The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-08-09
soUrHERN FIRE INSURANCE
q x.- 80 Al
laiGIRLs AND CANNON
From Applcton's Journal, July %.

mot In such plight as he went forth,
Returned Lord Marmion home again !"
The Confederacy approached its end
But, palpable as that fact must have
been, it was hidden from the cloudet
sight of MANY of the dwellers i'm thay
"dream within a dream" i, for m
part-I was still mere child Of seven
teen. yeaxs, or SO -ielt my heart throb
and my bosom swell with Indignant
denial, if hint was whispered that it,
existence was not as staple as the ever.
lasting hills. And this in the begin
ming OF April, 1861 Even If I knew
better before May.
Ahi with the, remembrance of those
days, how the tide of time flows back
with me-''the forward flowing tide OF
Itime''--and carries me on its receding
wave into the old feverish excitement
that breathed in every breath, and
spoke in every word and look / hear
again and again, as If in a dream, the
name4almost forgotten now, but then
familiar as household words, of Con
federates and Feierals, of battl IS and
skirmishes, defeat and victory, hope
from France, disappointment from
England, the quaircls of the cabinet,
-
The town in Carolina where | had
taken refuge, after my own home was
destroyed, lay upon what was supposed
would be the line of Sherman's march.
He passed south of US, rs it turned out,
but we suffered all the thousand deaths
of anticipation, though, from him at
least, we never suffered at all, i'm real
ity. Our household would have been
an admirable working ground for
Lady Psyche and Lady Bianche.n -
We saw no men, not even my brother,
nor the numerous kim claiming soldiers
that, in the earlier part of the rebel
lion, had made ofwar only gay, de-
lightfnl change from the commonplace
comforts OF plantation-life. My god
mother presided over the woman
kingdom, and her subjects, though
few, were loyal. Mrs.. General p,
refugee, with her two daughters and
myself, comprised them.
NOneo Of us were particularly timid,
and il was well that we were not-our
unprotected condition not being cal
culated to strengthen weak nerves; but
the news that reached us daily, as the
wave of Sherman's army came rolling
inland from the sea, appalled, us. We
were told how, night after night, along
the line of that wonderful march, the
sky was red with the light of bul ming
villages; how all day long it was
darkened by the smoke ascending
from the ruins. Fearful tales of the
tragedies witnessed by the wall of
solitary houses, hideous visions of the
agonies and death Of defenceless wo-
men, filed the air about us, until the
horror Of 1t tainted the very breath we
drew, and mingled bitterness with the
bread -aud-water of our fasting.
We did not sleep much I'm those days.
We made pretence of retiring, of
course /; and babe each other sgood-
night And then would each haunt
the rooms Of the others until daylight
gave us some sense of security again |;
all the long night there was a flavor of
white muslin fitting through the
shadows; glimpses of ghostIy figures
leaning intent near the windows; sud-
den voices whispering beside the pill
lows: "Don you think the sky looks
strangely bright toward the south ?"
"Didn't you hear an odd, unusual
sound just now?" THAT long, low
rumble, surely it must be cauaen.n
A1Q ulen, tretupifuS anu listening,
we would find ourselves mis:aken-or,
at least, unceriaia--and creep back to
beds, to be startled -ffom them again
in an hour. We had lived In this state
of anxiety ever since the fall of Fort
McAllister, in December; and The con-
stant terror of what might be-the
mightest terror Of all-badi not fitted
US, perhaps, to be calm judges of pro-
liabilities, when the news We had been
expecting came one dreadful morning
in reality, toward the latter part of
March. 81 H'-J --
The day dawned cloudy and cold.
And, shivering with a chiliness that
seemed rather to come from the heart
outward, we assembled round the
breakfast-table in heavy silerce. Re.
fore We sat down we had heard the
news-discussed it-sickened over it /;
there seemed nothing more worth say
ing in this world. We had read tie
morning paper-the pathetic, courage
ou-, half-printed, poor little brown
sheet-which exhorled everybody to