Two Girls of Gettysburg Read Online Free PDF

the New York woman intoned as she unrolled a rectangular strip of flannel with many small pockets. “For scissors, needles, thread, buttons, and such like. It can be fastened thus with ties. Every soldier needs one.”
Then Mrs. Pierpont stood up to ask for volunteers. She was tall, with completely gray hair and a smooth, unlined face. She seemed stern, and I hoped she would not be too hard on me as a new pupil. Marveling ather broad bosom and narrow waist, I remarked to Rosanna, “Look how her corsets have squeezed all her flesh upward.” We both giggled until Mama glared at us.
Mrs. Baumann, Annie’s mother, agreed to collect knitted scarves and socks, and Margaret volunteered to oversee the making of three hundred shirts.
“I’ll probably have to sew a hundred of those shirts myself,” said Rosanna with a groan.
When the meeting was over, everyone stayed to share letters from husbands and sons. Conversations about the war swirled around me. By now we all knew that our men would not be coming home in September, and the ladies debated how long the war would last. Mrs. Pierpont’s voice rose above the rest.
“Now, Sarah,” she was saying to Mrs. Brodhead, whose lips were compressed with worry against her large, uneven teeth, “we have already blockaded the southern ports and rivers, and it is only a matter of time before the Confederacy is choked off. Those rebels are not about to reach Washington.”
Rather than talk of the war, I drew Rosanna toward the refreshments. But Mrs. Pierpont caught sight of us.
“Why Miss McGreevey, this must be your cousin, Elizabeth Allbauer. Young lady, your father spoke to me last spring. I am delighted you will be attending my seminary.”
I merely nodded, too intimidated to reply.
“Frieda Baumann!” Mrs. Pierpont exclaimed, turning from me. “You can count on my schoolgirls for a dozen socks each.”
“But I don’t know how to knit!” said Rosanna to me in dismay. “Can’t we do something else, a flag perhaps?”
“Mrs. Pierpont must think I’m an imbecile,” I murmured.
I watched as Mrs. Wade approached Margaret with her daughters,Ginnie and Georgia. Ginnie’s brown hair was fixed in braids wrapped around her head like a crown. She saw me and gave a little wave. I smiled back.
“You’re in luck. I think the Wades are volunteering to help Margaret sew shirts,” I whispered to Rosanna.
“Who are the Wades?” asked Rosanna, eyeing their faded dresses.
“Ginnie is a very sweet girl. She’s eighteen, I think.” I lowered my voice. “A long time ago her father committed a crime and was sent to the asylum. People say he will never come home. Ginnie and her mother and sister take in sewing and laundry. They may be poor, but they won’t accept charity.”
Rosanna’s brow furrowed. “Does she have any friends?”
“They keep mostly to themselves. I’ve seen people treat them unkindly.”
“Why, they can’t help their misfortunes! Lizzie, we must make Ginnie our friend. You say she’s a seamstress? Why, she can help with my project. Forget the socks—we’ll make a flag, a big one.”
I gazed in confusion at Rosanna. “Why?”
“To send to the soldiers of Company K. To keep up their spirits. Think of how proud it will make your father and Luke.”
“While you think of impressing Henry Phelps!” I teased.
Rosanna wrinkled her nose at me. “I’ll find Annie and see if she wants to help too.”
“But you hate to sew. Why not send Henry one of your drawings instead?”
There was no reply from Rosanna, for she had already jumped up in search of Annie, and I was left shaking my head in wonder at my impetuous friend.

Lizzie
Chapter 6
After the meeting, Mama was in a somber mood, perhaps due to the letter from Papa and Luke and all the conversations about the war. She went to bed early, saying she felt poorly. I stayed up and wrote to Luke, telling how I’d put up twenty jars of beans yesterday, and how Amos and Ben had fixed the shed. Then I peered in