The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-11

would triumph. because we Knew II TO be just. The god of battle was on our side, and did we not have the Christian heroes, Lee and Jackson, in virginia. with many another elsewhere? How. then. could we fail?
 Mrs. Graham. the governors Wlte' was president of the Soldiers Aid so- ciety in Hillsboro. All the women and girls old enough to do anything be- loneed to.it The school girls attend- ed weekly meetings. and each of us was expected to make a soldiers gar ment every week. We learned to Knit in the dark. while studying. sitting in the class or wal ing along the street. Some of us could easily knit coarse yarn sock in a day, and go to school. too. Mrs Graham was an impartial judge of all sewing. No shoddy or careless work escaped her critical eye Many times did sne make us pull out our stitches and put them in with greater care. Tho matrons had relief squads of girls under their direction. who accompan nied them on certain days of the week to the railroad station, mile or more distant. carrying patchers of butternlilk. baskets of tomatoes. fruit, and biscuits for any sick or wounded soldiers who might be pass ing through. We used to walk through the cars. fill canteens. distribute fruit and biscuits. give an encouraging glance or a kind word, and always grieve that we mad not more to give.
 Once. by mistake, we got into g car filled with Yankee soldiers. prisoners going to Salisbury They begged us for milk. but with flashing eyes and tilted chins we said: No. there is not enough for our own boys and we'll not give you any" The longing look of one poor boy in blue. as he imploring- ly held out his canteen, has never been forgotten by one of that group of girls. The dlrc need of our own boys and the persistent refusal of tho Yam kees to exchange prisoners had hard ened our hearts against anything blue"
 No beaut:- or belle in Parisiar gown was ever more righly ro3ed than those North Carolina girls in their home spun 9ressea woven at home and made by their own hands. How proudly they were worn--how much they boys ad- mired theIc
 Sewing cotton was very rare, and sewing silk almost out of the quos- tion. Every end of thread was care fully hoarded Sometimes few spools of blockade" cotton were obainei at fabulous prl2es-S6 per spool.
 As the girls grew their dresses had to be heightened at the bottom, gen erally with some contrasting material Every bit of woolen or silk was treas ured for trimming, for cording seams or covering buttons. Our mothers an te-bellum dresses were cleaned. turn ed, dyed and used over and over aga in in every possible way. Silk stockings were raveled. the threads doubled and twisted on q spinning wheel and knit ITNy, haypy the girl who could trim her hat of neatly braided rye straw or pal metto with artificial flowers made of the scraps of some ancient white mus lin dress. after the larger portions had been made into the handkerchiefs or the like. Such searching of garreta such divings into old trunkc for treas uses to be converted into ornaments for the girls growing up everywhere
 Fortunate, indeed, was the household that had a supply Of oi! or candies. Many had no light at night. except from dry brush CT pine knots. One notable invention of the times was what we called q cob light" Long pieces of closely spun cotton strings were passed several times through a miXt4re of yellow wax. tallow and rosin. and then carefully wound on q rorncob, with one end projecting to light This had to be closely watch ed and uuwound by degrees, to keep the whole mass from burning at once
 Substitute was a famous word of the time Innumerable substitutes for coffee were pronounced excellent. Parched rye, sweet potatoes dried and parched; burned molasses, okra seed, persimmon seed-iEdeed. almost any thing that made q clear-looking brown impression when parched was called coffee. Starch was made from grated Irish potatoes and corn.
 Every bit of lead was collected and used for. bullets. All the earth from rnder old houses was scraped out by the government and leached for salt petre to make gunpowder
 Envelopes were turned and used again. Wrapping paper and the color ed sheets on the outside of sheet music and even wal paper. were fashioned