The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1880-08-19
STORY OF A SKELETON SKIRT.

STORY OF A SKELETON SKIRT.
was In the civil service at Richmond.
Enough that was there, and on honest
business. That business done, I pre-
pared to return home. And thereby
hangs this tale, and. as it proved, the
fate of the Confederacy.
For, of course. wanted to take pres
ents home to my family. Very little
question was there what these presents
should be-for I had no boys or broth
ers. The women of the Confederacy
had one waat which overtopped all 9TH
ers.. They could make coffee out Of
beans; pins they had from Columbus !;
straw hats they braided quite well with
their own fair hands snuff we could
get better than you could In "the old
concern" We had no hoop-skirts-
skeletons. we used to call them. No IN
genuity had made them. No bounties
had forced them. The Bat, the Gray
hound, the Deer. the Flora, the J. O.
Cobb, the Varuna, and the Fore-and-Aft
all took in cargoes of them for us In En-
. gland. But the Bat, and the Deer, and
the Flora were seized by the blockaders,
the J. O. Cobb sunk at sea, the Fore
and-Aft and the Greyhound were set
fire to by their own crews, and the Va
runa was never heard of Then the
State of Arkansas offered sixteen town.
ships of swamp land to the first manu-
facturer who would exhibit five gross to
q ahome-manufactured article. But none
ever competed. This first attempts, in
deed, were put an end to when Schofeld
crossed the Blue Lick and destroyed the
dam on the Yellow branch. The conse-
quence was that the peoples crinoiine
collapsed faster than the Confederacy
dld. of which that brute of O Grierson
said there was never anything of it buf
the outside.
OF course, then, I put In the bottom
of my new large trunk In New York, not
o "duplex elliptic, for none were then
made, but q "Belmonte of thirty
springs, for my wife. bought for her
more-common wear a good "Belle-
Fontaine." For Sarah and Susie each
I got two Dumb-belles. For Aunt
Eunice and Aunt Clara, maiden sisters
of my wife who lived with us after VIM
chester fell the fourth time, got the
Scotch Harebell," two of each. For
my own mother I got one "Belle Of the
Prairies and one Invisible Combina-
ton Gossamer." I did not forget good
old Mamma Chloe and Mamma Jane.
For them I got substantial cages, with
out names. With these tied in the
shape of figure eights in the bottom Of
my trunk, as said, I put in an assorted
cargoof dry goods above, and, favored bya
pass, and Maj. Mulford's courtesy on
the hag-of-truce boat, arrived safely
at Richmond before the autumn closed
was received at home with rapture.
But when, the next morning, opened
my stores, this became rapture doubly
enraptured. Words cannot tell the 81
lent delight with whichold and young
black and white, surveyed those fairy
like structures. yet unbroken and I'M
mended.
Perennial summer relgned that au
tumn day in that reunited family. i
reigned the next day, and the next. i
would have reigned till now if the Bel
montes and the other things would las
as long as the advertisements declare
and what is more the Confederacy woul(
have reigned till now, President Dayil
and General Lee, but for that grea
misery, which all families understand
which eliminated in our great misfort
une.
was up in the cedar closet one da,
looking for an old parade cap of mine
which, T thought, though it was m,
third best, might look better than m,
second best, which 1 had worn eve
since my best was lost at Seven Pines
say was standing on the lower she
Of the cedar closet, when, as I steppe
along in the darkness my right foe
caught in bit of wire, my left did nc
give way In time, and fell, with sma
wooden hat box in my hand, full on tn
floor. The corner of the hat box struc
me just below the second frontal sinu
and tainted away.
When came 20 myself was IN th
blue chamber I had vinegar on brow
paper on my forehead; the room We
dark, and found mother sitting by m,
glad enough indeed to hear my voic
and to know that knew her. It We
some time before I fully understood
what had happened. Then she brougl
me cup of tea, and I, quite refreshed
said must go to my Office.
coffee, my child p said she. "Yol
leg is broken above the ankle; you wi
not move these six weeks. Where &
you suppose you are? ?"
Till then I had no notion that it WI
five minutes since went into the close
When she told me the time-5 in IL
afternoon-I groaned In the lowe
depths. For In my breast pocket
that innocent coat, which could no
see lying on the window seat, were Il
duplicate dispatches to Mr.. Mason, f
which, late the night before, had q
the Secretary's signature. They we
to go at 10 that morning to Wilmingto
by the Navy Departments special me
senger. I had taken them to insu
care and certainty. I had worked
them till midnight, and they had n
been signed till near o'clock Hea
ems and earth, and there it was5 o'clocl
The man must be half way to Wilmin
ton by this time. I sent the doctor
Lefarge, my clerk. Lefarge did b
prettiest in rushing to the telegrap
But mol A freshet ON the ChowI
river. or raid by Foster, or somethin
or nothing, has smashed the telegral
wire for that night. And before Ii
dispatch ever reached Wilmington
navy agent was in the ofing in the 8
Maid.
"But perhaps the duplicate q
through?" No, breathless reader,
duplicate did not get through. The d
plicate was taken by Faucon in {
Ino. I saw it last week IN {
Lieber's hands IN Washington. We