A few days after my sister’s arrival home, instead of joy and gladness, the friends meet with bowed heads and stricken hearts to observe the solemn services of a soldier’s funeral. Rev. Isaac Errett officiated. His sermon being extemporaneous, not even a synopsis of it was preserved. The following appropriate hymn was sung: “Servant of God, well done! Rest from thy loved employ. The battle fought, the victory won-- Enter thy Master’s joy. “At midnight comes the cry, ‘To meet thy God prepare!’ He woke and caught his Captain’s eye, Then, strong in faith and prayer, “His spirit, with a bound, Left its encumbering clay; His tent, at sunrise, on the ground A darkened ruin lay. “Soldier of Christ, well done! Praise be thy new employ; And, while eternal ages run, Rest in thy Saviour’s joy.” * * * * * I remained at Mr. Treadway’s until the 31st, and, while awaiting an opening for work, visited hospitals with Mrs. Brainard. The 25th, I saw for the first time the wounded as they came from the battle-field--the bloody field of Antietam. They were taken to the Patent Office Hospital. Oh! those bloody, mangled forms will long be fresh in memory. Some were able, with the help of a comrade, to crawl up the stairs, while others were carried up on stretchers. A few moans were heard, but no complaining, and no loud groaning, as I expected to hear. Mrs. B. had a basket filled with cakes and crackers, which we handed them as they were carried past us. How eagerly they were caught by those who had an arm to raise. The sight was too much for me; I was completely unnerved, and found it impossible to conceal the emotions so deeply stirred in my inmost soul. I returned to my room to weep over the sufferings I was powerless to alleviate. Oh, cruel, cruel war! _Sept. 29th._ This morning I received an appointment from Judge Edmunds, as visiting agent for the society of which he is the President. Alexandria is to be my field of labor for the present--the very place I had wished and prayed for, since there the object of my hopes, only two weeks ago so bright, lies buried. How rejoiced I am in the prospect of work. I trust I shall be enabled to do some little good--to alleviate some poor sufferer, and to encourage the desponding. During my short stay in Washington I have seen but little--speaking of the city itself--to attract notice. The public buildings are very fine, the Capitol magnificent; remove these, and Washington is shorn of its beauty. _Sept. 30th._