The Yale expositor., 1898-08-26
A LETTER FROM The SOUTH
Mrs. M. II. Taylor Writes an Interesting
Letter About Her Visit Among the
Southern People.

Thinking some of the Yale friends
would like to hear from the Sunny
South, will give short account of my
visit here. reached Paragould, Ark,
April 10Th and found the trees in full
foliage, the roses blooming, and vege-
tables of nearly every kind large
enough to use. The corn growing in
my brothers garden was three feet
high. This is the land of flowers and
song, the land of the magnolia and the
hooking bird, where roses of richest
tint bloom from February TO Deem
Der, and the Cactus, Cinnamon vine.
| HIBISCUS, Jassamine, and the lovely
Passion flower grow by the road side.
Since May 10 the temperature has
averaged 80 to 80 in the shade and no
cases of sunstroke or prostration.
| Nearly every Southern family keeps a
cow, and they churn the milk in few
hours after milking. AS the houses
are built without cellars, the butter is
a little soft. / could appreciate a roll
of Mrs. Menerey's or Mrs. Barr's butter
| if it could come down here in a re-
| frigerator car On the 18th of July, |,
| in company with Mrs. w. III. Wycott
and number Of other Paragould peo-
pie left here for Atlanta, Georgia, to
attend the Confederate Veterans Re-
union. Atlanta is a magnificent city,
having fully recovered from the ravageS
of the war. The GeOrgians are true
Southerners, chivalrOus, cultured, i'm
pulsively hospitable, and intensely
loyal to their heroes. Our first visit
was to the Exhibition grounds where
the Reunion was being held. The eX-
erciseS opened with prayer and singing
led by General Gordon. The first bat
tie flag brought in was that of the Bind
Tennessee regiment, said to be the
finest Confederate banner now in eX-
istence that was carried through bat
tie 1t was unfurled to the tune of
THE girl | left behind me-" while
"Rebel yells" nearly brought down the
| house. Following, came about q dozen
| tattered remnants of flags. sOled and
battle SCARED, but nevertheless dear to
the heroes in Grey, and us the strains
of Dixie" were heard, every Son of the
South stood up with barred head as the
sacred relics of a lost cause passed in.
There were speeches by Generals Cor
don. Stephen ID. Lee, Longstreet and
Miss Winnie Davis had arrived. She
came in a special car and was escorted
to the platform by General Gordon,
with an honorary guard on either side
of the aisle The band again gave
"Dixie" and as the audience arose,
"Rebel yells" went up from thousands
of threats in honor of the daughter of
the Confederacy, and of their Chief
tain whose memory they worship. 1t
was thrilling to hear the matchless ora.
tory of those grizZled heroes, glorying
in the righteousness of the cause they
had lost and the valor of the men who
sleep in the dust yet true to the Star
Spangled Banner, rejoicing in a re-unit-
ed country, and ready to shoulder arms
again for the Nations veal
Our next visit was to Fort McPher-
son where the wounded from Santiago
are in camp. One of the soldiers said.
1.-The men we went to give up our liyes
for are the lowest class of negroes
They steal everything they get their
hands on. y few go into battle, very
few. and the rest follow after, go
through the pockets of the dead. and
hang around fire like pack of vul-
lures when there is anything to cook.
| We have been waging war of human
ity on their account, and it would be
more gratifying had they shown them
selves worth lighting for"
We then walked over TO where the
Spanish prisoners were. They were
mostly sitting around, some of them
preparing dinner. They looked very
cross at us at first, but when we spoke
to them, they dropped their work and
all stood with polite attention. Only
one could speak any English, and !
asked him how many there were of
them. He counted his fingers and said
eleven, non, sixteen" Just then the
guard ordered us to "move on" and he
bowed to us and said Non Anglaire
Salsa, SenOrlta." AS our knowledge of
Spanish was somewhat limited, we
could only guess the Interpretation.
Our next move was for the Cyclora-
ma of the battle of Atlanta at Grants
park. The painting was done by a
first class artist and cost $4,000. The
representation is life size and was pre-
scented to the city by citizen now re-
siding there. Here was the battle lin
all its grandeur, and all its honorS
Through shot and shell the battle rag
ed above the fallen dead, while on
swept the martial ranks to conquer, or
to die. Heroes of the sixties in their
suits of grey, all of whom had fought
and some of whom had bled on this
very field, explained different phases
of the battle. There were two brothers
beside the old school house, one wear
ing the blue, the other the grey, both
MORALLY wounded; one is holding his
canteen TO the pale lips of the other
while life is fast ebbing away. There
was also humorous side to the scene.
Beside the long line of Uncle Sans
ambulances and beyond the line of
firing were the commissaries and buffers
who were trying to induce the men to
come in their direction, and a goodly
number were breaking ranks and going
at a double quick gait, while their lead
ers were gallantly exhorting them to
keep in line.
Leaving this, we hurried back to
Pryor street to view the parade
Ominous clouds began to gather, the
rain came in torrents while streaks OF
red shot up from the horizon to the
zenith. Some imaginative person said
it was indicative of the blood that was
shed.
Saturday morning we left Atlanta
for CHATTANOOGA "A CITY beautifully 10.