The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1895-01-29
AN EPISODE OF 1862.
NEW ORLEANS, June Is, 1869.

the Yankees, you KNOW. On, WOulu
that they had never comet
In my last letter 1 told you, you
remember, how mother frightened
ns when she talked about the Fed
erals. What frightful description
she gave of the northern soldiers
immense giants, who wore bear and
tiger skins all the year round;
coarse, shaggy blond hair and large,
blue, savage eyes" northern bar
barians, she called them. tbs true
!. one of our neighbors laughed wher
he heard of it. He said that the Yam
kee soldiers in appearance did not
differ much from the southern, only
A.xthey could not fight so we'll, because
X hey were too sluggish.
However, we were not pacified by
" orr neighbor's assurance, even when
DE said that the Yankees would
never capture New Orleans any
way" He should like to see them
3 make the attempt. He was "afrai
they wouldn't try to come into New
1aErleans, he said. He also said some
thing about having a lot of blue beans
aady for them if they ever came up
sThe river. / don't know what he
meant by that. 1 never heard of blue
\ beans, but / supposed at the time
that it was some big vegetable which
only those huge barbarians could
swallow.
We were told one day that these
terrible people were in lot of yes
sells at Ship island, which is only
about so miles from here. Mother
\ and ] We're frightened for several
y days. The newspapers, however, said
, that the enemy could never pass the
batteries. 1 don't know what bat
teries are, but it seems that the Yam
KEGS passed chem, led by an admiral
called Farragut, whom / imagined
an awful ogre. 1t was April % when
they came UP theriver. / shall never
forget that night. From my window
could see fires all along the shore
of the river, which was full of burn
ing vessels, while the levee was lined
with madmen.
Then ON the following Sunday sol
diers came in, headed by general
named Butler, whom / have seen
since, and who has a comical eye
Well, when mother heard that the
enemy was in town, she told us to
make ready for them. She felt al
most certain that these brutal saw
ages" would kill us; "but, Laurine, +"
she said. II have heard that wild
beasts sometimes spare their prey
y when they have enough of other
food, so let us pile the table with ev-
\ erything edible that you can find"
So / went through the cupboard
Afor bread and meat, and Irummaged
Yin the cellar for bottles of wine.
When, full of resignation, awaited
q the moment when expected to hear
people running about the street cry
ing for help
Finally in the direction of the
front room ] heard steps accompa-
MED by the blinking of swords. Much
to my surprise, there were no I'M
an III noises. Presently there was q
{ 4, genteel knock at my door. 1
was so terribly frightened that l
couldn't say Come in" Don t
think, however, that the door was
forced open. The knock was repeat
ed, and not until ] had given my
faint permission was the door open
ed
expected to see enter at least a
dozen tree high fellows with four
cornered heads, wearing bearskins
and long, savage boards, and with
sacks over their shoulders, in which
they carried their booty. also sup
posed that they We're equipped with
long knives and pistols, just as moth
rs Din her prophetic visions described
\ .SAm. Imagine my surprise when,
slisGtead of all this, two spruce young
officers entered-one, a short, slen-
der blond, the other dapper little
gentleman, with black hair and a
dark mustache. Both were wholly
pleasant hammered and respectful.
They were attired almost the same
as the other officers i have seen
walking about the street since the
beginning of the war. There wasn't
the slightest trace of four cornered
heads. Indeed / thought the brunette
quite handsome. They at once OK
cused themselves for whatever in
convenience they might cause. ]
& etammered out something about
n their not incommoding any one. and
4 that was prepared to serve them
ss