The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-07-19
SOUTHERN WAR MEMORIES.
How Little Children Were Served-Substl-
tutes for Candles at Party.

tutes for Candles at a Party.
Southern Girl in Boston Waterman.
As my home at the time was in Marietta, Ga,
quite near Atlanta, and directly in Sherman's
line of march, saw a great many strange and
exciting things, and suppose that is the reason
l remember my life there so well, for, although
very small girl at the time, it is far more Wv
idly real to me than the events of last year.
can picture to myself distinctly the quaint
figures of my little playmates, for invention,
like charity, begins at home, and we little ones
showed the first fruits of our mothers talents in
that direction, We always wore 'homespun,
and, as the cloth stood good deal of wear our
dresses were made large enough to last two sea
sons. Some of us wore shoes, but they we're such
oddlooking things, made fcoarse leather and only
reaching our ankles As the leather shoestrings
wore out they had to be replaced by the covering
from the wires of hoop-skrts, dyed black. Our
stockings were knit of plain white yarn also
homespun For every day" we wore cal
leo sun bonnets, but on state occasions hats
braided at home from the palmetto straw As
one thing after another gave out the women
were always equal to the emergency and quick
in finding substitutes, just as our great grand
mothers did during the Revolution. American
women are Think, quite remarkable for that
sort of thing. My mother must have been I'm
usually clever, for | remember so many bright
things that she did. Trifes never seemed to
daunt her Our table was always delightfully."-
served, although her inventive faculties were
constantly called upon to supply some need in
inc KlUCneQ. IQ6r6 Is one very clever bnlnS blaG
l recollect about her She had sent out invita-
tons for a very large and swell party; for
Marietta was quite gay at one time, as number
of refugees besides a great many officers ION
leave" were in town, and my mother who was
delighted to be able to collect together 50
many charming people, determined to give
something very grand Her preparations
were .all completed, as she supposed, on
the morning of the appointed day, and
she was actually arranging the flowers in her
rooms when she received the very depressing
tdings that not candle could be found in At
lanta for love or money Most women would
have despaired at such ill-luck as this and would
have sent Immediately to inform expected guests
that they need not come. but my mother did
nothing of the sort She put on her thinking
cap" at once. She sent far and near TO borrow
all the wine glasses possible. These she filed
with pure white lard, and every one who could
be spared on the place was set to work cutting
out little round pieces of paper, about the size of
a half-dollar Each of these she twisted in the
center to form taper, and placed on the lard in
the glasses, ready for USE for she meant to light
her rooms with Thorn. We always had used
them in the bedrooms and for sickness, as they
would last all night, and candles were far too
precious to be wasted in that way. But the
idea of making them ornamental was my moth
er's, and you cannot realize how lovely the house
looked that night. She haS placed them every
where, and had built pyramids of lights, banked
in with flowers, in every available nook and
corner, The rooms and halls were brilliantly
lighted by the tiny flames, which seemed to me
to be flashing from floor to ceiling in every di-
rection, and looked like some lovely fairy scene,
far prettier than any ballroom have since seen.