Part 3 — WOMEN'S RELIEF ASSOCIATION OF BROOKLYN AND LONG ISLAND.

he city of Brooklyn, Long Island, and the Island of which it forms the Western extremity, were from the commencement of the war intensely patriotic. Regiment after regiment was raised in the city, and its quota filled from the young men of the city, and the towns of the island, till it seemed as every man of military age, and most of the youth between fifteen and eighteen had been drawn into the army. An enthusiastic zeal for the national cause had taken as complete possession of the women as of the men. Everywhere were seen the badges of loyalty, and there was no lack of patient labor or of liberal giving for the soldiers on the part of those who had either money or labor to bestow. The news of the first battle was the signal for an outpouring of clothing, hospital stores, cordials, and supplies of all sorts, which were promptly forwarded to the field. After each successive engagement, this was repeated, and at first, the Young Men's Christian Association of the city, a most efficient organization, undertook to be the almoners of a part of the bounty of the citizens. Distant as was the field of Shiloh, a delegation from the Association went thither, bearing a large amount of hospital stores, and rendered valuable assistance to the great numbers of wounded. Other organizations sprang up, having in view the care of the wounded and sick of the army, and many contributors entrusted to the earnest workers at Washington, the stores they were anxious to bestow upon the suffering. After the great battles of the summer and autumn of 1862, large numbers of the sick and wounded were brought to Brooklyn, for care and treatment filling at one time three hospitals. They came often in need of all things, and the benevolent women of the city formed themselves into Committees, to visit these hospitals in turn, and prepare and provide suitable dishes, delicacies, and special diet for the invalid soldiers, to furnish such clothing as was needed, to read to them, write letters for them, and bestow upon them such acts of kindness as should cause them to feel that their services in defense of the nation were fully appreciated and honored.

There was, however, in these varied efforts for the soldiers a lack of concentration and efficiency which rendered them less serviceable than they otherwise might have been. The different organizations and committees working independently of each other, not unfrequently furnished over-abundant supplies to some regiments or hospitals, while others were left to lack, and many who had the disposition to give, hesitated from want of knowledge or confidence in the organizations which would disburse the funds. The churches of the city though giving freely when called upon, were not contributing systematically, or putting forth their full strength in the service. It was this conviction of the need of a more methodical and comprehensive organization to which the churches, committees, and smaller associations should become tributary, which led to the formation of the Women's Relief Association, as a branch of the United States Sanitary Commission. This Association was organized November 23d, 1862, at a meeting held by the Ladies of Brooklyn, in the Lecture Room of the Church of the Pilgrims, and Mrs. Mariamne Fitch Stranahan, was chosen President, and Miss Kate E. Waterbury, Secretary, with an Executive Committee of twelve ladies of high standing and patriotic impulses. The selection of President and Secretary was eminently a judicious one. Mrs. Stranahan was a native of Westmoreland, Oneida County, New York, and had received for the time, and the region in which her childhood and youth was passed, superior advantages of education. She was married in 1837, to Mr. James S. T. Stranahan, then a merchant of Florence, Oneida County, New York, but who removed with his family in 1840, to Newark, New Jersey, and in 1845, took up his residence in Brooklyn. Here they occupied a high social position, Mr. Stranahan having been elected a Representative to the Thirty-fourth Congress, and subsequently appointed to other positions of responsibility in the city and State. Mrs. Stranahan was active in every good work in the city of her adoption, and those who knew her felt that they could confide in her judgment, her discernment, her tact, and her unflinching integrity and principle. For eight years she was the first Directress of the "Graham Institute, for the relief of Aged and Indigent Females," a position requiring the exercise of rare abilities, and the most skilful management, to harmonize the discords, and quiet the misunderstandings, inevitable in such an institution. Her discretion, equanimity, and tact, were equal to the duties of the place, and under her administration peace and quiet reigned. It was probably from the knowledge of her executive abilities, that she was unanimously chosen to preside over the Women's Relief Association. This position was also one requiring great tact and skill in the presiding officer. About eighty churches of different denominations in Brooklyn, coöperated in the work of the Association, and it had also numerous auxiliaries scattered over the Island. These diverse elements were held together in perfect harmony, by Mrs. Stranahan's skilful management, till the occasion ceased for their labors. The Association was from first to last a perfect success, surpassing in its results most of the branches of the Commission, and surpassed in the harmony and efficiency of its action by none.

