254 THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 



them by express from Hookertown, for she knew what the 

 Sewing Society had sent, as she was one of the directress 

 es, and packed up pretty much all herself. There were 

 shirts and drawers, socks and blankets, cushions, ticks and 

 sheets, pillow-cases, quilts and comfortables, and pretty 

 much every thing that a sick man could wear or use on a 

 bed. There were preserves in every variety, sugar, tea 

 and coffee, candles, soap and towels, tin plates, basins and 

 lanterns, etc., six barrels and nine boxes packed jam full. 

 Now it so happened that the Hookertown supplies were 

 on hand, and she had the satisfaction of seeing that every 

 thing had come straight. All the nurses agreed that the 

 express folks brought things very carefully, and many of 

 them would not take any pay for the trouble. Mrs. Bun 

 ker was astonished to find everything so neat and clean. 

 When she went into the Columbian College Hospital and 

 saw the doctor and his wife, and the motherly looking 

 women that were nursing the soldiers, and the nice beds 

 and the scrubbed floors, she declared it was equal to any 

 thing in Connecticut housekeeping, which she thinks is 

 about the limit of perfection. The Sunday after she got 

 home, she looked up from the Bible where she was read 

 ing, and taking off the gold-bowed spectacles that Josiah 

 gave her, she said, &quot; Timothy, I declare, I used to think 

 David was rather hard on mankind when he says, All 

 men are liars. But since 1 went down to Washington 

 and saw how they lied about the Sanitary Commission, I 

 think he wa n t much out of the way. Things down there 

 could not have been better managed if I had done it my 

 self.&quot; I guess she is about right, and folks need not be 

 afraid of doing too much for our soldiers. The poor fel 

 lows are fighting our battles, and we ought to do every 

 thing we can for them when they are sick and wounded. 

 Three years fighting has not made us poor; we have only 

 grown rich and saucy. Hookertown is as chockful of fight 

 as ever. We have some soldiers graves among us, and 



