The herald., 1893-06-25
RALLvlNo ROUND A CANDIDATE.
All Hands Unite to Make General Kirby
Smiths Daughter a Postmistress.

All Hands Unite to MAKE GeneraA Airpy
Smiths Daughter Postmistress.
Two months ago in the most obscure
pigeonholo in the postmaster generals
Office the application Of Carrie Kirby
Smith was fled away. 1t was not
weighty with reasons why she SHOULD be
appointed, nor did it lay any particular
claims to the attention of President
Cleveland. 1t bore no indorsement. It
was simply an humble petition that the
applicant might be given the postofice
ct Sewanee, Tenn. The only sentence
which might recommend this prayer to
Mr.. Bissell was the closing paragraph:
81 am the daughter Of the late Gen
eral Edmund Kirby Smith,"
The fair applicant kept what she had
done secret for three weeks when,
having grown accustomed TO her disap-
pointment at receiving no reply, she told
some one how she had dared to ask to
distribute the mail to the residents about
the mountain station and to the students
of the University Of the South, who de-
pend on this office for their letters. Thus
her secret became known, and now two
generations are watching for her APP
pointmeft- which made its record
along with Kirby Smith and another
which has grown up with his daughter
on the Cumberland plateau. When
General Shoup, the Indiana sharpshoot-
er, now occupying the chair of applied
mathematics at the Sewanee university,
heard that Kirby Smiths "war baby
wanted an Office, he swore by all the
Union and Confederate soldiers at once
that she should have the place.
eve will put her In IL we have to call
out a regiment Of war veterans to do it"
he said
And this has literally come to pass.
From the Confederate Survivors associ-
alton OF Nashville the humble applica-
ton was made known throughout the
South and finally reached the line of the
Grand Army of the Republic posts in
the north. The fact that brave soldier
and distinguished general had died
leaving his family poor, and that his
daughter now came forward seeking to
aid in their support, was all that was
necessary to elicit the enthusiasm of
both sides. With scarcely an exception
every Federal officer now living who had
fought against Kirby Smith has made a
personal appeal for his daughter. Sol
diers of Bull Run and Manassas scrawi-
ed out letters of recommendation, while
the Cove people in the mountains added
their testimonials to the worth of Kirby
Smiths daughter in characteristic dia-
lect such as is found in Craddock's
stories of the hills. The students of the
institution where the general had SO long
taught ''math" sent their Endorsements
couched in elegant diction and sopho-
moric phrases. The alumni associa-
tions of Sewanee throughout the coun-
try have also added their Endorsements
to help secure the appointment for their
fair friend of old college days.
II do not mind dying" said the gen.
eral once, eff Carrie is left. She is a
tower of strength"
His estimation of her seems to be cor
rect. She no sooner found the main
prop Of the family gone than she began
to cast about for other means Of sup
port for her mother and young brothers
and sisters. With unusual courage for
woman, she decided to become the
postmaster where she had so long been
the indisputed belle.
Miss Kirby Smith is well known in
Washington, where she has shone more
than once in the gayest set There is
scarcely large city in the south or
west where she has not at one time or
another been the recipient Of social hon
ors. What Winnie Davis is to the
armies of the Confederacy, Carrie Kirby
Smith is to the soldiers of the transmits
sissippi. To the remnants of that army
she is still, even before Winnie Davis,
the daughter of the war. The appoint
ment she seeks is in the presidential
gift.-W Washington Cor. st. Louis Globe
Democrat.