The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1893-07-25

to be invicible. 1t was not until tn,
closing scenes of 1864 that the un
wavering confidence of the Confeder
ates was shaken. "Sherman's marcel
to the sea" had completed the success
OF devastations. The whole country
was laid waste. Mills were burned
factories demolished, barns filed with
grain were given to flames, private resi-
dences and beautiful public buildings
were burned to the ground, growing
crops and every prospect of comfort
and living were destroyed, and the
once prosperous and abundant South
was now reduced to state of desola-
tion, sorrow and bereavement.
Leaving the scenes of battle and car
mage for a while we go to the homes
of these loyal soldiers, who had left
wives, children, mothers and sisters,
unprotected only by those faithful
slaves, who would have fought and
died to protect their helpless charges,
and for four years with unceasing
fidelity they worked, cared for and
watched over them with the tenderness
born OF the closest ties and the highest
sense of chivalry. Words fail to
ascribe the honor and praise due these
noble, patriotic Southern women who
had been reared in the lap of luxury
and afiiuence, unaccustomed to the
slightest toll or hardship. Now with
uncomp'aining cheerfulness we find
them turning the spindle wheel until
those slender, delicate hands are
blistered, or standing before cumber-
some looms, learning the intricate pro-
cess of cloth-making. The great
armies for the most part depended
upon these delicate hands for clothing.
Neither were the little girls or young
ladies at school idle. When seen upon
the play grounds or in recitation rooms
they were dexterously plying the knit
ting needles, each priding herself upon
the number of pairs of socks to be sent
TO that much-loved and honored army
of the Confederacy. With marvellous
skill, becoming attire, variety of
hats, shoes, and all of those little
articles of personal adornment so dear
to feminine hearts were contrived out
of nothing" with the utmost in
genuity. The kindly presence of
Southern ladies in hospitals win ever
be held in sacred memory by remain
ing veterans. Her benign nature ever
ready to soothe and alleviate the suf-
ferings of friends or foe, her own needs
stinted to provide delicacies for the
sick and wounded, reading and writing
letters, giving cheerful and comforting
dying messages to dear distant moth
ers and wives. Such was the daily oc-
cupation of these noble Southern
women. During these troublesome
times love and courtship was not for
got, and talisman given at parting,
ring, lock of hair, or the picture of
some sweet girlish face did more to
strengthen and revivo the weary SOL
dier and languishing prisoner than any
thing else could have done, and many
little love tokens, such as gutta percha
rings, neatly embelished with silver
hearts, found their way out of gloomy
prisons to fair hands, plighting the
troth of many a lovely Southern girl to
her ardent and patriotic lover.
The larders Of Southern households
were now we'll nigh exhausted, and it
was pathetic to see how the faithful
old mammies contrived to replenish
these necessities. Substituting parch-
ed rye and dried sweet potatoes for
coffee, and digging up the dirt of the
old smoke-hOuse, which had received
the drippings of that abundant store
of hams and middlings for years, and
by mysterious process converting it
into "prime" quality of salt, and
many times her "white folks" table
was spread with unusual delicacies, the
result OF mammies" fOraging visits
to the camps of her Northern friends.
The Southern armies were now re-
duced to abject starvation and want,
and cut Off from all aid and sustenance
the Confedoracy, like wearicd gladia-
tor, whose spirit was invincible, reeled
under the exhaustion and finally sue
cummed to an enemy inexhaustible in
strength and reinforced by the world,
was no testimony against the valor or
the skill with which her struggle was
directed.
The sons and daughters of the South
have exhibited herOism so sublime as
to render her illustrious in all time to
come, and the achievements of South
ern genius and valOr is as radiant as
ever shone upon the blazing crest Of
war.
Tupelo, Miss.
49,.