The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-06-02
SARGE PLUNKETT.
A Word of encouragement to "Daugh.
ters of the confederacy."
atlanta Constitution.

LET'S 0I luz C0nleueF y.
atlanta Consultation.
I am glad to learn that the society
known as the Daughters Of the Con-
federacy has gone to work to build @
monument to the women of the war.
1t takes no persuasion to have me
join heartily in this movement-it
should have been done long ago.
Perhaps this monument should have
been built by men alone, but it seems
hat man can do nothing without the
corporation Of the women. The Con-
federate armies would have went to
pieces long before they did if it had
not been for the cooperation and the
sacrifices of Southern women, and
who will not say that these women
have been neglected in all the honors
of since the war? They surely had
their share Of the suffering and they
performed their part in heroic sacri-
fees: and now the highest monument
yet built should be built to them.
[ have been requested to write upon
this subject and to tell Of some of the
things in which these women were so
dutiful. God bless you, I could tell
of thousands of things that should
give these women a place in the hearts
Of every American citizen, but much
Of it would have had to be seer to be
appreciated. What would the young
generation know of the scarcity Of
those years? What would they know
of a blockade that shut us out from
all the world, and of what a struggle
it was to get a little bunch of thread
or cards to make the bats, or die stuff,
or salt, or coffee, or of a thousand of
other things which q woman of to-day
would not pick up in the big road.
If they had done nothing more than
spin and weave the pretty homespun
dresses that Southern women wore it
should be enough to entitle them to
the praise Of the children who have
followed them, but they did a great
sight more than the spinning and
weaving of cloth would imply. This,
though, had many more difficulties
than ever a young man or a young wo-
man of to-day could ever understand.
I might tell about these women "going
to the factories during the war, but
I have told that before and have never
seen q youth that could understand
the trouble of the thing. have seen
a line of women at the factory as long
as the procession of Memorial Day,
basking in the hot sun of summer or
wading in the cold slush of winter,
as the case might be, waiting their
turn to have a small bunch of factory
thread passed out a window to them,
for which they had to pay the most
exorbitant prices. These women
would gather from a radius of seventy
and eighty miles and sometimes stand
in line for three days before their turn
came. There was much suffering in
this, but when it is remembered that
these women did this for the soldiers
in the field and not for themselves, it
should draw them much nearer to our
hearts. The thread was needed for
clothes for the children, but the
greatest delight these women found
was in making it up for the dear one
in the army and packing in little
boxes, send it off to perhaps be lost
upon the way. That the young peo-
pie may understand, I will tell them
that it was common during the war for
settlement people to all join together
and make up nice boxes for the army.
Each little family would do up its
package and write the name of the
soldier thereon, then they would gath
err at the church or the schoolhouse
and place the packages in a box and
the box was turned over to seme SOL
der who had recovered and was to re-
turn to his command. I would not
try to explain how sad a soldier would
feel when these boxes would reach
their destination, and all the company
would gather around, eagerly awaiting
as each little package vas lifted from
it's place and a name was called, to
find that his name was not there-no
package for him. The dear good wo-
men Of those days seldom allowed this
to happen. Some way or other they
would have a package for the box and
even the children would &c to bed
hungry for days and sit by and watch
the package as it was being prepared
and not a murmur came-it was all for
papa in the army and this was enough.
There are thousands Of things that
could be mentioned in honor of the
old Confederate women. At every
station along the railroads they waited
and watched to do something for the
soldiers. But it was in the homes
that | prefer to speak of them. l
knew many of them and I know much
of the things that troubled them. l
call to mind a night [ spent on a hot
July night of 1863. I heard the horn
blowing from the house of my nearest
neighbor and l knew that something
bad was the matter. There were
mighty few white men at home and |
knew that this horn was being sounded
by a lone woman, and I hobbled over
as fast as I could. When I arrived |
found the mother weeping and a pretty
little girl very near to death. Per
haps it would not have been so hard
on the mother but for the memories
that were started by the little ones
appeals. The burden of her delirium
was:
Mamma, do tell papa to come to
his little Anna. She is so sick, so
sick"
So it went: the little girl, between
her sobs, kept up the cryfor her papa.
"Do come, papa, do come your
little Anna is so SICK
The mother could but cry, the chill
dren all cried and I cried a little my
self. The doctor came and said that
little Anna had typhoid fever and
would iinger for m time. Then
the mother wrote to the soldier father
and told him all the story-how his
little girl was so sick and of how she
called for him. The father tried
mighty hard to get a furlouch. but he