In her final report Mrs. Stranahan said: "The aggregate of our efforts including the results of our Great Fair, represents a money value of not less than half a million of dollars." Three hundred thousand dollars of this sum were paid into the treasury of the United States Sanitary Commission in cash; and hospital supplies were furnished to the amount of over two hundred thousand more. The Great Fair of Brooklyn had its origin in the Women's Relief Association. At first it was proposed that Brooklyn should unite with New York in the Metropolitan Fair; but on further deliberation it was thought that a much larger result would be attained by an independent effort on the part of Brooklyn and Long Island, and the event fully justified the opinion. The conducting of such a fair involved, however, an excessive amount of labor on the part of the managers; and notwithstanding the perfect equanimity and self-possession of Mrs. Stranahan, her health was sensibly affected by the exertions she was compelled to make to maintain the harmony and efficiency of so many and such varied interests. It is much to say, but the proof of the statement is ample, that no one of the Sanitary Fairs held from 1863 to 1865 equalled that of Brooklyn in its freedom from all friction and disturbing influences, in the earnestness of its patriotic feeling, and the complete and perfect harmony which reigned from its commencement to its close. This gratifying condition of affairs was universally attributed to the extraordinary tact and executive talent of Mrs. Stranahan.

Rev. Dr. Spear, her pastor, in a touching and eloquent memorial of her, uses the following language in regard to the success of her administration as President of the Women's Relief Association; "It is due to truth to say that this success depended very largely upon her wisdom and her efforts. She was the right woman in the right place. She gave her time to the work with a zeal and perseverance that never faltered, and with a hopefulness for her country that yielded to no discouragement or despondency. As a presiding officer she discharged her duties with a self-possession, courtesy, skill, and method, that commanded universal admiration. She had a quick and judicious insight into the various ways and means by which the meetings of the Association would be rendered interesting and attractive. The business part of the work was constantly under her eye. No woman ever labored in a sphere more honorable; and but few women could have filled her place. Her general temper of mind, her large and catholic views as a Christian, and then her excellent discretion, eminently fitted her to combine all the churches in one harmonious and patriotic effort. This was her constant study; and well did she succeed. As an evidence of the sentiments with which she had inspired her associates, the following resolution offered at the last meeting of the Association, and unanimously adopted, will speak for itself:—

"'Resolved, That the thanks of the Women's Relief Association are pre-eminently due to our President, Mrs. J. S. T. Stranahan, for the singular ability, wisdom, and patience with which she has discharged the duties of her office, at all times arduous, and not unfrequently requiring sacrifices to which nothing short of the deepest love of country could have been equal. It is due to justice, and to the feelings of our hearts, to say that the usefulness, the harmony, and the continued existence of the Women's Relief Association, through the long and painful struggle, now happily ended, have been in a large measure owing to the combination of rare gifts, which have been so conspicuous to us all in the guidance of our public meetings, and which have marked not less the more unnoticed, but equally essential, superintendence of the work in private.'"

The Rev. Dr. Bellows, President of the United States Sanitary Commission, thus speaks of Mrs. Stranahan and of the Brooklyn Woman's Relief Association, of which she was the head:

"Knowing Mrs. Stranahan only in her official character, as head of the noble band of women who through the war, by their admirable organization and efficient, patient working, made Brooklyn a shining example for all other cities—I wonder that she should have left so deep a personal impression upon my heart; and that from a dozen interviews confined wholly to one subject, I should have conceived a friendship for her which it commonly takes a life of various intercourse and intimate or familiar relations to establish. And this is the more remarkable, because her directness, clearness of intention, and precision of purpose always kept her confined, in the conversations I held with her, to the special subject on which we met to take counsel. She had so admirably ordered an understanding, was so business-like and clear in her habits of mind, that not a minute was lost with her in beating the bush. With mild determination, and in a gentle distinctness of tone, she laid her views or wishes before me, in a way that never needed any other explanation or enforcement than her simple statement carried with it. In few, precise, and transparent words, she made known her business, or gave her opinion, and wasted not a precious minute in generalities, or on matters aside from our common object. This rendered my official intercourse with her peculiarly satisfactory. She always knew just what she wanted to say, and left no uncertainty as to what she had said; and what she said, had always been so carefully considered, that her wishes were full of reason, and her advice full of persuasion. She seemed to me to unite the greatest discretion with the finest enthusiasm. As earnest, large, and noble in her views of what was due to the National cause, as the most zealous could be, she was yet so practical, judicious, and sober in her judgment, that what she planned, I learned to regard as certain of success. No one could see her presiding with mingled modesty and dignity over one of the meetings of the Women's Relief Association, without admiration for her self-possession, propriety of utterance, and skill in furthering the objects in view. I have always supposed that her wisdom, resolution, and perseverance, had a controlling influence in the glorious success of the Brooklyn Relief Association—the most marked and memorable fellowship of women, united from all sects and orders of Christians, in one practical enterprise, that the world ever saw."

