Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-05-19
eo,,1HeRN woMEN's WORK.
,..v Did at Home During the Civil
w War.

t.. was the daintiest old lady I'M
y" and so talkative. Her white
'na" curls bobbed up and down
,nha sized every sentence With
S If the head or hand. She had
=, his to make herself Impressive
Voice was so silvery soft that
M,,dn't have been heard other
,nd no wonder, for she was sur
,.d hy a group Of young women
Di, ur away at 4 lot of denim emer-
S.r r bags which soldiers Will prob
ln. 40 you like sewing for Yankee
ny o. pretty girl With mischiev-
n Ewes asked her =,
So would have believed that I'd
heen guilty of doing such
= answered the old lady with a
As' Phi here ! am stitching away
ronr squadron \ men, or Whatever
ali EN-, and me such through
H. ,,rouga Southerner, toe. do
what my people in South Caro-
,,,5 say. Some of the old ones
r. mink that Ia lost my mind |
JUN. that I'd gone stark mad hut /
r., "a he doing something now That
4 ava in for another war
~, didn't 60 anything for the sol
4 in the last war. l suppose, said
I'm light-haired girl. Il believe you
mann women are and always have
1 y obysically opposed to anything
he work. ,,.,
fsv4u YOU believe what is absolutely
II ..na" answered the old lady, her
f.ak ewes swapping and her curls bob
IT, furously. and the quicker YOU
IN. GET such notions ont of your
H. the better If I can convince YOU
II :, vou are altogether wrong l shall
/ myself repaid for taking this long
L = nm here. Southern women not do
LINING for the Confederate soldiers,
ia alring the war. Girls, we had
f,noay "a do things With our hands,
III nobndy in my set had ever done
Hi before
T~TaIl us all about it," urged South
L, GIRL and about twenty voices
Licked up her request.
/ ~Val YOU girls and women are get
H. up your Red Cross relief socle-
H. and we had aid associations III the
Inth during the Civil War with a
Inilar object. There was an aid So
H. in every neighborhood. and we
kntbern women had 10 exercise so
lreb ingenuity that we actually did
H. realize what privations we were
Enduring in those days of busy thought
h. hardest task that an aid society
LII was when the members undertook
Il, make uniforms for company
kbnk Of it, dear girls. These uni
trms were made of heavy jeans woven
II home by our slaves. \ tailor cut
lb4m out. but the mothers, wives,
leaatbearts. and sisters made them.
Iii every stitch was hand work, too.
H. At that time sewing machines We're
imnst unknown. We knit socks and
fhirs on steel and wooden needles. and
ifnsIy things came to such a pass that
h. had to rip the ticking from our
mattresses and convert it into shirts
3br our soldiers. On every plantation
ahere were one or more shoemakers for
h. slaves. and these made up guam
It's e shoes out Of old bootlegs.
How did You get these things to the
sdiers?' asked some one. Did you
{sand them through your Sanitary
ltmmission?"
| We didn't have such a thing" ans
Ivered the old lady. sadly 1t was a
lgreat day with an aid society when
|enough things We're ready to warrant
Iendng a big box to the soldiers by
lsome returning soldier or by some SOL
Idiers body servant at home to rest q
Ilhtle spell. All the women and old
|men, too old for service, would come
|fcr miles and miles around to the
Ih0use where the box was being packed,
bringing anything they had to send
Their folks in the war One would
Firing waistcoat, one pair of trous-
Iers, another a shirt, and all something
Yin the way of clothing or shoes. | shall
never forget q scene that took place at
Imy fathers house once when my broth
Hers valet. Bob. was going back.
Everybody in the surrounding country
Ibegan to bring things for Bob to take
back, and what to put them in began
Ito puzzle us. Suddenly we remem-
lbered a tremendous trunk which my
tuncle, DR.. Mott, had brought from
Paris filled with surgical instruments
land a valuable skeleton. That trunk
had always been a white elephant on
four hands and my old father suggested
that we send the things in it. 1t was
Brought out. filed. packed. and filled
I2gain, until finally everything was in
II can see one WaiStcoat now which q
lmother brought for her boy. 1t wa!
imade of tiny scraps and one-half was
Brown and the other half blue. but She
1aid it would keep her boy warm. Fin
Tally Bob got off with the trunk. and The
next day | heard somebody cry out a
the gate Hello | went out on the yer
anda. 1t was bitter. bitter cold anC
the wind was blowing a gale. There
was an old, emaciated man on hi
horse With bundle Rugged up to hi
breast.
Good mornin', he said.
Good morning. | answered. Won
you light and com in?'
No. | reckon I'd better not H.
answered. I'm just outen the small
pox, and | hain't good out yet Min
my wife, she had EN- first. She tucl
on pcw'fully bout the burnin' an pain
an | would say: oh, reckon it's no
50 bad; don't take on So But when
l 'uek en- myself | sang another chune
ht L III. ~, IL. Z. -,