Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-08-30
A WAR "REMINISCENCES.
What a woman who Was n
Thorough Rebel During the
War Had 10 Say TO "A
Newspaper COrre-
spOndent.


conversation with a southern postmas-
ter's wife:
The squire rose to go over and unlock
the pOstof6ce to an impatient inquirer
for This mail" Its a great mistake
he said, pausing in a leisurely way, ito
think hat gold is a paying crop to
raise, anyway. 1t takes about three
dollars in money to get up one dollars
worth of gold an two dollars to get
one in silver. When you ZONE to
copper you're about even; an when
you find iron, then you've struck ii
rich?"
Corn and wheat's about the best
job we've undertook here" the
'squire's wife said sedately.
They tell me that the women do a
great deal Of farm work about here
| remarked.
well, 1 kin tell you what 1 done
durin' war times" she answered,
Me an the women-we run forty
acres an raised a crop while the men
was gone to the front. An heaps O
women-folks has to do what is done
roun' their place. The men may be
aiming an earning eighty cents a
day; or they may not be good for any
thing; or, in some places, the mems
started goin' to school an gettin' edu-
cation, SOS they're too busy to stil
roun' home much; and there amt
many a woman in this country that
don't have to follow the pillow some
spells to git a little cOrnmeal in the
house"
did you ever pillow, Mrs. W-?'
[ asked in surprise. She laughed.
Not much. But the last year Of
the war l had to do many a thing
never done before. You see, Mr..
W, he hadn't never gone to the
war, bein' a magistrate and keepin'
the postofice an all. Bnt the time
had come when every man was needed,
and it was to go into the home guards
or to the front. He want long in
choosin' between goin' to the front in
honor, and hangin' round home with
those rascals who made a business O.
plunderin' and KILN instid O. de-
fendin'. The day he left for Atlanta
| shut up the store and the postofice,
an sent the mail bags over to Dab
lonega, for | hadn't any right to keep
EN-; and then | went down to the
fields. Men nor boys were to be had.
But | had one negro boy on the place
who couldn't be hired to leave me.
| sent word to the women to meet me.
They come, an l made 'em a talk, an
asked 'cm what they'd take to see me
through. Thar was no tellin' what
we'd do for food if we didn't raise the
crops. They said if I'd just keep 'em
in corn, tobacco and rice, they'd work
as long as I'd furnish %rations."
Tobacco"
80 be surel Some Of 'em wanted
it for their own use and some of EN-
for their soldiers. They had to have
meal and rice for their children. So
| puts my negro boy into a wagon, an
gave him the money, an sent him of
for the provisions. Some folk laughed
an said I'd never see mules nor boy
nor wagon nor money again; but |
knowed my man, and it wasn't a week
before he got back from Atlanta with
his wagon load, and all hands was
hard at work. The corn had had one
hoein', but it was all to pillow and lay
by, an with the other crops we had
our hands iull. Sometimes I'd stay
in the field all day; sometimes I'd
just send down the rations an say ]
wouldn't come that morning; and
just when they didn't know when to
expect me, I'd drop down on EN-.
That's the way | kept EN- to theil
work. They never did know when to
look for me.
Along hat time a party O. Yankee
soldies deserted at Dalton an come
through. They come to me to oper
the store an let 'em git some tobacco
Help yourselves said |, an | pointed
'em to a box that was just opened
They swarmed around It, when one O.
'em says; 1t are in all the rest, an
let's see If it's all alike Another
fellow says: Joe, you kin see its al
alike, by the marks on the boxes
what makes you do so, when tn,
lady's so polite as to tell you to hell
yourself2' Then the first one com,
up to me and began to act very rude
Scared? We'll, | had picked up al
the courage that | had to stand what
ever should come; so | stood still anC
looked him in tho eye, an said ]
I've gone through all the war up t
this minute says |, an you are tn,
first man that has offered to insul
mel An then the others took hin
IN lust carried him to his horse; the,
never lei him speak another word, Blu
rode away, all OF EN-; an the HON,
guards met 'em half way to nahlo
mega an killed some Of EN-, poo
chaps!'
But how did your crop turn out?'
well, l raised one hundred an(
thirty gallons of sorghum to begiI
with; an seventy-fye bushels o
wheat, an some eight hundred bush
els of corn; an when my husband 60
back, an the war was over, that homI
guard run a wagon into the corn-feld
an stacked their guns, an went t,
loading up with our corn, throwing
it to the mules, an wastin' it, as the,
went. | never seen him so mad il
all my life. He was ready to fight
dozen; they couldn't scare him. II
got down there, an he stood betwix
them an their guns, an he had a gun
in his own hands. IF you don't gi
out O. this I'll shoot you into ribbons.
he said. L wouldn't mind it so mucl
if I'd raised the crop, but the womeI
harvested this crop, an it's somethin
too good for you to steal Not will
| live you don't cit a grain of I'd