The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-02-17

| WOulu naVe WdrTauleu Iue uepOSed mead
of the house in any act of reprisal Miss
Melanie had promptly "put things on
an amicable footing" early in the &C.
ton.
"You see Brother Lester she had
said, 1--WE look at this thing from an
entirely different point of view. The
girls and l are good rebels, if that is
your designation for us Confederates.
You are loyal citizen, if we choose to
so consider man who stands with the
enemies Of his section. We are in deep
sympathy with the cause You cannot
consistently wish it success; therefore
in order that the harmony of our once
united little home circle shall not be
teopardized we VIII agree that the sub
ject of the war shall never be touched
upon under this roof
Little Potts olutohed his hair with q
despairing gesture. 'The devil and
Tom Walker, Mel, you may as we'll
paddock our jaws and DO done with 1t.
There wouldn't be much food for con.
versation left, my dear, if we accept
your terms. could stand it better than
| you three women
| He had come home loaded up with
items cleaned from various sources
touching the movements Of the sharp
ing state; the imminence of the eman.
cipation proclamation and kindred top
les just declared contraband by Miss
| Mclanie.
"Oh, pray don't disturb yourself on
that account. We three women are kept
thoroughly posted OH current events at
the daily meetings Of the Ladies' Sol
diers' Assistant society"
"Yes, but d-n it,
Father - Lester - father" in q
breath.
Pardon me, my dears, but there are
occasions when little mild profanity
acts like gentle purgative-clears the
system. What was going to say when
all three Of you jumped on me at once
was that the ladies' what you call EN-
society can't possibly know everything,
seeing there are no mon cleaners among
them
"Oh, but I beg your pardon! You
forget the Rev. Mr.. Brownell He is
invaluable to US in every way--so full
of information and of suggestions. -
"Yes, had forgotten him. Then Of
course he has told you all about the
Marine brigade. 1t promises to be the
pest of the river and am afraid we
are going to suffer at its hands.
mo-, said Olivia, suspending work |
on the wooden comforter she was knit
ting for Neddie Matthews, II don't
think we've heard about any brigade"
"Nof Well, if Aunt Nellie hadn't
forbidden war topics I might explain its
pestiferous scope to you. As it is, VIC
are likely enough to find out by expert.
snce what it means"
'Lester, you are positively growing
malicious these troublous times" said
Miss Melanie, noting his preparations
for departure with frown of disappro-
baton.
"No; only submissive" And with a
smile that lacked much of its old time
brightness little Potts went his way to-
ward the warehouses, which in his
stealthy goodness he had virtually con.
verified into free distribution rooms for
the needy ones Of the town.
1t was in this manner that the har-
mony Of the home circle in the squat
little house on the terraces was pre-
served until that befell which Miss
Turner had mournfully predicted. .
New Orleans was occupied. Vicks-
burg had fallen. Apologize county was
Theoretically sealed from the rest of the
world, and the upper and neither mill
stones were in position to crush at will.
Cloverdell, in those days of going
without was reduced to one newspaper,
issued weekly. The fact that it was
printed on the reverse side of wall pa
per Of an exceedingly forid pattern did
not vitiate its statements touching the
inyincible valor Of the army which was
moving on to the total humiliation of
the foe nor lessen the impressiveness of
the call it made for grand rally of the ,,
women on q certain Tuesday to devise
means for making and forwarding cloth
ing to the Apologize sharpshooters. ..
The fervor Of the call resulted curl
ously. Mrs. Brownell, the president,
had declared that the moment had ar
rived for the women to sacrifice their
all for the husbands, fathers, brothers
and lovers who were in actual need 1t
was cry that sped straight to every
feminine heart in the community, pierre
ing it with all individual intensity.
The old courthouse, with its square
yellow dome, opened its doors early on
that morning, none too soon, however,
for the eager procession of willing feet,
Fastening to make fresh sacrifices to
"the cause"
All nature seemed at war on that
smiling morning in the glad springtime
Of the year. The china trees that CIR.
died the old courthouse roundabout
were scattering their purple chalices on
the ground, laden with perfume; mock.
ing birds were pairing under the rose j..
trellises in many garden; the smell .
of freshly spaded earth bespoke garden l,
early hyacinths starred the n n,
sod. =
but one cares 80 little about spring ::
gardening when there are no men left .. -
to feed," said old Mrs Denman, care "
fully laying her votive Offering on the -
long table before the cutters out. =,
1T Is my parlor curtains, she said, W W
stroking the damask flowers W
about to fall under the shears. II u
try to match the flowers, my O..
1ears; they are SO large it would entail A. =.
\ great deal of waste. l think, with W
,areful cutting, you ought to get at -
east ten shirts out Of the whole set of ~ ~.
al
"And no end Of caps out Of the -,
'craps," said one Of the cutters out, vi
laying an old shirt on the -.
brilliant damask by way of pattern. W.
Mamma sent her spare room blankets Gil
n this morning, but the borders do get .u
% dreadfully in our way. We don't sn
hink they would like to wear blanket pr
hirts with those dreadful blue stripes 10 -"
Iown tho back, do your" ~
II really don't know, my love. From 49,
he way my boys write fancy they are a., ~,