The progressive farmer., 1902-07-08
OLD TIMES IN THE SOUTH.


varied scene is spread out before
me. 1 see pleasure, grief, and honor
rising up out of the past.
Ny first recollections are pleasant;
there seemed to be no trouble in the
country, all seemed prosperous and
happy until 1859, when John Brown
made an attack on Harper's Ferry.
Then the people began to talk of war.
Quiet was restored until Lincoln was
elected President, when war was talk
ed in earnest.
1t found the South in a helpless con-
dition. They knew nearly nothing of
manufacturing. They had always de-
pended on the North for their sup
plies, giving produce in return. They
soon began to call for troops to de-
fend their homes. They were patriotic
and soon had their quota made up.
That was a sorrowful time, to see
fathers and brothers march away, per-
haps never to return. Now for the
tug of war; our supplies soon began
to give out, our ports we're blockaded
and we were in bad condition, but we
did not aim to give up, and what we
did not have we would do without. Our
people learned to make a great many
things they had never tried before.
We could make our own meat and
-
salt. There was about one boy left in
each family at the beginning of the
war, so they formed a company and
went down to the Sound and made a
supply of very good salt, enough to
last until the close of the war. We had
| plenty to eat such as we made our
selves, but no luxuries. We made sub
stitutes and thought them very nice
and were content. We had nothing
sweet except honey; we had plenty of
that, though many did not. We had
to spin and weave our cloth and make
all of our clothes; what pretty dresses
we did have and such nice jeans for
our fathers and brothers! wove and
made, for one of my brothers, a uni
form and trimmed it with gold braid.
1t was beauty.
If we had not had to work so hard
our hearts would have broken, we
were so sorely bereaved. We had mail
only once a week, and of course were
anxious for mail day to come, yet
afraid of the news we might hear. /
spent many weary weeks in hospital
in a distant city in another State, try
| ing to nurse back to health my last
brother. I brought him home at last
but cripple for life.
must say one word for the ne
groes: they worked well and seemed
as much interested for the welfare of
our soldier boys as the whites did, and
grieved over their deaths as if they
had been their brothers. They de-
serve great credit for their fidelity
during the war.
All things must close sooner or
later, and war with the rest. In the
spring of '65 our army had been re-
duced to a mere handful when Sher-
man took his march through Georgia
and the Carolinas. We had no men to
stop him, so he destroyed nearly every
thing on his march The 18th and
18th of March our lanes and fields
we're nearly covered with them. They
took all that was in sight and all that
they could find that had been hidden.
Well, the war soon closed after that,
and then came reconstruction. What
a time we did have! They sent their
"carpet-baggers" and "scalawags"
down here to make laws for us and we
had no say about it. We had to do as
they said whether we were willing or
not. The KukIux came along about
that time and tried to help us little;
it was a good thing if it had not been
carried too far. After awhile they got
us reconstructed and pretended to let
us alone, but they still talk about us
and accuse us wrongfully and expect
us to love them for it; but as am
not very well reconstructed, / do not
love very much. This is a part of my
recollections of the long ago.
MRS. D.
Sampson Co., N. @. ..