The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-09-09

lovely old hoine, was, Madam, your late husband we learn was a vile se- cessionist making strong speachesl oN- CT the country, inflaming the minds or young men with False ldeas or pa . triotism and helping uproot govern
 ment for which he should have been willing to have fought, consequently here we will camp"
 Everything was confusion from this
 on until almost day. All around the
 house tents were pitched.
 ! When General Grant arrived we
 were a little less frightened for he assured us of his protection. and se-
 cured a very polite and sympathetic i two rooms out of ten. into which we l huddled with beds and trunks, we
 would not maks room for anything
 more, so they took our rooms ready room up stairs His aides occupied our parlor. and oh how we girls wept and begged when they burst open the door of the dainty student room join
 if had never been occupied since our brother, still in his teens had left 1t to help defend the sunny , South. and now those rompin ss thoughtiess boys of General Grants were to be at home in it. But this
 was a taste of war and we had to sub
 init
 A scene on the landing as we de-
 scended the stairs turned out In after years to be the beginning Of one of 1 those little tragedies that often play part in our lives. Mary, the sister next to me, was a most beautiful girl
 She was tall and slender with soft
 brown eyes and a wealth of sunny brown hair. She was leaning on me
 weeping bitterly over the destruction of our brothers room. when we were
 met by an officer from the parior, He asked vey gently if any one had said trar ma 0W- plained the circumstances to him, and taking Mary's hand, tenderly said:
 Come show me the things you hold so sacred and I will have an orderly they shall not be touched again while remain here" She rudely snatched
 her hand away but had the table. trunk. books and pictures removed. vert our minds from. our sorrow. he asked Mary to play for him. l shall never forget the beautiful face as a wave of indignation swept over It as she answered: When so far forget myself and my Southern principles as to entertain q Yankee soldier with music, I trust you will remind me of it. He did not get angry and order us out as feared, only smiled indul- gently at Marys outburst of temper: you ladies will be seated a minute I will unburden your minds of some mistaken ideas which possibly may be of benefit to you during the indefi- mite. time we may be under the same roof. In the first place I am no Yon- kee, I am a native kentuckian. and we are slave holders; secondly, my
 blood is as purely Southern as yours. We are here trying conscientfousty to quell a rebellion and not to make war on women and children. I regret eN- .ceedingly the destruction of your property and the seizure of your heau- tiful home. but bear in mind l am not in command ant since we are here why not be friends. l want to assure you of my entire sympathy in your late bereavement and these recent an- noyances. We soldiers have a hard life and 1t is Tn your power to make the weary hours that we may be here pleasant. We are sincerely desirous of making life as pleasant as we can for you. why not bury your prejudice and be reasonable Don't call any more Kentucky boys Yankees or they might conclude you are not up in your history and geography" There was something so Impressive in the mans voice that he was irresistible, we were earnest offer Of peace and to my as- tonishment Mary, with a grace and ease of manner which was her great est charm, arose, gave him the hand which she had once so rudely snatchcd from him and said: T thank you for your flag of truce and hope you will try to forget my insulting remark. Open the plano and l will give you chance to remind me at once of my disloyalty." Nc" he replied, gallant ly, you are only proving that my first impression of your character was correct. that you could not willingly hurt any ones feelings. We'll, as l