The story of my life ; or, The sunshine and shadow of seventy years / by Mary A. Livermore ... with hitherto unrecorded incidents and recollections of three years' experience as an army nurse in the great Civil War, and reminiscences of twenty-five years' experiences on the lecture platform ... to which is added six of her most popular lectures ... with portraits and one hundred and twenty engravings from designs by eminent artists ...

THE BATTLE OF' LIFE* 8

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ments for the public welfare, but at her death left nearly
one hundred and fifty volumes on the shelves of the booksellers, every one of which she had written to help the
world, and through every one of which there runs a high
moral purpose.
During the late Civil War, a man did not become a soldier of the United States army by simply entering his name
in the book of the recruiting office. That only signified his
willingness to serve his country Ile was then conducted to
the office of the examining surgeon, where he passed througrh
a most rigorous inspection. If he was defective in vision, had
lost front teeth and could not bite off the end of a cartridge,
a righft thumb and could not cover the vent-hole of a cannon,
if he was color-blind, and could not distinguish the colors of
flags, uniforms, and signal lights; if his heart was weak, or
his lungs lacked soundness, that he could not keep up on
the march; -if, indeed, there was any discoverable unhealth
in his physical organization, he was rejected by the inspecting officer, and could not don the blue of the Union Army
Only those whose physiques showed health, and promised a
continuity of physical force, were mustered into the service.
For the warfare was to be severe and protracted, and would
tax the strongest and most enduring. But of the countless
host who are drafted into the battle of life, from which
there is no discharge -until death, fully one-half are badly
equipped for the struggle by the shabby bodies into which
they are born. And for that, we must ever remember, they
are not to blame.
The fact that we are obliged to provide for our physical
needs, and for those who are dependent on us, makes of