The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-04-26


 | tr.bution of S17.50 has been sent to the hospital fund. The Randall living fund has been remembered in contribution | of s10. like amount to the monu- ment to be erected at Arlington, and | the same amount Os10) to the monu- ment on Shiloh battlefield. and various smaller sums contributed to proposed | monuments in Arkansas. Texas and Louisiana; s35 has been given to help | liquidate the debt incurred by the La | dies Memorial Association in placing | the coping around Soldiers Rest" The women of the Confederacy forms the subject for the literary programs at our monthly meetings. which programs have been both interesting and instruc- tive. With this simple record of the years work of the Mobile Chapter, I hope that you will not deem us to have | sat with folded hands.
 Sent to Mrs. Harvey E. Jones by Mrs. Agnes Winston Goldsby, Historian, Mobile Chapter. D. D. c.
 What Some of the Women of Hunts- vile Did in Confederate Times.
 Sometime the calm impartial years Will tell what made them dead to tears Of love ones left to languish -
 What nerved them for the lonely guard, For cleaving blade and mangling shard; What gave them strength in tent and ward
 To drain the dregs of anguish" And sometime, perhaps, we women of today may realize. in part at least, what nerved our mothers to bear the trying ordeals which fell to them during the awful four years of the Con- federacy
 Plunged suddenly into a state of con- tinuous excitement and uncertainty. assuming cares and responsibilities never dreamed of before; their homes unprotected: theif accustomed resources stopped; living amid the horrors of in- vasive war hourly dreading the ap- proach of the enemy. and still more the reports from the front where their husbands and brothers were fighting, and where the slaughter was appaii- Ling i've cannot speak in. this connec- 1 tion of Casualties. Such. were the lines of all, while to some were added sorrows unspeakable--moment too | trying to be described.
 l We can all endure hardships to a certain extent, and deprivations when we must. We can also tax ourselves for unusual exertions when the neces- | sity arises; but confess I have no conception of how some of those .wo- men lived through the afflictions which came to them. They were probably sustained by the consciousness of util" | ity, which will bear one through many l were constantly needed for their, homes and for their country. A spirit of pa- triotism pervaded the land and from | the accounts handed down the women | of Huntsville were quite saturated-with it. although they did not enjoy their | full measure of doing for the "boys in grey" and cheering them on theft dif- | hcult ways. because they. themselves. were made prisoners. as it were, about he nf uFhO Northern Army invaded North Ala bama. Huntsville was occasionally evacuated, but the freedom never last ed long. The rest of the time its peo- pie were surrounded by the hated blue coats" except on a few delightful oc- casions when they were cheered and refreshed by Forrest raid. and could once more see face to face the beloved defenders of their country, and lavish upon them their attentions and hos pitalities and whatever they could command of household and personal comforts.
 It was in the year 1862, while Hunts vile was occupied by the Federals that one of the anxious mothers whose son was in the Army of Virginia, applied to the commanding oficer for permis- sion to go through the lines into the Confederacy. Of course her request was denied. but being a determined character and having an object so pressing, that of seeing her boy who had marched off with a company of volunteers. the year before. she per- sisted in her entreaties until she got the pass, going down on her knees, as she herself described it. to those Federal officers. weeping and pleading and promising to be so good. and take no letter or token for her neighbors who could not get away to visit their sons.
 When at last she got beyond the lines into the Confederacy. 1t was to find travel demoralized, communication un- certain or impossible and transportta- ton from point to point accomplished with the greatest difficulty. Here 1t was an OK wagon--there a crazy steam boat, and again by rail for short dist ances; but everywhere and always de- lays and interruptions. Finally, and in spite of all. she arrived in Virginia in the rear of Lees army just after the battle of Seven Pines. or which she had not heard until near enough to the place to need no telling. All was hurry and confusion-the burylng of the dead, the care of the wounded the stretching of tents and refresh ing the men after their hard fighting. Then went this brave woman from group to group inquiring where the 4th Alabama, SUI INBitiSHt was encamped They sent her from one place to another. but she did not feel fatigue or impatience, for the joy of anticipation was hers-the prospect of reunion with her son of which she had so long dreamed. The 4th Alabama? Can you tell me where to find it?" she asked for about the tenth time. Why. yes just there. See where they are stretching the Colonel's tent" he point ed "Thank you. so much" But as she neared the spot. some men emerg- ed bearing a bier, and upon 1t was stretched the youthful form of Jesse Jordan, her son-cold in death, slain in battle-snatched from her arms as they were extended to embrace him. After her long waiting and struggling and misery.
 A merciful fate would have taken her then and there. but such did not await her. Back over the fearful jour ney, bringing the precious body and her own broken heart. she came. In