“The women of the North are charged by the press with a lack of zeal and enthusiasm in the war. The charge may be true to some extent. Though for the most part the women of the loyal states are loyal to the government, and in favor of sustaining its every measure for putting down the rebellion, yet they do not I fear enter fully into the spirit of the revolution, or share greatly in the enthusiasm and devotion which sustain the women of the South in their struggle for what they believe their independence and freedom from oppression. This is owing, doubtless, to the war being waged on soil remote from us, to women having no part in the active contest, and to the deprivation and heart-sorrows it has occasioned them. There are too many who think only of themselves and too little of the sufferings of the soldiers who have volunteered to save their country. While they are willing to give of their time and means to relieve the sick and wounded, they at the same time decry the war, lament the sacrifices and expenditure it occasions, think it should have been prevented by a compromise and long for peace on almost any terms. These think not of the great cause at stake, they care not for the poor slave, think not of the future of our country, and fail to see the hand of God in the movement punishing the nation for sin and leading it up through much suffering and tribulation to a brighter and more glorious destiny. “But there is a class of women who have looked beyond the mere clash of arms and the battlefield of the dead and dying, and recognize the necessity and importance of this dark hour of trial to our country. The first cannon fired at Sumter sounded in their ears the death knell of slavery and proclaimed the will of the Almighty to this nation. These have never believed we should have peace or great success until the doom of slavery was irrevocably sealed. That seal has been set. Our noble President has bowed to the will of the Supreme Power and by the guidance and sustaining spirit of that Power will, I trust, lead our country successfully through the great and fearful struggle and place it upon a firm and more enduring basis. “The contest has outlasted the expectation of all, and has cost the nation a vast amount of blood and treasure. It has called into the field a million or more of soldiers, and the number of fathers, brothers and sons slain upon the battlefield and wasted away in camps and hospitals is counted by hundreds of thousands, while its expenses run up to billions. And still the war for the Union, for Freedom, and the integrity of our national boundaries goes forward; and in the hearts of true Union men everywhere the firm resolve has been made that it shall go on until the rebellion is crushed, cost what it may, and continue though it should last as long as did the war which brought our nation into existence.