The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-02-15
WOMEN OF THE CGNFEDERACY
SECOND PAPER.
kate Fields Washington. |

heard OF q Southern woman who failed
to do something. The young girls and
the old ladies who could do nothing else,
could knit. And knit they did, the war
in and the war out. The total pairs OF
socks turned of was something prOdI-
gious. Had every Confederate soldier
been q centipede it did not seem that
single foot should have lacked this
species Of gear. Could the matter have
been decided with the knitting needle, |
am sure that these worthy danes would
have established and maintained the
tOniedcracy. One OF them knit two
hundred and twenty -seven pairs another
averaged two pairs q week for nearly the
entire period They knit walking: they
knit riding they knit by daylight, moon
light, pine-knot light and by no light at
ALL for candles were too precious to burn
on summer nights with no company
about. | knew an Industrious old lady
who knit even as She nodded, and one
who, though exceedingly pious, was so
moved by the tales OF suffering among
the grim, tattered veterans who held the
trenches around Petersburg, that she
deemed it righteous work to knit even on
Sundays. AS long as by any possible
continuance, by unravcing, REGARDING
and spinning, or apprOprlating the con
tents OF mattresses, wool could be
obtained, no other material was used,
but when all these sources gave ont
cotton took its place.
Dainty hands, which had hitherto
scorned all manner Of work as de1 rading,
now held themselves ennobcd by the
most menial drudgery for the soldiers.
Labor Of this kind was regarded rs a
10 nj oil
spinning wheel and hand-loom had
almost fallen into di5use, but they We're
dragged to light and set going with an
energy they had never known before.
When company dropped in regular work
was put aside and some light task taken
up i'll which all could engage. 1t was the
fashion for young ladies TO entertain
their beauX-yOungfe fellows in gray, home
on furlOugh, OF course; no girl would
look at Othcrs-by handing out cotton
to be seeded, gins for parting seed and
Int not being always available. The
next visit, perhaps, the caller would be
required to hold the same cotton, now
Transformed into q hank, while it was
being wound into ball, and when he
took his leave for the field it would be on
his feet in the form OF the inevitable
socks.
Just Us fast us sufficient quantities of
clothing could be accumulated by those
ladies societies, it would be dispatched
to the army, usually in charge of their
special agent-cOmmOnly IL clergyman
orphysiclan-whO would see it distributed
to the best advantage. AS Il rule, the
railroad furnished free transportation
for all such donations and the agent in
attendance. OF course every soldier with
relative Orfriend a # home received private
boxes as often as there was anything to
send. Perhaps could not better illus
tritte the change i'll means and III ideas
which Il year OF those stern times
brought than by giving an inventory of
| three OF these boxes sent by Il wife in
| North Carolina to her husband in Lees
| army at intervals of about il year, Others
| doubtless being forwarded during the
| intervals.
September, 1861, contents OF box;
| Two pairs heavy all-wOOl blankets, two
suits flannel underwear, half dozen pairs
fine wooden socks, "a pair rubber over
| shoes, a neck comforter, a thick nightcap
| 70 prevent taking cold while sleeping in
tents, a pair ear protectors to keep bugs
out OF the ears while asleep, two pairs Of
gloves and IL pair OF leggings, Il dressing
|
| brush, etc; sheets and towels, eatables
in the way of ham, fowls, cakes, pickles
! and preserves, limited only by the
capacity OF the box.
Contents of box October, 1862 ali of
the former articles having been worn out
or lost: One blanket, an oilcloth, q
flannel shirt made Of a shawl, four pairs
socks OF mixed rabbit-fur and wool, a
cake OF sweet soap and a cake OF home
made soap, nearly thesame eatabes and
sweetmcats, only that sorghum had
| taken the place of sugar in the latter.
Contents OF box November, 1SG:}-a
| month later i'll the year than the last
and two months later than the first: \
| comfort faced on one side with home
| made OllclOth to keep out the rain, or to
put next the ground when sleeping out
i'll the weather: Il flannel shirt made OF a
merino dress doubled; two pairs socks OF
| mixed rabblt-fur and cotton: Il cake OF
homemade soap: some sorghum cake,
| some sorghum preserves, sorghum sweet
pickles, some sorghum candy, a bottle OF
sorghum.
| How the box for the last winter of the
war would have been filled is not easy to
say. But alas, there was no need of IL
box, and all the covering the poor fellow
then needed was another foot or so OF
Nirgi mia earth.
OF the strange makeshift for food and
ralment to which the women OF that
period We're driven, have spoken more
fully elsewhere. BOnnets We're made OF
the silk covering Of old paraSOlS turned
best side out, lined with the satin from
an old coat sleeve, while some rooster
specially favored by nature, was made tC
furnish the feathery ornaments. . Hen
partleS-nO man not too old to 90 to a
party and not i'll the army would have
been inyited-were held in which every
lady present wore nothing i'll the way OF
apparel or ornament but her own handi
work. Homespun dresses, dyed with
homemade dyes, fastened with home
made buttons. We're worn with squirrel
skin shoes, fish scale earrings and breast
pins and watermelOn-seed bracelets Not
that Confederate women We're reduced &c
quite such straits as these last. They
went to such extremes partly as a matter
OF pride and to show their independence
Yet the extremity to which four years O
blockade reduced them was dire enough
Silk purses were not made of SOW : ears
but silk dresses We're made of ole
umbrella covers. Unfortunate possessel
OF a pair OF kid gloves made them last
twice as long by wearing only one at the
time. Sometimes the same best dress
and especially the same bridal outfit
would in turn serve Il large circle o
friends. can recall only one occasion
on which Confederate ingenuity wa:
defeated. 1t was the fashion then, as il
was long afterward, to wear iut
switches in the place of false hair. !
,, very careless or very unlucky lady me
with the calamity OF having hers devoure,
by the COW, and to her infinite discomfit
ure had to go till the end of the wa
minus that inseparable adjunct o
femninity. Yet when the tyrant fashion
struggled somewhat belated through tn
blockade, she proved not one whit les
despotic here than elsewhere. Sleeve
and hoopskirts became large or smal
and the hump grew fore or aft on tn