symmetrical framework unsheltered and unprotected, around which the people must rally, and brace and stay themselves among its inner timbers, and lash and bind and nail and rivet themselves to its outer posts, till in its sheltered strength it bids defiance to every elemental jar,--till the winds cannot rack, the sunshine warp, or the rains rot, and I would to Heaven that so we rallied and stood to-day. If our Government is “_too weak_” to act vigorously and energetically, _strengthen it till it can_. Then comes the peace we all wait for as kings and prophets waited,--and without which, like them, we seek and never find. Pardon me, my good friend, I had never thought to speak at this length, or, indeed, _any_ length upon this strangely knotted subject, so entirely out of my line. My business is stanching blood and feeding fainting men; my post the open field between the bullet and the hospital. I sometimes discuss the application of a compress or a wisp of hay under a broken limb, but not the bearing and merits of a political movement. I make gruel--not speeches; I write _letters home_ for wounded soldiers, not political addresses--and again I ask you to pardon, not so much _what_ I have said, as the fact of my having said anything in relation to a subject of which, upon the very nature of things, I am supposed to be profoundly ignorant. With thanks for favors, and hoping to hear from you and yours as usual, I remain as ever Yours truly CLARA BARTON I am glad to hear from your wife and mother, and I am most thankful for your cordial invitation to visit you, which I shall (if I have not forfeited your friendship by my plainness of speech, which _I pray_ I may not) accept most joyously, and I am even now rejoicing in prospect over my anticipated visit. We are not suffering from heat yet, and I am enjoying such horseback rides as seldom fall to the lot of ladies, I believe. I don’t know but I should _dare ride with a cavalry rider_ by and by, if I continue to practice. I could at least take lessons. I have a fine new English leaping saddle on the way to me. I hope _you will endeavor_ to see to it that the rebel privateers shall not get hold of it. I could not sustain both the loss and disappointment, I fear. Love to all. Yours C. B. While Miss Barton was engaged in these less strenuous occupations she issued a requisition upon her brother in the Quartermaster’s Department for a flatiron. She said: “My clothes are as well washed as at home, and I have a house to iron in if I had the iron. I could be as clean and as sleek as a kitten. Don’t you want a smooth sister enough to send her a flatiron?”