"I hope
the doctors will sew up the place quick 'fore it does fall out," she
added, with a look of deep concern. "Poor, dear Uncle Wal is killed," she
sobbed; "and Uncle Art too, and I don't want all my uncles to die or to be
killed."
"We will ask God to take care of them, dear daughter," said Rose,
caressing the little weeper, "and we know that He is able to do it."
* * * * *
One day in the following January--1863--the gentlemen went into the city
for a few hours, leaving their wives and children at home. They returned
with faces full of excitement.
"What news?" queried both ladies in a breath.
"Lincoln has issued an Emancipation Proclamation freeing all the blacks."
There was a momentary pause: then Rose said, "If it puts an end to this
dreadful war, I shall not be sorry."
"Nor I," said Elsie.
"Perhaps you don't reflect that it takes a good deal out of our pockets,"
remarked her father. "Several hundred thousand from yours."
"Yes, papa, I know; but we will not be very poor. I alone have enough left
to keep us all comfortably. If I were only sure it would add to the
happiness of my poor people, I should rejoice over it. But I am sorely
troubled to know what has, or will become of them.
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