whose grave faces and earnest questions showed the importance of the
subject under discussion. Among those who upon that evening and
afterward, "many a time and oft," were met together in those brilliant
rooms there was not one heart untouched by the fire of patriotism,--a
flame fed by every thought, word, and action, burning ever with
steadily-increasing brightness.

I fail to recall many of the illustrious names which on that night
sounded like stirring music in my ears; but as often as memory reverts
to that scene, the forerunner of repeated pleasures, I seem to feel
anew the pressure of friendly hands, unforgotten faces appear through
the mists of the past, still aglow with "the light of other days."

Judge Hopkins was rather an invalid, but his high position, fine
appearance, his pleasant conversational powers, marked him as one
worthy of attention from all.

To Mrs. Hopkins had been entrusted the duty of caring for the sick and
wounded soldiers from Alabama. Two State hospitals had already been
established by her, and she had full power to control all matters
connected with these hospitals, except such as came within the
province of the surgeon in charge.

I have never seen a woman better fitted for such a work. Energetic,
tireless, systematic, loving profoundly the cause and its defenders,
she neglected no detail of business or other thing that could afford
aid or comfort to the sick or wounded. She kept up a voluminous
correspondence, made in person every purchase for her charges,
received and accounted for hundreds of boxes sent from Alabama
containing clothing and delicacies for the sick, and visited the wards