The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-08-21

"ny one from breaking the new!
suddenly to her before 1 came back
ran down to the house of a ne;gbbor
Mrs. Wright, to ask for little brandy I,
give my sister to enable her to bear tht
Dreadful communication / had to make
On reaching Mrs. Wright's door I found
ner running from room to room. wringinr
her hands, tearing her hair, and cryinp
,,on, my poor child and her ia ther noe
mere TO protect us and they say the blach
Wretches are in the very front of Grant,
army, and will rush into the city before
any decent white men are here to restra;r
them On what is to become of us p
Meanwhile her lovely daughter Julu
beautiful girl of sixteen, was cliDpinp
to her mother, and begging he, lot tS
weep 30, for she did not believe that oil
Yankees were as bad as people said thew
were. and that may be Gen lee wonI?
drive them back yet.
On my child, you don't know wha,
you are talking about, and have little idea
what is before u.s."
Finding could say nothing to comfor,
her l helped myself to the brandy. and
hastening home gave it to nv sister. and
then broke the news to her as gently as ]
COulQ.
LOOKING FOR THE YANKEES.
My married sister, Mrs. Carter. with
her little daughter Daisy, four years old
ana an infant of four weeks was then
nVing' "a lew squares from us. her husband
9eing at the front with Gen. Lee
Ihinking we could better bear what was
before US when We were all together Ia
comfort and strengthen each other. I
brought her and her little ones around to
our room. There we sat all huddled
together in almost breathless suspense
our thoughts one moment being with the
absent dear ones, of whose fate we had
not, nor could we hope soon to have. the
slightest tidings; the next filled with
terrible forebodings of what might
be before us. All through the afternoon
friends and neighboB were running in
and out, bringing fresh rumors, some
hopeful. some despairing. About four
o'clock we heard an ominous "boom. -
BOOM "boom" like the sound of artil.
lery nearer than any that we had previ.
ously heard. For moment our hearts
almost ceased to beat. We thought the
enemy must be very close at hand, and
as the booming continued various conjec.
lures were made as to what quarter we
might look for their approach, some
thinking the sound came from one direc.
tlon and some from just the opposite one.
In order to hear more distinctly, Mrs.
Porter and l stepped to the door to
listen; hearing 1t much more plainly
outside, we followed on in the direction
whence it seemed to proceed, until we
reached neighboring stable door, when,
to our great amusement, we found that it
was nothing but the kicking of horse
against his stall, which certainly sounded
enough like the distant firing of can.
non to deceive any but the most practic-
ed ear.
Another incident, which gave us the
luxury of smile even at this gloomy
crisis, / must here relate. Seeing tho
CONSERVATION into which the whole
household was thrown by the news that
the yankees" were coming, our little
mulatto made Lettie, while synlpathizing
with the alarm and distress of her elders,
was somewhat perplexed to understand
exactly what the threatened eviliwas.
So, an1icusly to get little light on the
mysterious subject, she crept shyly up to
my side and whispered timidly: "AIiss
Lucy. what sort O. looking things is
Yankees1 2 Does dey have horns ?
Cause, eff dey does, seen one on 'em at
de show, and he had tail IKE cow"
Her little brain was evidently sadly con-
fusing Yankees and buffaloes.
All through the day the various gen.
tlemen belonging to the house had been
running in to get their haversacks, can.
teens, blankets, &C., with a view to
following the retreating army, and each
one would be besieged by the crowd of
ladies with eager cries of: "Oh, Mr.. A,
do you believe they are going to evacu.
ate 2"' or "Mr. B.; have you any idea
where Gen. Lee will make stand ?"
But we would only receive the unsatis-
factory answer: "We know nothing
positively but that we ara ordered to pack
up all the public documents as q precau-
tionary measure" ~
A BAD FAREWELL. sEHS
Just at nightfall two soldier friends
whose duties had detained them in the
city till that moment, came to bid us
goodbye, for they were then Fastening
to the train which was awaiting the
President and staff five miles out Of the
city. They asked if they might have
the privilege of going into the room "to
say goodbye to Miss Fannie, for we may
never see her again."
Certainly" said I, for this Was no
time to regard empty conventionalities,
and led them to her bedside. It was q
scene can never forget. In their worn
suits of grey, armed and equipped with
all they could carry for long and peri
lous Punishment, looking desperate and
determined, bnt with eyes moistened at
thoughts of the defenceless women and
children they were leaving behind them,
these two men entered the chamber of
illness which we feared was even chad.
owed by the death angels wing. It had
been many weeks since they had seen
nv sister and they were much shocked
at her pale and emaciated face. Scarce
q word was spoken, but each knew full
we'll the sad forebodings that filled the
hearts of the othera. One of them
dropped on his knee beside the bed, and
taking the little thin white hand in bis
he lifted j. to his lips aud pressed upon
il silent and fearful adieu, and they
were gone, to meet us in this life again
nevermore. re ]
Lett to ourselves our first thought was
that it would be we'll to sit up all night
TO be ready to meet the first warming ol
approaching danger, but we finally de-
cided that the best preparation for the
morrow, which we felt was to be one o!
those days "that try mems SOULS" would
be to gain ell the strength and refresh:
ment we could by nights sleep, If eleeE
were possible. 30 kneeling we, Offered
our united prayers for Divine protection
through the darkness of the night, and
the probably still darker scenes awaiting