April 4th
Mrs. Emma R. Peterkin,
Mrs. Meeteer, and other ladies from
Philadelphia, visited the hospital and our ward to-day by special permission.
They brought us some vegetables, fruit, etc. Their gentle presence and kindly words of sympathy infused new life into us, and was a most delightful and charming incident in our cheerless prison experience.
One of the ladies came to my bed, spoke of her friendship for
Mrs. Professor LeConte, of
Athens, Georgia, and gave me some nice fruit.
She also gave me hastily a recent number of
Ben Wood's excellent Democratic paper, the “
New York News.”
This is a real treat, as
Ben Wood is a “Rebel
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sympathizer,” and tells the plain truth about the
Yankee defeats.
His paper is forbidden in prison, lest the prisoners should gather some crumbs of comfort and items of truth from its bold utterances.
After reading it, it was passed from couch to couch, and read with great eagerness.
These sweet, gentle hearted women, with their winning smiles and cheerful words, proved well springs of joy to us, and brought to mind tender thoughts of our homes and loved ones.
Their coming was like a fairy visitation to the sick, wounded and mentally distressed soldiers, lying on their weary couches of pain.
May God bless and protect them, and may the noble virtues of these good women be visited in drops of tenderest mercy upon their children, and their children's children, even to the third and fourth generation.
