What Could I Do But Go With

I Went To The Senate, Accomplished Nothing As Usual.

Others Are Writing My Biography, And Let It Rest As They Elect To Make It. I Have Lived My Life, Well And Ill, Always Less Well Than I Wanted It To Be But It Is, As It Is, And As It Has Been; So Small A Thing, To Have Had So Much About It!

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.

I May Be Compelled To Face Danger, But Never Fear It, And While Our Soldiers Can Stand And Fight, I Can Stand And Feed And Nurse Them.

Oh Northern Mothers Wives And Sisters, All Unconscious Of The Hour, Would To Heaven That I Could Bear For You The Concentrated Woe Which Is So Soon To Follow, Would That Christ Would Teach My Soul A Prayer That Would Plead To The Father For Grace Sufficient For You, God Pity And Strengthen You Every One.