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Here, to their surprise, they found no doctors; for all the patriots of that profession had gone to the army, and the Tory physicians had departed to the British lines. But, as has been said before, the women in the early days of New Jersey were often obliged to be physicians; and among the good housewives of Burlington, who knew all about herb teas, homemade plasters, and potions, Mrs. Morris held a high position. The sick Continentals were told that she was just as good as a doctor, and, besides, was a very kind woman, always ready to help the sick and suffering.

So some of the sick soldiers came to her; and from what Mrs. Morris wrote, one or two of them must have been the same men who had previously come to her house and threatened the life of her boy, who had been looking at them with a spyglass. But now they very meekly and humbly asked her to come and attend their poor comrades who were unable to move. At first Mrs. Morris thought this was some sort of a trick, and that they wanted to get her on board of one of the gunboats, and carry her away. But when she found that the sick people were in a house in the town, she consented to go and do what she could. So she took her bottles with her, and her boxes and her herbs, and visited the sick people, several of whom she found were women.

They were all afflicted with some sort of a fever, probably of a malarial kind, contracted from living day and night on board of boats without proper protection; and, knowing just what to do in such cases, she, to use her own expression, “treated them according to art,” and it was not long before they all recovered.

What happened in consequence of this hospital work for those whom she considered her enemies, is thus related by Mrs. Morris:–

“I thought I had received all my pay when they thankfully
acknowledged all my kindness, but lo! in a short time
afterwards, a very rough, ill-looking man came to the door
and asked for me. When I went to him, he drew me aside and
asked me if I had any friends in Philadelphia. The question
alarmed me, supposing that there was some mischief meditated
against that poor city; however, I calmly said, ‘I have an
ancient father-in-law, some sisters, and other near friends
there.’ ‘Well,’ said the man, ‘do you wish to hear from
them, or send anything by way of refreshment to them?
If you do, I will take charge of it and bring you back
anything you may send for.’ I was very much surprised,
to be sure, and thought he only wanted to get provisions
to take to the gondolas, when he told me his wife was
one I had given medicine to, and this was the only
thing he could do to pay me for my kindness. My heart
leaped for joy, and I set about preparing something
for my dear absent friends. A quarter of beef, some
veal, fowls, and flour, were soon put up, and about
midnight the man came and took them away in his boat.”

Mrs. Morris was not mistaken in trusting to the good intentions of this grateful Continental soldier, for, as she says, two nights later there came a loud knocking at the door:–

“Opening the chamber window, we heard a man’s voice
saying, ‘Come down softly and open the door, but bring
no light.’ There was something mysterious in such a
call, and we concluded to go down and set the candle
in the kitchen. When we got to the front door we asked,
‘Who are you?’ The man replied, ‘A friend; open quickly:’
so the door was opened, and who should it be but our honest
gondola man with a letter, a bushel of salt, a jug of
molasses, a bag of rice, some tea, coffee, and sugar,
and some cloth for a coat for my poor boys–all sent
by my kind sisters. How did our hearts and eyes
overflow with love to them and thanks to our Heavenly
Father for such seasonable supplies. May we never
forget it. Being now so rich, we thought it our duty
to hand out a little to the poor around us, who were
mourning for want of salt, so we divided the bushel
and gave a pint to every poor person who came for it,
and had a great plenty for our own use.”

As the war drew to its close and it became plain to every one that the cause of the patriots must triumph, the feeling between the two parties of Americans became less bitter; and the Tories, in many cases, saw that it would be wise for them to accept the situation, and become loyal citizens of the United States of America, as before they had been loyal subjects of Great Britain.

When peace was at last proclaimed, those Tories who were prisoners were released, and almost all of them who had owned farms or estates had them returned to them, and Mrs. Morris could visit her “ancient father-in-law” and her sisters in Philadelphia, or they could come up the river and visit her in her house on the beautiful Green Bank at Burlington, without fear or thought of those fellow-countrymen who had been their bitter enemies.