privileged to be of some service in the field to the Christian
Commission. With Dr. Brainerd and Samuel B. Falls I often performed some
duty at the Cooper shop; while with George H. Stuart and George T.
Merigens I invited other cities to make appeals for money to forward the
great work of the Secretary and Christian Commissions. In our churches
we were constantly busy getting up entertainments and fairs to help
those rendered destitute by the loss of fathers and brothers in the
field.

Just before the battle of Gettysburg a long procession of clergymen,
headed by Dr. Brainerd, marched to Fairmount Park with spades over their
shoulders to throw up entrenchments. The victory of the Federal troops
at Vicksburg and Gettysburg rendered those earthworks unnecessary.

A distinguished gentleman of the Civil War told me that Abraham Lincoln
proposed to avoid our civil conflict by purchasing the slaves of the
South and setting them free. He calculated what would be a reasonable
price for them, and when the number of millions of dollars that would be
required for such a purpose was announced the proposition was scouted,
and the North would not have made the offer, and the South would not
have accepted it, if made.

"But," said my military friend, "the war went on, and just the number of
million dollars that Mr. Lincoln calculated would have been enough to
make a reasonable purchase of all the slaves were spent in war, besides
all the precious lives that were hurled away in 250 battles."

There ought to be some other way for men to settle their controversies
without wholesale butchering.