Omaha daily bee., 1882-12-22
WAR RELICS
Southern Papers Printed During the
Unpleasantness"-The Col
ored Folk.

@NS' ~ 80 49, W NSNAA
ing Niger, you done upset de table
and drapped out Miss Cornely's crock
ade and split out all her fo'-de.waw
newspapers! Use got q good mind to
beat you fur il; is, now, gal"
Looking around l saw Serena pick.
ing from the floor scraps of wall paper,
over which we're meandering impossi-
bic vines in purple, crimson and
green. Tho colprit, Pimonty Ann, u
"%sister in black" aged 10, stood III a
lodging attitude with the whites OF
her eyes rolled toward Serena, while
her face wore an expectantexpression.
Replacing the wall paper within the
leaves of the scrap. book Serena con.
tented herself with giving Pimenty
Ann q shove, and exclaimine:
"G' long to do cabin. You amt
6tten for de white folks house no
how"
Pimenty slowly reiterated, mutter-
Ing as she went:
"I'se fifteen den you, you stuck.up
yaller niggerl"
My curiosity was aroused in regard
to the ''fo'-de.wah newspapers,' and
when my hostess came in i o,aved the
privilege Of examining them. They
are lying before me now-various
Issues of The Daily Citizen, published
In Vioksburg during the siege, when
mule meat and cow.peas were the del.
icacies Of the season, Wall paper was
the only available thing then upon
which to print the daily journal, and
very queer these one.sided papers look
in contrast to the crisp sheets we take
with our coffee to-day. The locals
must have been sad reading in those
days. Almost every paragraph records
the death of some soldier In the
trenches. In the issue of June 23rd
1 find the following in regard to the
situation:
The reason.-We frequently hear It
asked why the mortars across the river
have been sc quiet for a few days and
have heard one plausible solution, viz:
Gen. Grant sent Commodore Porter
word that Smelling Vicksburg YVES q
waste of shell and ammunition, and
only furnished Us with material to fire
back at the Yankees; that the Vicks.
burgers only laughed at the idea of
being ''shelled out" and that many of
the shells are used as ornaments and
trophies by the rebels after the powder
is extracted. That almcsi every house
has mi of these projectiles Ia perfect.
ly correct, and that we laugh at the
idea of being shelled out is equally
true.
In another column we find the fol
lowing interesting item in regard to
the cost of food. This is credited to
The M s,issippian:
The price of hour.-The fall of the
price of flour In Georgia to $l3 per
barrel has produced q aalutary effect in
Mississippi. Dealers who have been
holding the ''s.aff of life" at $3.50
have suddenly declined to SG5, and in
a few months from this time, we have
no doubt, that flour can be had in this
market for 1926 per barrel.
Frequent illusions are made to the
defenses of Vicksburg which are spoken
Of as works stranger than those of
Sebastapol."
As l turn the pages of these curious
looking newspapers "Mlns Cornely'u
cockade" comes to light, and my
hostess, with something finer than the
understanding-some divine sixth
sense-knows that I desire to hear
something of the faded relic I hold In
my hand So, while her white fingers
stray among the brilliant colors of her
embroidery, she tells me CT the long.
ego time when the women of the
south, weeks before the fall of Fort
Sumter, adorned themselves with
these blue cockades, significant of
their secession proclivities -the cock
AIDES being similar to those worn by
South Carolinians years before during
the notification agitation. In the
center of the faded satin ccckade gilt
tered a gold button, on which a I'D"
was rudely engraved.
"Oh, yes" said my hostess, Soar
cry then was the disunion and the
south forever. It vas very hard for
me to be reconstructed after the war
closed" she continued, shut I sup.
pose it has at laut been accomplished,
although L must confess that even to
this day it gives me a shudder to hear
Yankee Doodle" while the wild
strains of Dixie have power TO arouse
my patriotism. But do not be shocked
at my sentiments. I teach the chill
dren to love the Star Spangled Ban.
ner,' and to love the country, the
whole country, north, south, east, and
vert. This little cockade carries me
back for a long distance. / wrote it
for the first time at an evening party
to which 1 went with Cousin Harry
there" pointing to the portrait of a
handsome young man in confederate
uniform. "Poor fellow! he died a
prisoner on Jonnson's island, in Lake
Erie"
Just here Pimenty Ann slowly in
ssrted her wool framed face through
the half.open door, and said: miss
Cornely- plesss ma'am-iI de circus
gwine to show here to-morrer. Case
here's a gal got lightud to sell. She
want to get some money to go to de
circus"
1t is "A funny sight to SEQ tbs SO
"lightud" vendors; they come in from
"de piney woods" with supplies of
''mighty fat lightud," tied up In fagots
and stacked on their heads in the most
surprising manner. / believe they
could Jump the rope" or strip the
light fantastic toe" without dislodging
the burders so gracefully poised on
their well cushioned heads. / have
frequently been awakened at an early
hour by hearing them call to my hos.-
ess: "Lady, lady, does yer want to
buy some lightudl"
Miss Cornely" tells me that '.just
after the surrender" she was not wont
to be accosted in such complimentary
terms. She remembers being called
to the door, in response to the cry,
"White oman! White oman! Does