CAIRO [IL] CITY WEEKLY NEWS, December 5, 1861, p. 1, c. 1

(For the Cairo City Gazette.)

Army Nurses

Band of kind, unselfish women,
Who dar’st to brave the cannon’s peal,
To wound, is stern man’s sterner duty,
‘Tis thine to watch, to soothe and heal.
Shrink not tho’ some may scorn the calling,
Of benefactress of thy race;
Thy God hath formed thee for a helper,
That post of hon’r is thy place.
Thou’st left thy home, and dear home comforts
To witness carnage, blood and death
Thou’lt hear loved names in feeble whisper
Sobbed out with many a dying breath.
But there’s a might in human kindness,
A power reactive to uphold;
That takes thy strength to aid the feeble,
But gives thee back an hundred fold.
Like rays of light thy deeds of goodness,
Out-shining ever from one source;
And ever crossing cast no shadow,
Upon each other’s radiant course.
Strength equal to thy day’ll be given,
And when sweet peace regains control,
Thy deeds will shine like tints of heaven,
Around a dark and bloody scroll.