Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-02-24

We received only our immediate friends.
General Lee, with bow and excuse for
coming In on the white carpet with his
splashed boots, sat down and plunged 90
once into army matters; the outlook was
| notencouraging, and the two friends talked
IN circle until both were worn out. There
was little silver saucepan Oh the hearth,
and the General stopped abruptly and
| said: That is q comfortable and pretty
| little thing, what do you use IL for?"
And then what delight it gave me 10 heat
steaming hot the cq)5 an lat Il contained
and hand IL 70 him IN little Seves cup.
! When / attempted to ring for SER
! want 10 bring luncheon, he said: This
drink is exquisite, but / cannot eat do
not call a servant. IL is very coy just So"
| then looking at the cup no remarked, with
| O twinkle in his eve my cupsin camp are
| thicker, but this is thinner than the cot
! tee.h Behind the playful speech saw the
| Intense realization he bad of the coarse
| ways and uncomfortable concomitants OF q
camp, and that he missed a. keenly the re-
| fnements Of life 10 which he bad been &C
| custOmed after four years, ns he did at first.
| In the last part of the war no one had
| dellcacies, invitations very common among
| intimate friends were, DO come to din
| ner or tea, we succeeded In running the
| blockate this week. This meant coffee
/ after dinner, preserved fruits, loaf-sugar,
! good tea. or sometimes that which was al
ways very acceptable TO Mr. Benjamin's
| palate, anchovy paste He used 10 say,
with bread made of Crenshaw's flour
| spread with the paste, English waluuts
from an immense tree in the grounds, and
| glass of the Mcilenry sherry, of which we
| had small store. mans patriotism be-
| came rampant Once, when he was in
| vited TO partake of a beeisteak pie, Of
| which he was very fond, he wrote: u
| have never eaten them in perfection except
in the Cunard steamers (my cook had been
cbefon One), and / shall enjoy the scream
of the sea birds, the flashing Of the sea, and
see the blue above and the blue below
While eat 1t; so you may expect me-"
FELLOWSHIP IN DANGER.
| The close relations that fellowship in
| danger brings about are sweet memories,
and are harder TO reliuqulsh than those of
courtlN ceremony or triumph. Our women
| knitted like Penelope, from daylight until
| dark. They did 1t, however, not as a sub
| terluge, but TO clothe their families and
| the soldiers-socks gloves, mufiiers, I'M
| der-clothing everything that could be
| worn Of this fabric, was made and admira-
| bly, shaped.
Mr.. W. @. Riyes was an exceedinly neat,
| well-dressed man always, and the careful
attention be gave 60 his attire made hun
| appear much younger than his long and
Il
| lie camo by invitation to our house one
morning TO breakfast wearing sucha beau.
! tlfuly-titted suit of gray clothes, with
/ CATERS of the same. and they became him
| so well that some of the young men re-
marked upon 1t and suggested that Mr..
| Hives must have run the blOckade"; ne
! heard them and whispered TO me;
| Look at me, my wife knitted every stitch
| Of these clothes herself, and had the yarn
! spun and dyed first. She even knitted
| covering for the buttons" 1t required
very close inspection by young eyes to
/ see That they were knitted, and the
| dainty soigne old gentleman looked his
/ best IN them.
! GREAT sELF-DENIAL AND SACRIFICE.
| Mrs. Robert L. Lee and her daughters
| all honor to them-furniShed one hundred
/ and ninety-six socks and gloves to Posey's
| brigade, and this when Mrs. Lee was con-
| fined to her char, a hopeless victim of
! rheumatism, and her daughters time was
consumed by nursing in the hospitals.
| Mrs. Mary Arnold, wife of w. z. Arnold,
/ of Coweta, Ca, made in the year 1868 one
| thousand and twenty-eight yards of cloth,
! besides knitting gratis socks and gloves
| for the soldiers.
! The ladies made themselves natty little
/ gloves embroidered beautifully. Mrs. Penn
! berton sent me an admirable pattern,
whole family. They covered their worn
out shoes with pieces of silk and satin,
| drawn from old boxes long unused; old
scraps Of silk were cut in strips, picked TO
| pieces, oarded and spun into fine yarn, and
silk stockings knitted from 1t. The most
| beautiful hats were plated from palmetto,
dried and bleached. as well as from straw.
! The feathers from domestic fowls were so
treated that they were very decorative 70
their bODupta and If Opp sometimes re-
GREETED that millinery should be a matter
Of private judgment, still, in their pretty
homespun dresses they would have passed
tayorably in review with any ladies.
DEVOTION OF THE LADIES.
All their accomplishments were pressed
into the service Of the soldiers. remem-
Der going to one Of the hospitals TO carry
delicacies TO the sick Miss Emily V. Ma
son sat by one bed reading the prayers of
the Church to man in eLtreniS, while her
gentle sister, Mrs. Roland, sat in another
ward singing Old-fashioned songs TO her
guitar as the dying boy would call for
them, her eyes full of unshed tears, and
her voice Of melody. She was going blind
and could not work, so she gave what she
could.
We had no artificial appliances at the
beginning of the war to supplement the
loss of any member of the body. There
had been, happily, little need for such aids
before the war, and these few had been
bought at the North; but very soon the
most perfect artificial limbs were made in
Charleston. as good, one manned general
told me, as those to be had anywhere.
1t is proud memory that the people
of our country rose in their might,
and met every emergency with industry,
ingenuity, self-sacritce, and reckless
Horjpo worthy Of their noble cause.