HARNED/WHITMAN Manuscripts Prose Ou Emerson (L.C. 59) Box 1 Folder 37The United States Christian Commission Was organized by the Young Men's Christian Associations, for the purpose of promoting the spiritual and temporal welfare of the Army and Navy of our County. It sends its delegates as volunteers to battle-fields, to aid in the care of the wounded on the ground, and in removing them to hospitals, to aid chaplains where needed, and to act as chaplains in such hospitals and places as have been supplied by the Government, and to camps of our soldiers in the service. The stores sent to the Christian Commission, if specially designed for any particular person, or regiment, or hospital, are faithfully sent, without charge, to those for whom they are intended. If sent for distribution where most needed, they are distributed by our own agents or delegates in person. The demand upon us is daily increasing, and stores of all sorts are urgently needed, especially such as are designated herein. But of all donations, MONEY IS THE BEST. We can purchase with it the right things at the right times, and can purchase at greatly reduced prices. The vast numbers now in the service, and entering it, and the thousands of sick and wounded in the hospitals call loudly upon the people for help, whilst the eagerness of their friends to send help is as great as theirs to receive it. Already more than seven hundred boxes and barrels of books and stores have been sent to our men, and over one hundred gentlemen of the highest respectability have gone as volunteers to distribute them, and to give sympathy, instructions, and prayers therewith. The Commission will endeavor to distribute everything committed to them by everybody, in any and every part of the field, in accordance with the purpose of its organization, accompanying each distribution with the consolations of the Gospel. The following instructions will aid friends of our soldiers and sailors in deciding what to send, and how to pack, and how to direct what they send: I. AS TO WHAT TO SEND - MONEY IS BEST OF ALL. It is injudicious to spend money or labor for trifling articles. Clothing is greatly needed, such as cotton shirts, woollen shirts, woollen socks, Canton flannel drawers, woollen drawers, surgical shirts of the same pattern, but tied with tapes down the sides and sleeves, instead of being sewed; cotton drawers large enough to serve as pants in-doors, dressing gowns, slippers, sheets and pillow cases, bandages of muslin, four to six yards long, and three or four inches wide, rolled up, each by itself, but not fastened; lint, picked, not scraped, wash-rags, handkerchiefs, and small hair and feather pads for fractured limbs. OF STORES - oatmeal, farina, corn-starch, dried rusks, soda biscuits, jellies, fresh fruits, dried fruits, lemons, white sugar, brandy, wine, bottled ale and porter, beef tea in cakes, canned meats for soup, good black tea, cranberries, pickles in kegs, good fresh butter in small stone jars, barrels of onions and apples, and tin cups: all these are always wanted. TO AID THE SOLDIERS IN CORRESPONDENCE, - paper, envelopes, and pencils. OF READING MATTER for convalescents, a library is a valuable hygienie appliance, and for the able-bodied, good publications are mental and spiritual food. For convalescents, lively, interesting books, the monthlies, the pictorials, the works of science and literature, as well as those for moral and spiritual culture, - such as you would put into the hands of a brother after severe illness, are such as are wanted; and for the well, also, good interesting books, tracts, and papers. Those designed specially for the soldier and sailor are the best, but send no trash. Our noble men love and deserve those that are fresh and the best. To suspend in the hospital, The Silent Comforter, Green Pastures, and Choice Hymns are excellent. II. AS TO PACKING. - Never pack perishable articles like eggs, sausage, break or cakes, nor jars of jellies and jams, with other goods. Never send perishable articles unless specially called for, to supply some place to which they can be immediately sent. Pack eatables by themselves in separate boxes. Tin cans should be always soldered; all other modes are worthless for the army. Stone jars of jellies should be corked and firmly bound with oiled lien or leather over the cork, and packed in sawdust or hay, in boxes very tight, never exceeding a dozen and a half bottles in a box, and nailed strongly, to bear tipping. Boxes should be not so large that two cannot conveniently lift them into a wagon. III. AS TO THE DIRECTIONS. - Mark: "GEORGE H. STUART, President Christian Commission, 13 BANK STREET. PHILADELPHIA." Mark, also: From --------------------------- [giving place and donor's or Society's name.] No. 1, 2, 3, &e. [numbering on from the first sent to the last.] Mark legibly with ink or paint on the boards (cards rub off). Send, by mail, an invoice, on paper about this size, and written only on one side, specifying the articles, and the marks and numbers of each package, and giving the Post Office address in full to which acknowledgements are to be sent. WRITE PLAIN; give the signature in plain hand, so that it can be read without mistake. If the writer is a man, mention whether or not he is a minister, and if a lady, state whether Miss or Mrs. Besides the invoices sent by mail to Philadelphia, let the donor put in the box, under the lid, in an envelope addressed to himself and stamped, a copy, on which the delegate, opening the box in camp, can indorse an acknowledgement and the regiment or hospital to which it is given, and mail to the donor. Send all Moneys to JOSEPH E. PATTERSON, Esq., Treasurer, Western Bank.of Emerson his quality, his meaning has the quality of the light of day, which startles nobody you cannot put your finger upon it yet there is nothing more palpable nothing more wonderful, nothing more vital and refreshing. There are some things in the expression of this philosophy this poet that are full mates of the best, the perennial masters & will so stand in fame the Centuries & America in the future. While in her own long train of poets & writers while knowing more vehement & [luxuriant?] ones will I think be nearer the actual beginning of the whole procession acknowledge nothing than this man & certainly nothing purer clearer sweeter more canny nor, after all, more thoroughly her own & native. The most exquisite taste & caution are in him always saving him feet from passing beyond the limits: for he is transcendental of [??] [??] you see underneath all the rest a secret proclivity to American nature[?] here may be to dare & violate & make escapades. 261