The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-09
LOVE AND WATERS
LETTERS OF DERBY" NORRIS OF
 PHILADELPHIA.
Interesting sidelights to the Amer. ican Revolution Furnished by the Pretty Quakeress'
 Correspondence.
Philadelphia Press.

Philadelphia Press.
 A light-hearted little Quakeress. an old troopers coming and going. pen and ink in the chintz-hung second-story bedroom. and "Deoby" Norris of Philadelphia. to write to-those are the reasons for the being of Sally Wister's diary. Histori- ans have found mine of wealth in its sparkling paragraphs. and praise it's view of social conditions In the midst of one of the most important military operations of the Revolutionary struy- gle" The kind reader" of the day turns from the novel of problems and introspection and smiles contentedly as he reads of continuous tiirtations. straw. berry parties and tte frank vanities of a delightful girl who regretted a great war mainly because it exilsd her from her beloved Philadelphia
 Sarah Mister was the eldest daughter O. a substan.iaI merchant of the town of Penn. She also was far more fasci- mated by the bright coats and small talk of 'the genteel men of the military or der'' than her good Quaker father thought quite decorous. but Sally was onlv 15 when all this happened.
 The weeks of fighting and feinting Tn the fall of TIT had eliminated at Brandy would soon occupy Philadelphia. In- stantIy old Daniel Wster prepared to move away from the discomforts or town held bv the enemy. and in late September Sally was ensconced at Aunt somerv a County. Moth Wales she dates her journal entries-for before the chaise had borne her away rom ,e .he mad promised Friend Debby Norris. who lived where the Drexel building now stards. Ito write of all that goes to make more endurable the tedious days or country sojourn. ,,
 Those ten months scarcely seem ted'- ous. however as judged from Sally's lively little pen pictures. There were, to be sure times when the hours were filled with hard but healthy housswork "and not beau for miles around, as she adds. But usually "the men or war were coming and going; clattsring up to mill. where the widow of William Foulke e.iIl conducted his business. or sitting on the shady side Of the old stone mansion to enjoy dish or tea ana the merry
 There were frequent rumors. too. or the struggle going on 90 few mics rom tho scene of colonial love-makine. For weeks the journal resourds with the clank of swords. the rumble of artillery and the tramp of marching troops. while the line of the retreat from Germantown lay close to the house, close enough to h-ing into the pages intended for pThSy .,Sv Norris a vivid line or two about the | horrors of that fatal dav."
 This was only the background or the picture however. In the front ot the 1 stage stands 15-year-old Sally: In her | | her new purple and white striped Per sian. with Kenton kerchief and gauge cap." birding herself on being a Phila- delphian and keeping dress and lips m order for conquest, and the hopes or ad- | venture"
 There was a new suitor to be van' uushed almost every week. and 1t was seldom. indeed. that the light-hearted to praise in them. Major Jameson wa' "a manly sort, and of very good coun tenance:" General William Smallwood o Maryland was ''well made. with truly martial air and the behavior of the gen tIeman:" Captain stoddard, from Nev England was "clever. and a man of rol ish;" Major Watts was "a conversabl' man" Captain Swan. Mafor Cloueh ant were all written down for Debby's en lightenment as entertaining but of n vast importance in the life of this coun trv girl"
 journal is confded the wooins of ga
 young Captain Alexander spotiswood
 Dandridge of Virginia. It has come dow on the best of authority that he wa "the very handsomest man in existence.
 and that ''the moon gave sadly nieas ing light" and that the two, in spite O nine days acaueintance, "could no have been more sociable had we know one another for seven years" and ve the Southerner returned to his comman' with the memory of what Sally naivel! calls her Every gentlest refusal
 ''T think" she writes. that as I hav' escaped thus far safe. I am quite heroine. and need not bt fearful of an' of the lords of creation for the future . That she prophesied truly Ia found h. the final sentence of her f.-ief biography Sarah Mister died fin Philadelphia. ii her fortv-frst vear. unmarried"
 The old three-stGrv Revolutionary houe' at Pennllyn was razed years ago though | .port Nf it et'lI r"~''ive1 .i~ the horon o J. E. Caldwell. which standS a hundred yards to the north of the present railroad station but the memory of Sally Mister the admitted belle and unconscious histo rian. lives still. not only in the pages o Hugh .Wvrne.' but in her own delight J full confessions.
 "The British have actually departed she writes near the close. "fhe happ, rumor Is confirmed hv trooper who wal in my city only yesterday. I had begun to believe in Pope's twelfth beatitude Blessed are they that expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed bu now I am all of stew tG get back tc town and see thee. Debby. aSd no longer