The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-07-11
GRAND
NATIONAL ENTERTAINMENT,
For the benefit of the
LADIES' SOCIETY
In Aid OF the
Suffering and Destitute Peer Of the South,
Will take place
III Washington, D. c.. August 1, 81.

NNHE Ladies Society i'll aid Of the Suf-
4 fterinG and Destitute Poor OF the south
would respectfully and earnestly call the
attention OF tlc generous Northern public
to the great distress and fearful suffering
now prevailing i'll the Southern States.
Letters are daily received from the South,
from the Generals Commanding, Govern
UIN ministers and eminent citizens, fur
ulshlnS the most heart-rcndinS details Of
the actual want, famine and starvation in
their Immediate ncghborhood. The fol-
lowing few extracts from the very many
letters received by the Secretary and Ma
nagcrs of the Society arc respectfully re-
terrcd 70;
H'DQvArTEHs, iru MILITARY pisr.,
MISSISSIPPI AND ARKANSAS.)
ElCXSTURo, Miss, May 13. 1SG7.
am glad to see that the attention of the
gentle and humane ladies of tic North is
being tUrncd towards the sad and dcsolatc
condition OF this once happy land.
You. Madam. surrounded with the plenty
and comforts OF wealthy city. can scarcely
appreciate the fact that, in many parts of
The South, whole communities arc, by q
failure III crops ana the absence OF money
or is equivalent. left III want Of the ncccs-
sarics OF life; and that poor women, with
large families of helpless children, so ac-
cUstCmcd TO depend on the labor of others,
that now, with no husband. brother or
servant ~ help, and no money. they do not
Know what to do or where to 20 for food:
but are left III the solitudcs OF these South
crn forests, in rags and gaunt with hunger,
subsissing On what tho mother or larger
children can shoot or pick up in the woods.
OF on what the few neighbors, nearly as
poor as they are, can bring them.
Officers of my acquaintance have met
with such mothers, long after dark out in
the woods. with an old gun just fired, and
the coon or possum just killed; have gone
home with them and met the group of little
starveiinSs waiting patiently mother .e-
turn with some Of the only sort of food
they had tasted for weeks; and women and
children have been found within sixty miles
OF the capital Of n Southern State, during
the past year, who had starved TO death III
their lonesome cabins. These cases of
great distress are rare in Southern cities,
for there, even the most delicately bred can
generally lind some work which they can
do to keep the wolf from the door: but the
farms or plantations i'll tic South are pc
cularly secluded, with miles OF forest or
swamp between them, poor roads. and the
stock and animals nearly all taken by the
war, the famine, the floods, or the thieves,
who in such times infest country, and the
distressed families are often by the time
! necessity makes them want 20 leave, too
SICK .ol.ave- vi: foot; .:!ti ti.t - = - o;Lcr
way to so.
Your proposed entertainment, Madam,
shouid il produce only funds enough 20 re-
lieve 4 small fraction OF the dcstitution of
this country will be good beginning, and
may DC followed il other cities North by
similar appeals to people who have happily
never felt the desolation and the horrors
which follow III the tracks Of great armies
| OF invasion. God speed your society III ,he
good work, is the wish Of. Madam, YOURS
;ruly, L. O. c. ORD,
Erevet Ma jOr- General.