accepted at once, studying at night in order to fit herself for the position, and when but twenty years of age she had taught two years as a governess on a Virginia plantation and had returned to the family with the sum of six hundred dollars. At this time she was asked to take charge of the Duxbury High School, which she did. Her sister had died and the family were in great sorrow. Their minister at this time was Rev. D. P. Livermore who became interested in her reading and mental advancement and soon became fascinated with her personality, and when she was twenty-three they were married.
She became his assistant in the editing of the New Covenant, a religious paper published in Chicago, where they made their home. They had three children. In 1861 when the war broke out and the slavery question was one which everyone was discussing, Mrs. Livermore was deeply affected by the evidence of the case. She was in Boston when Mr. Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand men was responded to and she was so affected by the hardships which she knew were facing them and the agony and distress of the women left at home, that she felt it her duty to see if there was not some work that she and the women of this country could do to help in this dreadful struggle. A meeting for women was called in New York City, which resulted in the formation of an aid society, which was to send assistance to the soldiers and their families. They sent a delegate to Washington to inquire if there was not some work which the government would let the women undertake, but they were told they were not wanted. This only added fuel to the flame of their desire to undertake what they knew would be needed of the women, and soon the United States Sanitary Commission was organized for working in hospitals, looking after camps, and providing comfort for the soldiers. Branches were formed in ten large cities. The northwestern branch was put under the direction of Mrs. Livermore and Mrs. A. H. Hoge. Supplies began to come in to these loyal women from all parts of the country, and Mrs. Livermore was sent to Washington to talk with President Lincoln about the work, and while he told her that "by law" no civilian, either man or woman, would be allowed to act officially, personally he was in favor of anything which would help the women to do their duty to their country. Mrs. Livermore's first work was after the battle of Fort Donelson. There were no hospitals. The poor wounded and sick had to be hauled in the rough Tennessee wagons, many dying before they reached St Louis. At the rear of the battlefields the sanitary commission took up its work. They kept the men supplied with hot coffee and soup; they furnished supplies for the sick; they helped care for those in the hospitals, nursing and working personally among them and many a poor fellow closed his eyes in death in Mrs. Livermore's arms. This commission expended about fifty million dollars, and the women raised the largest proportion of this. It is said each battle cost the commission about seventy-five thousand, and the battle of Gettysburg, one half million. Mrs. Livermore when not on the field, went about the country making appeals to the people for money and supplies to be sent to their own boys at the front. At one time the need of money was so great that Mrs. Livermore decided to have a fair in Chicago. This was one of the famous charitable efforts during the war. Fourteen of Chicago's largest halls were hired, and the women assumed an indebtedness of ten thousand dollars. The
