To supplement the rations distributed by the Union, the Hazleton miners have a small supply of medicine.  This is as important as food.  The medicine chest was given them by Sister Martha, the ministering angel of the mines.

Martha Densmore was the daughter of Hiram Densmore, who had owned great tracts of the coal lands.  He had been forced out of the industry by refusing to enter the combine which resulted in the formation of the Coal Trust.  At the time of his death, of all his fortune there remained but a small part.  Mrs. Densmore had not survived her husband a year.  Martha was left an orphan.

She has an income of $6000, and could live a life of idleness did she so desire.  But it was her purpose from girlhood to be always on missions of charity.  She had loved Harvey Trueman.  They had been schoolmates, and would undoubtedly have wed had not the wreck of Densmore’s fortune been accomplished just as Trueman was leaving college.  Gorman Purdy had been quick to perceive the calibre of the young man and had brought him into the Paradise Company.  With father and mother dead, and with her heart’s longing unappeased, Martha determined to join a sisterhood, and devote her entire time to ministering to the poor and the sick.

The suffering of the miners of Hazleton attracts her sympathy and she has come to the town from Wilkes-Barre.

It is her presence in the town hall that makes even Sheriff Marlin curb his blasphemous tongue.

Her calm face, which wears an expression of contentment, if not of happiness, is a solace to the miserable men and women who come to ask for medicine.  She always has a word of cheer.

The life she has led for eight years has not aged her, and to judge from her manner she would not be taken for a woman more than thirty.  She is, however, six and thirty; her natal day being in the month of March, the same as Trueman’s.  And they are both the same age.  In the school days they celebrated their birthdays together.

There is not a miner or one of his family who would not give up their life, if such a sacrifice were necessary, to keep Sister Martha from being injured.  They have seen her enter a mine where an explosion had occurred, when even the bravest of the rescuing party hesitated.  They have seen her in their own hovels, bending over the forms of their sick and dying children.  The yellow flag of pestilence never makes her hesitate.

By her practical acts of charity and humanity, she has come to exert a wonderful influence over the humble citizens of Luzerne County.  In this present crisis Sister Martha is the central figure.

In the Armory the Coal and Iron Police are playing cards and enjoying themselves as men always can in comfortable barracks.

So the winter night closes.  The hearths of the miners are cold, their larders empty; but the armory is warm, the police are well fed.

“The Company refused to open the mines.  They will, however, send thirty barrels of flour to be distributed for Christmas.”  This is the message returned by Trueman, on Sunday morning.