The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-11-24

Irector was leading his coliip J'a ,, r+,r
the battle of Manassas, anu 9to haI
/ holding the church serNiCII % +,aIo3aon
land the chants and hymns never Aeii
Icd 70 set Polly off in pufSC VI Pc. Pc
triotio farvor It was quite 1npoSSlple
| RI carr,I ON deyotions in conpeliIIol
with her yociferOuS yeils' 81 -.
on the expedient of taxing ne III
TO a remote oak tree far CoWIi ~ ~,
ESrono there we could still near her up
| i;ftDa t+aica softened by distance:
. "tfvr for Jeff" Damn the yam
k go 81 wish, l wish, | wish was
| in Dixie, ava ava
Nv and bye the Yankees were real
lv Coming: we could hear the roar Oh
the euns before Vicksburg, ana we
thought with dismay OF Pony ana ner
tlo,CS We felt sure they would wiring
80. neck. Poor Polly took cold and
in snite of tender nursing the WhoIe
nieht through, died, and was buried
mid the tears of the family before
General Grants troopers came to my
fathers plantation.
Shopping ceased to be pleasant
nastlme for the curious reason that
merchants were unwilling to take the
only currency that we had The shops
were nearly empty, the whole STOCK
ottentimes on two or three Shelves
They tlatly refused to sell more tndn
a small quantity at time, and many
were the subterfuges that women re-
sorted to in order to secure necessa-
rieS for their families. My small SIS
ter was we'll scoided by shopkeeper
for asking to buy phial or some
sort of extract. He had only three
and was in no hurry to part with
one Salt was so scarce that food
was often unpalatable. Leila, our del
icate child, suffered acutely for the
lack. Brother naval officers of Cap
tain E. sent him barrels OF oysters
and fish frequently, and it was a prob
lem to find salt for them, problem
not always solved satisfactorily. AT
one time Captain T.. authorized his
wife. my sister, to buy up all the red,
white and blue Woollen stuff in New
Orleans to make up into signal flags
for the Confederate Navy. She was
at once taken for a Spectator, the
merchants thought she was making u
corner in merlnaS. caShmereS ana de-
LANES. and refused TO let her nave
more than q few yards. 1t was almost
impossible to get any but mourning
material for dresses, black or purple.
1t seemed taken for granted by block
ade runners who brought our few
goods in, that all women in the South
were in mourning. A singular Gus
y
prices, they advanced with bound
every Monday. The longheaded ones
laid out all the money they could lay
hands on on Saturday for Mondays
prices would be far ahead A MEM
Der of my family gave forty dollars
a yard for u calico dress and thought
she had made a bargain because across
the Mississippi river calico was selling
at eighty dollars. The last shoes we
bought cost forty dollars Sugar was
twenty dollars a pound, a roast of
beef was fifty dollars, flour seven hum
dred dollars a barrel, tea up in the
skies, and coffee not to be bought
though you offered the very eyes in
your head. OF course all this varied
in different places. In Georgia where
cotton mills had been established be-
fore hostilities began, people could
buy warp and have cloth woven on
hand looms by the country women,
but even to get this, one mad to have
influential friends to introduce them to
the mill owners, and all the influence
could not secure more than one little
FIVE pound bail of warp. or of knit
ting cotton. Every State issued its
own paper money, and the money
taken from one State to another
would not be received In -scassng
through Richmond l placed a sheet of
hostage stamps in the aims basin at
money. / noticed a smile on the faces
of some sitting near. Before many
Sundays the aims basin was filled nigh
with postage stamps L used TO give
postage stamps to servants for lack OF
silver coin, they were always sure OF
passing. OF course II was unpatrlouc
not to knit socks necessarily We
made haversacks helmets and clothes
of all sorts for our soldiers. Gen.
Stephen ID. Lee who never used to-
bacco in any form received thirty-flve
tobacco bags the first year of the war.
The women organized sewing societies
in every hamlet, and town, and coun-
try neighborhood, and trains were
laden with our boxes of clothing. All
the old linen was burned out and
made into lint Homes were stripped
of blankets, and later on of carpets
which had to serve as soldiers blan-
kets. l think nv father sent nine
teen blankets out of his house. The
finest old wines, home made jellies.
and delicacies of all sorts were sent
to the army, while at home We lived
on hard fare. My father said we
must not nave a delicacy on the table
that the soldiers did not have. Every
one has heard of the Southern wo-
mems blackberry tea, the leaves were
green tea, and the roots were black
tea, and as to Confederate coffee al
|
that; dried peanuts, sweet potatoes,
wheat, corn meal. even ~erSimmon
pits: when peanuts got undrinkable
there was sweet potato to be tried,
and persimmon pits when sweet po
tato was nauseous. When all was
over, and we got hold of a cup of the
real thing it was as intoxicating as
champagne, and more delicious. We
had a Confederate fruit cake with
dried apples for raisins, and a Con-
federate pound cake in which corn
meal was substituted for flour. But
sweets were had on rare occasions.
Both the army and people at home suf-
fered much from the lack of sweets
and did not get over what was known
as the War appetite" for years after
the war was over.
1t was necessary to have passport
to get on the train. I had one that
described the color of hair, eyes and
complexion, height and age. and was
we'll looked over and compared by the
guard before / was allowed to go on.
1t happened that our first wardrobe
was away from her husband when
General Maury issued the order for
bidding non-combatants to enter Mo-
bile. Captain E. was stationed there,
and she set ont to go to him. The