The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-05-24

-
Omega of entertainment for the inner
man. Not even biscuit, or a ginger
cake, was permitted, for, perhaps, the
next hostess had none to spare, and
all must be on equal footing. So, if
the men were invited for their boots,
as they ofttimes are in peace, they
certainly did not come for the supper,
but for the company.
That included the brightest, pretti-
est and most popular women Of the
Capital, and among the men were
Cabinet ministers, Senators, Generals,
subalterns and privates from every
arm Of service, all, for the nonce, on
absolutely equal footing, BY ukase Of
/, that most despotic Of regents, beauty.
5 And merry, joyous and even brilliant
revels they were. Almost all came
to dance, and the exceptions came to
find surcease from wearing mental
strain, and to try, for the moment, to
forget strain Of responsibility.
Long past midnight the dance was
kept up. Then men not on furlough
would aing themselves in saddle,
I,gallop back to camp and merely exist
through It's dull inactivity of routine
by memory Of the last dance and ex-
pectation Of the next. Then, towards
spring, as roads improved and cavalry
movements became possible, the dan
ces grew rarer. Raids had to be
watched; leave was harder to obtain,
and gradually the lax rain Of discip-
lime frightened and ssthe dear boys,
J old and young, heard "boots and sad
die" in places Of waltzes,. for long
and trying months again.
Sometimes the tragedy that made
diapason to the merry theme Of the
previous night was so sudden and SO
saddening as to shock even the war
drilled nerves Of the sufferers by it
into dumb despair.
Gallant Pres Hampton, the grand
old Generals boy soldier son, comes
back in vivid memory Of this. Young,
chivalrous and fearless, as his sire's
son could be, Preston Hampton had
the form Of a young Antinous, and all
the virile fun-love Of young soldier
born. Not for his name and his sire's
dazzling record, though these gave
him the entree everywhere, Of course,
but for his personality and sunny ma
ture, he was universal favorite with
comrades and most popular with the
Richmond bellies. One night Pres
4 Hampton fingered late after Wal
/ party. The most beautiful and bril-
|liantbelle Of Richmond followed him to
Che porch, waved him a merry Eau re-
voir' and bade him come back very
soon. It was said that he replied as
he vaulted into the saddle: Perhaps
sooner than you expect. No telling!'
He clattered back to his outpost duty
ere daybreak.:
At.dawn skirmish came, and the
gallant young Carolina boy "came
back, stark and cold, in rough,
rumbling cart.
"Dead on the field of glory !'
And the beauty who had hidden him
return, and who wove garlands for his
grave, herself knew the bitterness Of the
fat that spared not general or private
Later the bride Of a brilliant brigadier
one week, the passage Of two more saw
her bowed with grief unbearable, as
| she. tottered down the same Church
aisle, behind the fag-drsped bier Of
her dead love.
Nor was Pres Hampton s anisolated
case Of the changes and sudden chan
ges Of war.
Often news would come from f'the
'front.'" to those left further and fur
ther behind it, that some popular fel-
low had fred his last shot and gone to
answer 'Here!" at the great roll-call.
And many Of these were laid in the
stranger soil Of the State they battled
for so we'll. Tears always, sometimes
a deeper and more sacred sorrow from
one "girl he left behind him were
added guerdon for duty done at cost OF
life-here!
But the pressure of those times upon
woman s sympathy ever took shape in
active occupation, not in tears, idle
tears She was everywhere about the
oyer-crowded hospitals.
ITO do for those dear ones what woman
Alone, in her pity, can do;'
or else, with fair little hands, sending
the swift needle through tough fabrics
4 for those absent dear ones. And so
IL