United States Christian Commission.

THIRD REPORT

OF THE

Committee of Maryland.

BEHOLD I COME QUICKLY

AND MY REWARD IS WITH ME

"When he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him."-Luke x: 33, 34.

"I was a hungered and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger and ye took me in: I was naked and ye clothed me:

I was sick and ye visited me: I was in prison and ye came unto me."

-Matt. xxv: 35, 36.

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me."-Matt. xxv: 40.

BALTIMORE:

PRINTED BY JAMES YOUNG,

114 WEST BALTIMORE STREET.

1864.

UNITED STATES

CHRISTIAN COMMISSION.

COMMITTEE OF MARYLAND.

G. S. GRIFFITH, CHAIRMAN. GEO. P. HAYS, TREASURER.

To the Friends of Suffering Humanity.

As a kind of preface to their report the Maryland Committee of the United States Christian Commission present an appeal to the friends of their cause, all of whom are the friends of humanity, to lend a helping hand to the great work which engages and engrosses their attention and their services. There was a time when there was less demand upon their labor and means, then less supplies were sufficient. But now the field has largely increased in the progress of war by the terrific results of which hundreds of thousands of men have been killed and disabled, and hundreds of thousands of families afflicted, many of them impoverished and thrown upon the charities, not of a cold and inconsiderate world, but of a Christian public for assistance in their support.

Still the demand comes in upon us from the battle-fields and the hospitals which they have caused to be erected. Fresh arrivals of the wounded and the sick are announced every day, and more extended hospital area and provision are rendered an absolute necessity.

To afford relief to all the sufferers is an impossibility. To perform the service as far as we have ability is a duty. Such is our design. Not a thrill of pain, nor a sigh of sorrow that we have the opportunity and the means of relieving, or of mitigating, must be allowed to remain uncared for, or without the effort to assuage. In proportion to the opportunities and means afforded us, will this work be accomplished? In order to accomplish it, the services of delegates, money and stores must be furnished. No delegate should be prevented from visiting the field and the hospital who is willing to devote his time and labors to the duty. To enable us to send the delegates to the scenes of their service, the money and the stores must be supplied, and it is the duty of every man and woman and child who has the money,

or who can provide the stores, to contribute to the supplies however large or however small may be the opportunities and abilities of the contributor.

Let not the contribution be withheld because it is small. The man or the woman who has the large means, may appropriate of the abundance into this treasury of humanity and religion. The man or the woman who has the small means may appropriate the same according to the ability, not withholding it on account of any supposed insignificance. in the estimate of its worth. The widow or the child may cast the mite into this treasury, in the certainty that it will perform the full measure of its service. The treasury of humanity and religion thus opened is God's treasury and the mite of the widow or the child may receive God's blessing, and thus blessed it may accomplish more than the larger and apparently more important gifts of the wealthy and the distinguished.

It is hardly necessary for the Committee to direct attention to its locality near the field of service. The slaughter that supplies us with the suffering subjects of our ministration, is accomplished in our vicinity. The annihilation of but little of the space between us and the battle-fields, would render the thunder of battle terrific in our hearing. The groans of the sufferers reach us. They may be heard in the hospitals of the district. We have heard them. We have witnessed the writhings, and we have heard the moanings of the sufferers. We would have closed our eyes and ears, and we would have retreated from the scene. But we dared not. We could not. Religion, conscience, humanity, morality, all forbad it. We were obliged by the moral necessity that bound us to hold our position by the mangled body of our unfortunate fellow-being and to assist in relieving him from the peril in which his misfortune had placed him. Nor did we wait to inquire whether the afflicted one was a friend or a foe, a Union soldier or a rebel. He was hurt. He was in pain. He was in peril. He was a sufferer; that was sufficient. We lifted him from the place of his suffering and bore him to a place of safety and comfort. We administered the oil and the wine, and did all that was possible to relieve him, and to save him.