable. No Union soldier was suffered to want for anything which Mrs. Potter could obtain, let the cost be 66 what it might. She procured for them tropical fruits, even when oranges cost ten dollars each in Confederate money, and finally sent her orders to Nassau, New Providence, accompanied by the gold, running the blockade to procure oranges, lemons, and limes for her soldiers. Her bedding, the accumulation of years of the liberal housekeeping of the South, was drawn upon, till it, as well as the contributions of a few friends, was exhausted. Cotton and linen were purchased in quantities, and made up by her own hands and those of her servants, for the wounded prisoners. Those Union soldiers who were fortunate enough to escape from the prisons of Charleston, were aided and sheltered at her home; and one poor fellow for twentytwo months was one of her wards ere he could make good his escape. Before the wounded prisoners from James' Island could get away or be exchanged, a fresh influx came from other battle-fields and engagements, and with brief intervals of sickness, or the overwhelming grief of the loss of children, she maintained her noble work till the surrender of Charleston, in March, 1865. In this glorious but trying labor she expended of her own means about twenty thousand dollars in money, besides the liberal contributions from the few loyal citizens, and quantities of family and household stores of her own. Her husband, who was indefatigable in his labors for the Union soldiers, in supplying them with money, in arranging for their exchange, and in visiting them at the other points where they were confined, and in bribing Confederate officers to show them kindness, disbursed more than twice this amount, and periled his life more than once. But the sacrifice of money and of time was of little account (though Mr. Potter's large fortune melted away under the destructive attacks of rebel and Union armies) compared with the constant persecution to which they were both subjected. From the first outbreak of hostilities they were almost wholly isolated, the numerous professed friends of Mrs. Potter shunning her on account of her Unionism, as if her house was infected with the plague. Many ladies (?), and some who afterward professed to have been ardent Unionists during the whole period of the war, carefully drew aside their skirts when they met her, and with nose uplifted, and words and gestures of scorn, proclaimed their hatred and contempt of her. Even the fences and walls of her dwelling were frequently covered at night with obscene and ribald abuse of her for her services to Union soldiers. Twice she was threatened with a summons to the headquarters of Beauregard for "giving aid and comfort to the enemy." Sending her outside the rebel lines was twice discussed, and only negatived because they feared she knew too much, and because the yellow fever being expected, she was known to be too good and fearless a nurse in that terrible scourge to be spared. But worse than all other trials and persecutions was the death of her eldest son, who had been her attendant and helper in her hospital duties. He was a boy of rare maturity and judgment, of sweet and patient temper, and of ardent piety. Early in the war he had received from some friend a present of a beautiful Union flag, and as the exhibition of it would only excite malice, he requested his mother to preserve it for him till the time should come when it might again wave over a loyal city. She consented. He was a pupil of the high school of the city, and was expecting to grad uate there, and enter college in the ensuing autumn (1863). Some of the boys in the school ascertained that he owned this flag, and demanded that he should surrender it to them, to be trodden on and destroyed. He refused, and they declared that if he did not, they would whip him within an inch of his life. He told his mother of their threats, but expressed his determination to suffer the beating, if need be, but not to give up the flag. She encouraged him to endure, but not to yield. Some two or three! weeks later he came home and sent for her to come to his room. His tender flesh had been fearfully lacerated by the cruel blows of the young ruffians, but he uttered no complaint. "I could bear this well enough, mother," he said, "but I can not bear that they should use such abusive language about you as they do." | It does not hurt me, my son," was her reply; 66 our Master was reviled more bitterly than we are. You, my son, are not the first sufferer for our national flag; but if you can help it, please do not let your father know of this, for he has all he can bear already." "I will not, mother," was the brave reply; “but the boys say they will finish me next time, if I do not give up the flag." "I do not believe they will trouble you again, my son, but we will take what measures we can to prevent it." His vacation was just at hand, and Mrs. Potter endeavored to prevent his being brought in contact with these young ruffians, who were as malignant as their fathers. Three weeks passed, and her son had only to go to the high school building to obtain his diploma, and would not then be exposed further to their attacks. But the young villains were lying in wait for him, and on the porch of the high school building, one of them called his attention to something at a distance, when, by a blow from an unseen hand, he was felled to the ground, and in an almost senseless condition was afterward brought home. The brain was seriously injured, but he was conscious for a time, and with the near prospect of delirium and death, he conversed calmly with his mother of his own hopes and of the future trials to which she would be exposed. He bade her not to be discouraged in laboring for the soldiers, and predicted, with a lofty faith, the glorious termination of the struggle. He was asked if he knew who had struck the fatal blow; he replied that he did, but he preferred not to give his name, and the secret died with him. Typhoid fever set in, and after months of suffering he died. His mother was for a time completely overwhelmed by this terrible stroke, but she roused herself to her work of mercy, and summoning all her strength, left/ |