The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 1905-1908, 1908-04-15
Between The Lines.

nobody seemed to be busy but ambf
tiOus professional men and hospitable
matrOns. You never heard any talk o,
hard times. except when the bills for
all the year came in at Christmas, and
papa-who was a little irascible, you
know-declared ruin was staring us In
the face. But nobody believed that he
believed any such thing. and a few
better dinners and a little more petting
and fussing over than usual sOon
brought about a change OF opinion.
There we're no poor female rela-
tlons. no independent bachelor girls to
take part in the scheme OF family
maintenance or to earn their own llv-
ing. More fortunate kinspeople, as a
matter Of course, assumed their sup
port, and the only wage-earning deem
ed possible to a needy girl Of gentle
blood was in the position Of governess.
All, those easy-going. good old days.
when seven servants were not consid-
cred too many for family OF five, and
the carriage driver, cook, gardener,
dining room man, seamstress and two
maids led such irresponsible, care-free
lives as the degenerate. fretted, inso-
AEIAA1 AAHAA AAAb Aa8NAANeM AAAAeNA "a
African descent" cannot conceive OF
or understand.
And how, indeed. can We expect It
. when our own children can hardly be.
lieve in them, and, instead OF accept
ing our assurance that they were far
and away the best and most ideal days
in the history of our planet, actually
hold advanced views on the subject
They wholly fail to comprehend the
former relations between master and
slave, even refusing to recognize the
claims Of the few surviving old family
servants, whom they regard as bores
and beggars.
An up-tO-date young woman, descend
ant Of a line of old Virginia ancestors,
loves to tease her mother about Dilsey,
the ante-bellum servant OF an old
friend who imposes a semi-annual tax
On the family because she made de
silly bug at yoh mas weddin'," and to
tell of another who came with big
basket a few days before Christmas
and levied contributions Of clothing
and provisions until the basket. was
overlooking, then remarked sweetly on
taking her departure, We'll. Use com
in back fer my Crismus cir"
But girls in those days accepted the
negroes Just as they stood, with all
their imperfections on their heads" as
the natural thing, and each individual
as a protege, servitOr or necessary ad-
junct, as the case might be.
In one of those typical southern
homes a girl grew up as happy and
perfectly c0ntented with her environ
ment as any twentieth century young
woman could be.
After being graduated from school
at 16 she spent one gay year as a
young Iady-nobody talked of society
girls" in those day-and was married
in the early months of the war to
young Alississippian.
They were mere children according
to present day ideas, but girls married
young then and took no thought for
the morrow.
But the fateful morrow that was to
alter the whole course q Nor llfe ana
test tbs .rength and fibre Of character
developed by conditions in the old
south was near its dark dawn.
Six weeks after the wedding day the
s,ounp husband was ordered into ac-
tive service. and the life Of the walt
ing Vie at home" was inaugurated for
her.
The new home was on the border
land between the contending forces,
and was the scene of constant STRIFE
one day occupied by the Confederates,
the next BY the Federals; never held
for any length of time by either until
the later years of the war Some one
who kept a record said there were
sixty Yankee raids there during that
time.
Though she went to live with her
husbands family, as nearer to him.
and more in communication with the
southern armies, the old home in Ten
nesses must be visited occasionally,
and on these trips, which had to be
made by private conveyance. may hair
breadth escapes and stirring incidents
occurred.
Once, with the protection only OF
Uncle" Stephen, a faithful old man
servant. and her maid, Ada, a negro
girl raised" In the family. She MADE
the Journey Of ffty-seven miles over
road infested alike by Yankee raiders
and southern guerrillas In a hearse,
the only thing on wheels left by re-
cent raid in the town except wheel
barrows and baby buggles. The team
was a pair Of Unmatched mules, the
f1otsam and Jet sam Of broken farms;
one big, raw-bOned and tricky; the
ether small and as duh as donkey.
To this day she remembers passing
her foot idly back and forth over tle
rollers in the floor used for sliding the
coffin in. and recalls how the people
along the road stared at her gruesome
equippage.
On another occasion she went win
two ladies. one q sirl friend, the ether
-bev friends aunt, and half-grown
boy in a carriage whose body was q
spring wagon and whose cover was an
old buggy top ingeniously attached.
Two early friends-young s1ldiers-
we're going home to Tennessee on fur
Tough and had asked to ride alongside
them for company.
They set out in the early morning.
with huge lunch basket OF coil boiled
ham pickles and beaten biscuit, and a
bucket of fruit, ard in very hign
feather indeed.
The men played that thew we're
scouts under the ladies' orders, and
every now and then during the morn
ing dashed of to recOnnOitre and after