The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-01-02

| please marin, bury me 5es outside de
| family lot jes' as near yo grade as q
| poo black oman" and then sank into
silence from which her redeemed spirit
| took its flight. Her grave was dug
| where she asked to have it. Our rector
from the old Colonial church, in his sac
red vestments read the service.
Our tears fell and our hearts were
sorely stricken at the thought that our
faithful servant and dear friend was
gone. Her grave Is now surrounded by
wall like that which encloses the family
lot.
The other servants, Sarah and Joe.
were Just as faithful as Henry and
Nanny. Our generation never knew
but one cook in the kitchen of de big
house." but Sarah. and there was never
a better cook in any house. Sarah used
to say, IT'S been cookin' all my life, 1
believe was born a-oookin',"
NEW YEARS DAY, 1866
1t was a typical Virginia winter day.
cold. crisp, electrical. with the sun shin
ing from a clear sky Eastwood was a
ting ready for our New Years guests
Fires had been lighted In all the down.
stairs rooms. and, in the great old fire.
place In the main hall the flames were
leaping merrily upward into the chimney
from the great logs that Joe had piled
On the massive andlronS.
''Uncle" Henry had gone very early to
get the silver. and now Aunt Mary and
we three children were engaged in pol
fishing the pieces that would be used at
dinner. How magnificent that old silver
was. The large pieces were engraved
with the coat of arms, consisting of a
stays head with wide spreading antlers
from which there was suspended a hunts
mans horn; in the lower part OF the
40 o1.4 dArr
first OF our ancestors of whom we know
anything devised the coat OF arms after
he became master of the hounds" to
William the Conqueror, grandmother told
us.
At eleven o'clock our guests began to
arrive, and by twelve they were all at
Eastwood. It is laughable to me now
as remember the vehicles and teams
that brought old friends to Eastwood on
that New Years day. Two or the old.
numbering family carriages were drawn
by mules; to another was hitched a mule
alongside OF an age-specked white horse
and-well, they were all In keeping with
these described. And these persons were
representatives of some OF the best
known families of old Virginia.
The ladies', and none but ladies came
(their carriages being driven by faithful
old servants) were arrayed in homespun,
which they had made with their own
hands. Their hats. also, were home
made, and were gracefully decorated with
squirrel-tails. turkey feathers, fox-fur. or
some such thing Mono Of them wore
1ewelry; 1t was all buried, like our SILL
yer. They wore, instead, polished
thorns with red ceiling wax heads at
their threats and in their hair: one OF
the younger ladies wore a cross of holly
berries suspended from her neck. There
were about ten ladies besides our own
family to sit around the table at dinner.
Grandmother always said grace" at
meals after the men of the family went
to the war, and on this occasion 1t was
more than grace that she said--it was
a prayer; q prayer for all who had SUI
fered in the cruel war; and for the
men and boys far from home today
whose loving thoughts fly back to their
dear ones" That queenly woman has lain
in her grave many years, but never can
] forget her voice and words as she spoke
that day. I looked into her face and saw
q tear lingering upon her cheek; but
quickly she brushed II away, for this
was to be a happy occasion.
We had remarkable dinner; one that
was worth Tin the only money that We
had In those days. about $1,000. This
fact need not astonish you, dear madam;
glance at these quotations published at
about that time in the Richmond Wing:
Salt, 81 pound; sugar, $40 a pound; but
ter, $40 a pound; barrel of -four, $685.
spool Of thread. $50; shoes, SIS a piece or
$50 a pair; (the reader viii remember
that thousands OF men needed only one
shoe each--the ''ot11er'' foot having been
lost In battle); firewood was selling for
800 per cord, and Oolong tea sold for
s125 a pound and could be had only when
some blockade-runner brought it to the
neighborhood We rarely ever had real
coffee. but q fairly good substitute was
invented; It consisted Of burnt sweet
potatoes and scorched rye. all ground to
a powder.
At this particular dinner we had a
goose worth about 500: an old ham that
had been long hidden in the attic. worth
every cent Of $s2S. and several kinds at