Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-09-25

Its Domestic PhRse-How Our wives
and Daughters Lived and Dressed
Richmond fa Is64.5-PersoaaI Re
collections of One Of Them-A Hero
ine I'm Che surrender.
During part Of the war lived imlne-
diately on the Rapidan river, in that rural
and picturesque portion of Virginia desig-
| mated Piedmont. Nowhere has nature
done more to beautify, and art less than
here. The river, though 3 small stream at
some points, in winter sEeliE TO a blood
red, rapidly-rolIing food, to which all the
mountain torrents contribute. The Blue
| Ridge oyershadoEs the rolling landscape.
/ determined to leave the farm in charge
of the overseer, and thus TO rid myself Of
the perpetual care, terror and suspense in
cidental to that section. So gave him
the keys, and with one of the very best of
good servants, ref1ged" to Richmond-
that grand central point TO which all ter
rifed or home-bereit women and children
turned q beehive swarmiRg and teerning
and o*srrun with workers and dfcnes I'll
the honey was all exhausted, and nothing
left but the bitter comb, and that, after
little, put to the highest bidder.
1t was fashionable" for the sake of
economy, to "room-keep'-that is for an
individual or party to rent room or more,
and to find marketing for themselves, to
live as best they could-and that meant on
half rations. l knew a lady and three
children in one room, who had always pre-
Tiously moved at the head of society, who
assured me that she had not tasted meat
for eight weeks. Her fne house and grounds
in Fredericksburg were destroyed, and she
fed in the night, amid the shell and cannon
balls, for her life
was fortunate enough to get two COM
Portable rooms and with little iron fixture
before the CRATE, Judy cooked many NOR
sci Of sweet food. l was more fortunate
than most of my neighbors, inasmuch as 1
could get from home occasionally box of
hams, fowls, hominy, meal and potatoes
and do not let me leave out the sorghum
molasses made on the farm, and which /
still prefer to sugar-house syrup. Surely
God put into the hearts of the people to
make this very useful article just before the
war, as it became the staple, and believe
in hundreds Of cases but for it starvation
would have ensued.
Our house in Richmond was large one,
and the thirty occupants lived pretty much
by housekeeping, though there was board
in the central part for transient or perma-
nent dodgers.
There had been such a change in Rich
mond, made by influx of strangers from
every section of the Confederacy, and the
exigencies of the times, that it was scarcely
recognizable. Social equity was ia measn
ure inverted, and law and order went to the
wall. Women, delicate, sensitive and re-
fined, had to assume mems duties, and in
every public department held places of
high official importance, with salaries
ranging from six TO twelve hundred dollars
and upwards a month, all struggling not
for wealth to hoard, but for bread to keep
the body alive.
When four years of wear and tear have
exhausted lady's wardrobe, with no goods
in the country except a few, running at
long intervals the blockade, and at prices
too exorbitant, what can a woman do who
has the wish, the laudable wish, to look
well through everything, without the
material fer its fulfiilment? Well, take
two dresses of different material and color
one minus skirt, the other body--in-
sert quarter of yard of one into the
skirt of the other, make pufings of the
lighter color at the top of the sleeve, and
of the darker form the tight fitting part,
and notice the effect This we did, and
though mingled and mottled, it was still
picturesque.
Women's bonnets will wear out; and as
hats were more easily got, hats became the
style. Every woman learned to plait straw,
and to make her own hat, which she decked
with rich plume from some old stock, or
with guinea fowls bright wing.
Shoes we learned to manufacture, and
every rag bag was brought into requisition
TO furnish thick poplin pieces or lasting,
Stockings we knit, gloves we made-in
which art | myself became so expert that
1 could easily get thirty dollars for each
pair l could furnish the merchants.
Crinoline was harder to substitute but
we got all right there, for the old steel
bands we could cover with strips of cotton
cloth, and reshape and hang together with
cord. Nothing was lost.
The greatest tax upon us was the clothing
for the servants, which was sometimes sup
piled by cutting up counterpanes and
blankets. Shoes with wooden soles were
found to answer.
Invention was the order of the day, and
Confederate puddings and pastries, with
sorghum molasses personating white sugar,
were pronounced delicious.
Coffee made from everything under the
sun, from acorns to rye, gave zest to trade
and emulation to speculators-who dealt
in ''pure coffee mixed with rye"
Rye coffee is good substitute when war
and blockade shut out every available re-
source. l have made and drank it on a
efr
l enjoyed it with a relish, and thanked
God for ii.
Itwas a curious sight in those days to
look into drug store, and in place Of the
usual paraphernalia of bottles, to see a
secondhand bridal dress of white satin,
stretched at full length in the showcase,
with label bearing, "For sale, $4,000"
In the windows of extensive auction
houses, whose business had been brisk in
other days, dresses now hung, mingled with
all articles Of lady's secondhand ward
robe. l deposited dress; white counter
pane, and one hundred and fifty old novels,
in one Of these houses for sale.
Books were in great demand and an in
teresting novel would sell for from Sl2 to
S25.
Servants perambulated the streets with
immense baskets holding ladies and
childrens' clothing, sold to buy bread for
houseIess refugees. Refugees from New
Orleans, Memphis, etc, who had hand
some wardrobes, but no bread, far from
home, with their husbands fathers and
brothers fighting disposed Of every super
fuous article of elegant wear, and learned
TO weave and wear " Virginia cloth" This
was almost put a stop to at last by the want
of cotton, but after a certain crisis 1t was
more readily obtained, and accordingly the
looms which had been silent since the
times of our grandparents, once more gave
them cheerful bang-bangs about the house
hold of many thrifty wife and speedily
clothed the fair bellies, used to nothing
/ coarser than silk and fine wool.
knew a lovely young woman, married
for six months orly, who received a letter
from her husband ain the trenches" tell
| ing her that he would behome on certain
day to stay twenty-four hours. She got up
a little gala for him, and each neighbor
furnished from some boarded store few
grains of real coffee; one sent her sugar
dish of real sugar. She fixed the little
parlor; had everything arranged the
sugar ostentatiously displayed in the silver
sugsr bowl, when 10 in her hand was
| u,lacad a letter aayinp How RrleVed