The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-10-11
f" Good mornia'. he said.
breast.

wont you light and come in?'
No, l reckon I'd better not, he
answered. I'm just outen the small
pox, and | haint got out yet. Min,
my wife, ad 'em first. She tuck on
pow fully bout the burning and pain,
an | would say: 'Oh, I reckon it's
not SO bad;l don't take on so.' But
when | tuck EN- myself sang another
chune. But l rode six miles this
mornin to put bundle in the box for
my son.
But Bob has gone with the box 1
said, and | am SO sorry to disappoint
you.
Gone, gone, he kept repeating to
himself in dazed way. well, I'll
get back home. My poor boy! 1
know he needs the things and off he
went with his head on his breast. I
secretly thanked God that the things
had gone, for think of putting gar
ments made by mother just over the
smallpox, made in house infected,
into great trunk of clothing for SOL
diers
"Bless you, my children" contin-
ued the old lady, 'what the Southern
women did for the Confederate SOL
diers in the field was only small part
OF the work the war entailed on us.
We couldn't buy things to eat or wear,
and there we're all Of those poor, igno-
rant slaves to be cared for. remem-
Der SO we'll that salt was one Of the
scarcest articles, and one that must be
had, SO we all thought. AS long as
the government could, it furnished salt
to the families Of the soldiers, giving
so many pounds to each every manth.
Polly" addressing the Southern girl,
your dear old gran pa was a salt dis
tributor, and how pathetic it was to
see the poor and the rich coming to
his house for their share. Some came
afoot, some on horseback, and Others
in carriages. And how kind, patient
and just he was! [ can see him now.
Finally time came when he had no
salt to distribute and could get none.
The people were wild for it and at last
he could stand their pleadings no
longer. He gathered many teams and
drivers, went to some salt wells in Vir-
ginia, and brought back pretty good
supply for the neighborhood. Salt earth
was also dug up in old plantation
smokehouses, where we cured our meat,
put into hoppers, dripped, and then
boiled down. Many bushels Of
nice white salt were obtained in this
way.
MANY used parched rye or parched
okra seeds in lieu of coffee, and more
beautiful beverage than the latter you
never saw. 1t was clear and rich in
color, but I couldn'tgo it. We always
kept little coffee on hand for fear Of
illness
"You said you couldn't buy anything
to wear, didn't you?" asked a young
woman, smoothing down her tailor
made gown.
''That's what I saiG," answered the
I'D lady. 'For common wear we wore
dresses made of homespun, woven by
the slaves. Polly's grandmother owned
great many negroes who could weave
really beautiful homespun and dou-
ble-faced jeans, and they also made
really very pretty and artistic wool
coverlets and counterpanes. Old
black silk was raveled into lint, then
carded on with cotton and woven into
kind Of gray poplin, which was very
pretty and soft. Our best gowns were
made of this, and we only wore them
on state occasions to swell functions,
as you girls say, when we slipped tea
made of dry strawberry leaves. OF
course Southern men, before the war,
were great on wearing silk hats. and
these were left at home. We women
skinned the hats and covered the
home made frames to- make low hats
for ladies. They looked something
like sailor hat, and rooster feathers
we're used for trimming. Our gloves
were made of black silk stocking legs.
Our mail facilities were very poor
all over the country. A Aneighborhood
would arrange to have daily mail by
having member of each family going
or sending on his day to the nearest
railway station. have known Pol
ly's grandfather, old and feeble as he
was, to go oftcntimes fifty miles in a
day to get his own mail and fetch that
of tho soldiers wives in his neighbor-
hood. They came teeming in to get