After the disbanding of the Women's Relief Association, Mrs. Stranahan, though retaining her profound interest in the welfare of her country, and her desire for its permanent pacification by such measures as should remove all further causes of discord and strife, returned to the quiet of her home, and except her connection with the Graham Institute, gladly withdrew from any conspicuous or public position. Her health was as we have said impaired somewhat by her assiduous devotion to her duties in connection with the Association, but she made no complaint, and her family did not take the alarm. The spring of 1866 found her so feeble, that it was thought the pure and bracing air of the Green Mountains might prove beneficial in restoring her strength, but her days were numbered. On the 30th of August she died at Manchester, Vermont.

In closing our sketch of this excellent woman, we deem it due to her memory to give the testimony of two clergymen who were well acquainted with her work and character, to her eminent abilities, and her extraordinary worth. Rev. Dr. Farley, says of her:

"When I think of the amount of time, thought, anxious and pains-taking reflection, and active personal attention and effort she gave to this great work; when I recall how for nearly three years, with other weighty cares upon her, and amid failing health, she contrived to give herself so faithfully and devotedly to carrying it on, I am lost in admiration. True, she had for coadjutors a company of noble women, worthy representatives of our great and beautiful city. They represented every phase of our social and religious life; they were distinguished by all the various traits which are the growth of education and habit; they had on many subjects few views or associations in common. In one thing, indeed, they were united—the desire to serve their country in her hour of peril, by ministering to the sufferings of her heroic defenders in the field. Acting on this thought—knowing no personal distinctions where this was the prevailing sentiment—and treating all with the like courtesy—she had yet the nice tact to call into requisition for special emergencies the precise talent which was wanted, and give it its right direction. Now and then—strange if it had not been so—there would be some questioning of her proposed measures, some demur to, or reluctance to accept her suggestions; but among men, the case would be found a rare one, where a presiding officer carried so largely and uniformly, from first to last, the concurrent judgment and approval of his compeers.

"I shall always call her to mind as among the remarkable women whom I have had the good fortune to know. With no especial coveting of notoriety, she was—as one might say—in the course of nature, or rather—as I prefer to say—in the order of the Divine Providence, called to occupy very responsible positions bearing largely on the public weal; and she was not found wanting. Nay, she was found eminently fit. All admitted it. And all find, now that she has been taken to her rest, that they owe her every grateful and honored remembrance."

The Rev. W. J. Budington, D.D., who had known her activity and zeal in the various positions she had been called to fill, pays the following eloquent tribute to her memory:

"I had known Mrs. Stranahan chiefly, in common with the citizens of Brooklyn, as the head of the 'Women's Relief Association,' and thus, as the representative of the patriotism and Christian benevolence of the Ladies of Brooklyn, in that great crisis of our national history which drew forth all that was best in our countrymen and countrywomen, and nowhere more than in our own city. Most naturally—inevitably, I may say—she became the presiding officer of this most useful and efficient Association. Possessed naturally of a strong mind, clear in her perceptions, and logical in her courses of thought, she had, at the outset of the struggle, the most decided convictions of duty, and entered into the work of national conservation with a heartiness and self-devotion, which, in a younger person, would have been called enthusiasm, but which in her case was only the measure of an enlightened Christianity and patriotism. She toiled untiringly, in season and out of season, when others flagged, she supplied the lack by giving more time, and redoubling her exertions; as the war wore wearily on, and disasters came, enfeebling some, and confounding others, she rose to sublimer efforts, and supplied the ranks of the true and faithful who gathered round her, with the proper watchwords and fresh resources. I both admired and wondered at her in this regard; and when success came, crowning the labors and sacrifices of our people, her soul was less filled with mere exultation than with sober thoughtfulness as to what still remained to be done. * * * *

"I regard Mrs. Stranahan as one of the most extraordinary of that galaxy of women, whom the night of our country's sorrow disclosed, and whose light will shine forever in the land they have done their part—I dare not say, how great a part—to save."

We should do gross injustice to this efficient Association, if we neglected to give credit to its other officers, for their faithfulness and persevering energy during the whole period of its existence. Especially should the services of its patient and hard-working Corresponding Secretary, Miss Kate E. Waterbury, be acknowledged. Next to the president, she was its most efficient officer, ever at her post, and performing her duties with a thoroughness and heartiness which called forth the admiration of all who witnessed her zeal and devotion. Miss Perkins, the faithful agent in charge of the depôt of supplies and rooms of the Association, was also a quiet and persevering toiler for the promotion of its great objects.