THE PERFECT WIFE. The men who were wounded were carried to her, and she dressed their injuries, manyof them danger- ous, with a tender and skilful hand. " Standing at her chamber door," when the men of the garrison had been attended to, she saw three prisoners, " sorely cut," being borne to a wretched dungeon called the Lion's Den ; and filled with pity, she bound up and dressed their wounds also. A certain Captain Palmer, a warlike preacher, who, the moment before, had been amusing himself by insulting and beating prisoners as they came in, stepped up to her as she was occupied in this . office of Samaritan charity, and indignantly declared that " his soul abhorred to see this favour to the enemies of God." To which she simply replied, ", I have done nothing but my duty. These are our enemies, but they are also our fellow-creatures. Am I to be upbraided for these poor humanities." He was also shocked by Colonel Hutchinson's invitation to some of the prisoners to sup with him, and could " scarce eat his own supper for grief to see the wicked thus countenanced." For five days the resolute little garrison held out; and at the end of that time, the approach of a relief compelled the enemy to make a precipitate and somewhat undignified retreat. The good services of Colonel Hutchinson were soon formally acknow- ledged by the Parliament, in a ratification of the appointment of the local Committee, making him Governor of the town as well as of the Castle of 37
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