Savannah morning news., 1886-06-30
The,aged sire AM .E0n gray,
And the fair bllde of yester eve,
Saw their loved ones haste away,
And deemed it sin to grieve.

/ kept ny account book all right, until
one dark day. l had news from camp
that my husband was very i'll in Virginia,
not far from Manassas, Just few weeks
after the great battle there. Then / left
my little ones and went with my father to
seek him. We found him with friends in
Culpepper county. Oh, those noble Vir-
Rinia wOmeni The one who nuFsed my
husband back to life through long ted-
ous camp fever, had then lovely home
an Cuipepper, whose large, airy rooms
were kept filled with sick and convales-
cling soldiers, while every week she car
gied or sent to the sick and wounded in
hospitals large baskets OF luxuries, and
deiieaeies prepared By herself and her
lovely daughters. She stayed there at her
home with her husband, sending her
daughters to Georgia to relatives, and
when our army was forced back by over
whelming numbers, she stood in her
kitchen over her stove and cooked for our
Jeueating men as they were passing her
nome, until perfectly exhausted from ia
nigua and dover-exertion, she took her bed
never to rise again. | was with her daugh-
,ters when they received the sad news OF
-lher death. A friend wrote them how she
had laid her life willing sacrifice on the
altar OF our beloved South. She had sent
them away, fearing for them the brutality
of the Yankee army, and she had stayed
with her husband an old man to minis
ter to the comfort of our suffering sol.
diers. Nooly and faithfully had she done
1t ''even unto death,' and now she is
doubtless enjoying the martyrs crown iu
that blest land where there are no more
wars. nor rumors OF wars, in those days
surely.
Earth had angels. though their forms were
moulded,
But Of such clay, as fashions all below,
They walked among us with their bright wings
folded,
We knew them by the loye-Hght on theiI
brow.
After time, my husband was well
enough TO return TO hin post of duty and
felt almost sorry he was really we'll, for
then we must part again, and there in
Virginia the war seemed such dark, ter.
Tible reality, as it had not seemed to me
while in Georgia. How | dreaded TO gC
back and leave him there TO suffer the
shardships Of winter In camp, and yet ]
could not be with him and must go back
to my little ones, and take upmy account
book again.
KNITTING cotton one pound.D |
we'll remember how much one pound
of knItnng-cotton seemed to me then. for
while in Virginia had learned from those
noble women to kuit socks for our sol
Nltlb. my mOtnef DaQ MADE us RIAt m
our childhood for punishment, 80 knes
the stitch, but never understood the mys.
terry Of shaping a sock TO &c, until learn
dit during the pleasant days at Cuipep-
per while my husband was convalescing.
found It a comfort TO keep nv fingers
going and my pound was soon exhausted,
and many more pounds exhausted before
the end. At last Lbeeams such an ex.
pert that l could knit q sock o day and
knit on the porch summer nights without
Docking at 1t, and always kept lot OF
socks on band for hospitals and to give To
whoever needed them. When the COnfed-
eracy "went up had one sock finished
and the other one Of the pair half done
and in my grief j took such an aversion
10 knitting that let my needles rust in
that Unfinished one. Who could bear %
knit when our army was scattered, our
honored and beloved Lee had surrendered
after the grandest and braVest struggle
for liberty ever recorded in history? We
know that God reigns that He dOeth
what he Wills among the armies OF earth
and of heaven, and we accepted il as part
OF the 'sall things" which we are taught
in His word are to work together
for good. But the needles
must rust awhile, and years must pass
and blunt this keen suffering, ere we can
take up our knitting needles again, while
those which did duty for COnfederares
must be buried away, with our Other
loved relics.