So it was arranged that Colonel Stone, with whose regiment she had spent some time near the line of battle, should take down brief notes of the talk she would have given to the aid society, and tell the story to the people. They had started into the church to carry out this plan when he said to her, “I’ve seen you at the front, I watched your work in the hospital, and I believe you’re in earnest. I’ve heard you say you’d give anything for the soldiers. Now is the time for you to give your voice. Shall this opportunity be lost--or shall Iowa be enlisted for the work of the Sanitary Commission?” “I will try,” said Mary A. Livermore. The sea of faces blurred before her. She seemed to be talking into blank darkness. She could not hear her own voice. But suddenly the needs of the soldiers crowded upon her mind, the destitution, sickness, suffering she had seen at the front,--and the people of Iowa must be roused to do their share. She thought she had spoken half an hour, it was nearly two hours. The audience listened spellbound, men and women weeping, every heart filled with a new patriotism. “Now,” said the governor when she closed, “Mrs. Livermore has told us of the soldiers’ needs. It is our turn to speak, and we must speak in money and gifts.” Eight thousand dollars were pledged, five hundred barrels of potatoes, bushels of onions and anti-scorbutics of which the army was greatly in need. People stayed till eleven o’clock, and the leaders till one, planning for an Iowa fair which later cleared sixty thousand dollars. That was the first public speech of the little Mary Rice who had preached to sticks of wood. But it was not the last. In hundreds of towns she spoke, raising thousands of dollars for hospital work and soldiers’ homes, helping organize aid societies and fairs. And after the war, from Atlantic to Pacific, in churches and colleges, in city and country, she lectured to crowded houses, talking on her war experiences in the “Sanitary,” on temperance and woman’s suffrage. A most popular speaker she was, achieving much for the various causes with which she was connected. But most of all she is remembered for the wonders accomplished in the many-sided work of the Sanitary Commission, whose efficient service helped to win the war. CHAPTER XIV BARBARA FRITCHIE 1766-1862 In December, 1766, a daughter was born in the house of a German immigrant, Nicolaus Hauer, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and she was named Barbara. She had four sisters and brothers. Their early years were spent in Pennsylvania and then the family moved to Frederick, Maryland. Barbara went to school for a while in Baltimore. Her education was the best that could be obtained at that day, for she was “thoroughly well-read and could write.” When she was ninety-two years old she scorned making her mark on business papers and proudly signed her name.