The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1895-10-30
SOLDIERS BUDGET.
Virginia Revisited After Thirty
Years...COncluded.
by O. b. PUTNAM, MONTPELIER, VT.

As was quite natural, l was, upon my
return home, asked many questions.
Perhaps the most numerous were as to
whether / was well or ill treated by the
Southerners, and as to whether the old
rebel spirit still exists. As to the first
question, l was never 30 Hospitality re-
ceived and entertained by strangers.
Virginians have wide reputation for
hospitality. From the cradle, they are
taught that it is one of the cardinal vir-
tues. We New Enganders are much
too prone to laugh ut this trait of the
Virginian, regarding it as an idiosyn
Grassy; but to me it is a most charming
one, and one which we would do well
to initiate. On board the steamer from
New York to Fortress Monroe, met
Confederate captain who surrendered
with Lee at Appomattox. He had been
travelling through the North and was
on his way TO his home in Petersburg.
After long talk about various events
of the war with which each was fami
lar, the conversation drifed to this SUBJ
ject. The captain complained of the
GOODNESS of our people, not to him
alone, but toward all strangers. The
most could say in our behalf was that
our people were at heart as kind and
helpful toward those in distress as
were his native Virginians, but that we
were more reserved, and not 80 ELUSIVE
in showing it. To illustrate, pointed
out the fact that in every disaster to the
South - like yellow fever and earth
quakes-our people responded cheer
fully and generously TO relieve distress.
He could not gainsay that, but said he
referred to the common and every day
affairs of life, that he missed in his
travels the cordial warmth of the Vir-
ginians.
1t must be confessed that there is
much of truth in his view, and it is to
be feared, as is charged against us, that
we are too much absorbed in the pur-
suit of the almighty dollar to pay proper
regard to the amenities of life. My ex-
perience there was that the people, in.
stead of waiting for me to make my
wants known, took great pains to an
ticipate them. l was everywhere in.
vited to their homes to partake of their
fare, and | was assisted in many ways
in my quest. Nor was their hospitality
at all lessened when | made known the
fact that | was a Northerner, and an
eX.federal soldier at that. On the con-
trary, it was increased.
This was particularly true of those
who had been soldiers in the Confed-
crate army. l met many, and there
was as much of fraternity and comrade-
ship as if we had served upon the same
side. The fact that there is a spirit of
true fraternity between the Northern
and the Southern soldiers cannot be
disguised. And why should there not
bep Each met the other too often, and
had too many evidences of each others
valor, not TO feel respect the one for
the other. We, on our part, speedily
became disabused of the illusion that
only show of force would suffice to
quell the instruction and that the war
would be over in three months; they,
on their part, found it not to be true
that one Southerner could whip five
Northerners. This feeling of fraternity
has long existed among the old soldiers
of both sides, though it is only of late
that it has been very much manifested,
through a fear, l suppose, that any
demonstration of that kind might imply
partial abandonment of the cause for
which they fought. l enjoyed myself
greatly in meeting the old Confederate
soldiers and discussing with them the
battles of the war from the point of
view of each; but there Was tacit I'M
derstanding that no reference should
be made to the old bone of contention.
AS to whether the old rebellious spirit
still survives, can answer emphatically
NO." 80 far, at least, as outward APP
pearances go. Perhaps it would be too
much to say that it does not exist in
any form, but one must search dill
gently for it to find it. 1t certainly is
not prominent or ELUSIVE. 1t is prob
ably true of the South, as of the North,
that there are fossils and mossback
among them who don't quite know that
the war closed thirty years ago. They
know, of course,
The man that NEEDLES with cold ron,"
and 30 they have submitted, i'm some
cases, possibly, not very gracefully.
But, having tried to
Decide ideal, al controversial by
and failed to maintain their side by
force of arms, they are, as rule, con-
tent to abide the result. The persist
ence and endurance with which they
fought compel the belief that they were
terribly in earnest and believed in the
cause they were fighting for; and it is
rather too much to expect of them that
they will now deny the justice of their
claim. However effective strong ar
mics may be in reducing people to
submission, the couplet,
He that complies against his will
Is of his own opinion STILL"
remains true. But the mossbacks who
" nurse their wrath to keep it warm I"
are in vast minority. There are fully
as many mossbacks in the North as in
the South, and the lichens are more ex-
uberant, probably because they flourish
near the North Pole. To my soldier
comrades l wish to say this: When the
politicians come among you and pirate
of the South, that it is as full of bitter
rebels as ever it was, that they are only
restrained by prudential considerations
from beginning another rebellion -
when they cay this, you may tell them
that, even if that is true of certain