The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-03-23
Familiar "reminiscences of Confederate
Times,

The following picture of life in the
South during the war will be painfully
familiar to thousands of our readers;
In the last days of the Confederacy a
yard of calico brought forty dollars in
Confederate currency, spool of sewing
cotton twenty dollars, and other dry
goods were proportionately dear. Flour
rose to twelve hundred dollars 4 barrel ;
ham of bacon cost q hundred and fifty
dollars; sugar was seventy-ive dollars 9
pound, and black pepper three hundred
dollars. *:* Every household be-
came nest of domestic manufacturers,
every farm had its cotton patch and its
sorghum field. Spinning wheels and
looms, which in former days had been
used for clothing the slaves on large plan
tations, but which, during the era of
cheap dry goods were comparatively idle,
were again set going. Ladies whose
white hands were all unused to such la
Dor learned to card, to spin, and to weave.
Knitting became as fashionable in South
ern gparlors as it is in German homes.
Homespun dresses were worn by the first
ladies in the land, and she who was clev-
crest to contrive and deftest to execute
had highest praise from m'her associates.
Foreign dyes we're well-nigh uuattaina-
BILE, and the woods at home were ran
sacked for the means of coloring, the
homegrown fax, wool and cotton
Black walnut bark furnished a rich
brown, varying in intensity with the
strength of the dye; swamp maple, a
clear purple; pokeberries, solferino,
bright but not durable; wild indigo gave
tolerable blue, and elderberries an un-
satisfactory black. Indeed, no expert
ment with bark, root, leaf, or berry ever
resulted in any substitute for logwood !;
and as black was the dye most needed
for Southern garments in those dark
days, the blockade-runners learned to
make it part oftheir regular cargo. n
= = Coffee was a luxury seldom en-
joyed, and for which rye.or wheat, toast
ed and ground, was the usual miserable
substitute. Some quick-witted person
conceived the idea of using sweet potato
chips instead. These made more pail
atabIe drink, but were, after all, only q
hollow mockery. Dried raspberry leaves
we're used for tea, and some people fell
back upon sassafras, the North Carolina
beverage, grimly assuring those who
scorned it that it was good for the blood
and would save doctors bills. Not q
few eschewed all these transparent de-
ceptions- that may be called decep-
ton which deceived nobody-and when
unable to afford milk, drank cold water
with patient heroism. In view
of the scarcity of breadstuffs, the use of
edible grains in the manufacture of spir-
ituous liquors was forbidden, under heavy
penalties of fine and Imprisonment, in
addition to the con6scation of such
liquors and the implements used in their
distillation. Fruit brandies, apple,
peach, and blackberry, and the rum dis
titled from the juice of the sorghum cane,
became almost the sole intoxicating bev-
erages Of the Confederacy. These
brought high prices, and much of the
fruit crop was converted into brandy
From this. also. the alcohol for medicinal
purposes was distilled. The wine of the
scuppernong and of the common wild
grape was also extensively manufactured.
4 \ A volume might be written on
the ingenious contrivances of the ladies
to replenish their wardrobes. Home
spun dresses were among the least CT
these. They made everything they wore,
from hats to shoes, and some of the work
was exquisitely done. Such articles as
were beyond their skill-and they we're
few-were substituted some way or an
other. Large thorns, with heads tipped
with sealing wax, did duty as hairpins.
Common brass pins, imported from
Nassau, sold near the close of the war for
$40 a paper, and needles and thread were
used instead whenever such use was prac-
ticable. Economy was an obligatory vir-
tue in those days, and nothing was wasted
which could possibly. be turned to &C.
count.