The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-12-15
"BaCk in War Times -
BY FLORENCE MCCALLEN.

'O-$
20 Aunt rudy DiGo's to get some sage.
Sue has a way of growing it in shady
spots SO that the leaves are larger and
the fl avor better than any other we
have used As | sat or a few moments
on Aunt Ttudy's front porch, which is
so close TO the main travelled road"
that only a tiny bed of pinks and lilac
bushes grew between it and the gate, q
gIrl, or woman, whIrled by on a bicy-
Gle. She vas dressed in blouse and
trousers without super fIous fullness,
had a little cap tilted sIde wise on her
head, and was a very new woman"
Indeed-tOr u part of the country.
She had q set, careworn expression
upon her face, as if she expected to be
dashed to pieces at any moment, and
looking straight ahead, went on of
sight. The roadside was a perfect
glory of goldenrod, purple asters, su
mach and the s 3eds OF the wild win
ney" rose. dotted here and there with
the pale blue stars Of a little late fl over
which we call Dare the Frost" and
which I have not seen elsewhere,
but the scenery was nothing to the
wheelwoman. Every faculty seemed
to be concentrated in the effort to keep
going and not fall.
Aunt Trudy looked and looked.
Law! Lawl LawI"
Now, those who have never he ard
Aunt Trudy's law, law, law" have
never heard the acme of astonishment
as conveyed by the human voice. she
was two j lily to be ill,natured about
any thing. but her face showed wonder,
incredulIty and gra,itied curiosity.
well" ehe said, at last, Il never
rightly sensed at ther WIS such things
as girafrs till l seen one in a show, an
now I've seen one O. them women
wheelers! l Thought Miss Gates was a
fOOlin' me till | Seen a picUer Of III in
the Republic. an now I've seen the
real, identical etraddle bugl My! It
looked funny! never seen any thing
TO beat that. Them britchs 81" Then
she laughed, and Aunt Trudy's laugh
Is worth seeing and hearing.
When at last she paused, wiping her
eyes on her check apron she said. That
woman in brltcnes makes me think of
a circumstance that happened here on
Pretty Bob durIn' the war. Have I
ever told ye abouE SylvIry Park and
me bein' took to Warsaw to take the
oath of ellegiance2 ND2 We'll, iC was
right funny. We was slips Of girls,
Is and IS years old. Papa he was for
the UnIon, bug Sylviry's pa was In the
Southern army and she was q right
do WI pIzen lutte reb She didn't have
no mother, an she lived at our house.
Nigh ABOUT all the men in the country
was crezy OOu her-bOGh old an
yOung-buC she wusn'G spilled none.
though she wanted her own way al
ways. Our niggers had run IF, all
but one old woman, 50 jim, my
brother, Sylviry and We raise the crop.
Oae army would come along an take
a COW or two, then the other would
come an git q horse an a COW mayD~
an then the militia they'd have a dab
at us, till we hadn't much left. At last
they begun takIn' the theeD Them
days we spun our own wool and wove
ans, linsey and fl amen, SO TO Ioee ,ur
sueep wuz to lose the c.OJhes eff our
backs, as we'll as our vlcUuals
Their was a low down family by
the name OF Drake what lived III n
cabin whar OLD man Tempielon's rem
ter lives now. He was Union I h
blue coats and Confederate to the
grays, an he stole all he could an laid
it to whatever army was highest. Oae
night Jim came l n nigh abOu skeered
to death. He'd seen Drake drIvln' off
a dozen on more of our sheep, an fol
Ierin' along to see what he don with
'em, he u onto a camp of raiders.
Drake SOL the sheep TO them. pockeCed
the money, and they was ktIln' the
pore things when Jim left. He was
only twelve yeaas old, and small for
his age and he Wuz ateard TO say any
thin to any of 'em, an iG wouldn't
have done 10 good nohOw. But Sy!-i
vIry fire d up, an asked Jun whar was
the camp; then she put on one of Jlm's
hats an lit u I followed ner, an I'll
never forgit how han'some she locked
with the red in her caeeks, nor how
she clipped 1t over the clods, slim nd
straight in her blue b m9spuQ frOck
An olGish man IL gray vas settln' sorta
droopIn' like, over a camp fire 60 one