The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-01-31

f-- THATsAWFUL NIGHT
When the Arp Family gotta Move on 'Em
- atlanta Consultation.
I was in my-room answering batch
| of letters. The mother and children
we're in her room and the door was open
and about nine,I heard one, say: "Now,
mamma; please tell US q atory-we
have gotten our lessons 17please, mamma
tell us about. something away back when
you. we're s.girl, > or, something about the
war; 'a7.' = : ~ : :.
Well, don't turn that chair over-sit
up straight-7you v i'll break, q rocker of
if you don't mind. That is my war chair
and I want to keep it as long as I live,
PSesrockea :ansnY,2a child that chair
and fI'vesesp sorroY and sadness in it,
too. 1.-THE old arm chair Of a mother OF
"a grandmother: could. Espeak what q life
history it could tell" ,s i-y;,s..r
"But, mamma, ne don't.want any BOZ
row or sadness now nor anything. about
chairs. Please tell us something about
when you run from the yankees won't
you Z" sl,..-.s-,s ! 49,.
aOh, yon worry me. You know that ]
don't love to. talk about the var nor the
yankees. Iwish that I could forget all
about both. It seems to me now, that T
lived twenty years in those four years OF
the var. But let me tell you about that
chair and wh!y1:I call il. ny war chair.
tits the only chair that We saved from
The wreck lone chairand Zone bedstead.
We found them at,5as neighbor', house,
when We came back to Romes The yan.
KEGS carried off everything else, carpets,
bureaus bedsteads. bedding, tables, china,
pictures, aand Il don't know what all.
The house was. full ofsnice things; the
kitchen was full and:.the smoke house
and the cabinswhere' the boys SLEPT. I
had i bsantifdlw6tk that cost thirty
dollars iIi AID a telegraph operator shipped
that to bis home ..in Indiana, aud long
after the MAI, he. wrote pa letter and aaid
he had itand. felt bad aboutit and would
returnitl itlor.buy sis just aa .Ye said. So
yourpaIwrote him'a very beautiful letter
and asked him to ship it back to US by
express, for it was a birthday present; but
We We never heard from him again. he
dident feel as bad as he thought he did.
He was written to again, but he played
possum and made out like he was dead.
: He. had better not die if he. Knows what
-iss good. for him. Those yankees got
lets .of nice things from Us, and they
lived high off our mokehouse and pantry.
There yere:t thirty nice large hams hang.
ing away up on the top, and there were
shoulders and midlings and sides and
two:large cans, of leaf lard and q barrel of
soap" .ss = -
Why, what. made. .youleave- all those
things couldn't You have taken them
along,in 9 wagon" !"
aWhy, children, We had no wagon and
no time we didn't know we had to 60
until midnight. The town and the au.
tburbs was full Of our soldiers, enough to
whip the whole yankee nation. Why,
we had company to supper that night,
j and had strawberries and cream. We
jhaden't beento bed long before we we're
told to get up, for Gen. Johnson was fall.
ii1ng ii1ll back and our troops we're all leaving
Rome and the: everlasting yankees were
.comipg gight in. Just then they, began
to ). throw their singing, Sizing shells over
the town to scare us and make us more
lively. They bursted in the air and scar
ed us almost to death. I never thought
about furniture or anything else, but
getting my. children out Of. danger. I
ihaven'tgot over it yet. We got tangled
.up: in the street among our soldiers and
the artillery wagons and couldn't move
for two hours. The shells kept coming
aud BY and by the up town bridge was
set on fire to keep the yankees back until
We all could get across the other river
and burn that bridge. Oh, it was an aw.
full night. But We won't talk about that.
j had rather tell you how glad I was to
get back home again after eight months
Of exile. Eight long months of running
around with half q dozen children who
were about half naked and always hungry.
Your pa was away holding court in
Macon and / had Just to bum around
from place to place and impose on kin.
and friends who were scared too. IteA
you was happy when we got back to
our old home, desolate as it was. We
lived hard and rough for awhile until we
got our bale Of sheeting and that helped
Us out wonderfully. We sold sheeting
for chairs and tables, and bedsteads, and
potatoes and sorghum"
"Where did you get it mamma"
"Well, just before old Sherman run US
away your pa managed to get bale Of
yard wide sheeting and he hid it in the
smokehouse. Confederate money had
got so bad that nobody wanted it. II
wouldn't buy anything hardly. Salt was
great deal better than money, and so
WAS sugar and tobacco, and shirting OF
anything to make clothing out OF. Shoes
were splendid currency. Your grandpa
had two calf skins, and he tapned them
with ashes and rubbed about half the
hair off and got an old cobbler to maks
shoes for my children, and you never saw
such things in your life, but they were 8
Nh