[Sidenote: =Marries Doctor Howe=] [Sidenote: =Desires to be of service to the Union=] In 1841 she married Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, a noted teacher and reformer. While visiting in Washington in 1861 she saw women nursing the wounded soldiers brought in from the battle field of Bull Run. She was deeply stirred by the sights around her. What service could she do for her country? Her husband was too old to enter the army, her son too young. She knew that there were thousands making clothes for the soldiers in the field. But she could not sew for the soldiers or care for the wounded, for she had never been taught to work with her hands. She could only write poetry. Of what use was that now? [Sidenote: =Writes "Battle Hymn of the Republic"=] One day her minister suggested that she write words for the popular army tune, "John Brown's Body Lies A-mouldering in the Grave." She did so, and the poem was published in a magazine under the name of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." [Sidenote: =It helps to bring victory=] Soon the song was being sung through all the camps of the northern troops. The soldiers sang it on the march, in wild charges, or at night beside the camp fire. Everywhere its challenge roused the northern soldiers to a more determined fight for victory. In writing this poem Mrs. Howe had done a great service for the Union. [Sidenote: =Founds clubs for women=] =220. The Woman's Club.= After the war Mrs. Howe wished to continue serving her country in some way, and she took up the cause of woman's rights. Women had had little or no chance to educate themselves and broaden their minds by discussing with each other subjects outside their homes. She thought woman's clubs would work to free women from the narrowness of mind that comes from thinking only of dress, hired help, and housekeeping. From then on, she devoted herself to establishing clubs for women. She traveled over the country and wrote and lectured on this subject. She urged that the members of these clubs should seek not only for self-improvement but for means of serving others; and through their efforts hospitals for women and children, lodging houses, and labor schools were established. Mrs. Howe had found a means of serving her country even greater and more effective than the writing of her "Battle Hymn of the Republic." [Illustration: JULIA WARD HOWE _From a photograph by the Notman Photo. Co., Boston_] [Sidenote: =Born, 1811=] =221. Harriet Beecher Stowe.= Another woman who did great service for her country with her pen was Harriet Beecher Stowe. She was born in 1811. Her father was a Connecticut minister, and she was brought up in a deeply religious home. At school she was apt at writing and she dreamed of becoming a great author. [Sidenote: =Marries Calvin E. Stowe=]