The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-09-10
A GIRLS WARTIME MEMORIES
PIT nv amer NtC Gov ~
INTO HER NEW NOI ~.
story oG The sword In the Mountains
IhattansoGa In the Days Just After
the CiNn war The cumberland Noun
tain Polk Real Things h the Beck

the CINu var The Cumberland Noun
tain FoIk Real ThinEs tn the BECK
A. a very small girl Alice MacGowau
went to Chattanooga with her mother
- visit the plac" where her fathers reg
m.nt was -ncamp.-i "A few months before
nv. troops were mustered out In that
region. where. reminders Of th" civil war
were al about the family settled.
There was no school. but the chaplain
81 a regiment taught some pupils in the
baptist Church. In an ambulance Miss
MaCIiuwan'- family went driving and
the camp cook taught her what 10 do
with hard tack and bacon. This was
th. military atmosphere and these wer''
the experiences that she has uss-l in
writing The Sword in the Mountains. :
a novel which the Putnam- will publish
b..fnr" i0ng
Miss Mac iowan spends fHU=t - her
tuIc ~ Carmel by the Sea IN California,
aud when she tells Eastern p..ople how
she came to writ. about civil war days
n IL necessarily long distanc. process.
she has talked this Way Recently.
4 suppose all Schoolgirls have some
period ~ which they aspire 10 become
writers ~ fiction said she -Jsually
~ pr,c,,laa or follows ths longing To GO
n IN" stage. lu-t a. IN" Youthful male
has dreams nf running away or becoming
\ Opwhuv or bandit
Aupar-ntly IN the case Of Miss Mac
Gowan the order ~ ambitions was re-
y"rs.-d for only "a little while ago she
took par IN an open air production e
Constance SINNERS David out there
IN California: and her literary aspira-
tons came early. "a may be- seen;
For my own part. as I graduated from
the perfuTming u lengthy novels by my
dolls I grew into she hiding of sundry
sheets - paper which contained my
.arly efforts at composition. NV father
was an s-iitor. he had been a soldier.
and while he fr.-tsrel INV desire Co write
he naturally directed u toward his most
romantic personal experiences. those Of
the civil war.
was very small child with very
large .ves when I came to Chattanooga
AT the close % that struggle MY fathers
regiment was there encamped. he being
Provost Marshal and my mother brought
IL down from our home in northern Ohio
~ make him visit. That visit even
tust"d IN our remaining IN that beautiful.
picturesque. war desolats-d region and
building 'hcrr nay childhood home
-Of course though the troops were
mustered out six months or such a matter
after w. reaCh'd the South. the thought
the sugge-tiCn 81 war was everywhere:
the blue hills about the little town were
whit" With camps. bugla- sang across tho
dawn - dusk and the streets were full Of
uniformed men
-Our cook who had been n camp cook
taught m" - make wonderful me-ses
OF hnrd tack ana bacon bought my
small mNurie. az the sutlsrs and an am
bulsncc was he vehicle IN which The family
took its outing for awhile and I still have
n vagrant impulse nov and then 10 allude
to a family carriage 10y that title
At thai time il sH"mNd to mo this was
life 30 was The world made. and merely
absorbed " without getting any detached
view Of tn" picturesque and historic
valu" 81 il. But when ! was n woman
grown and the Tennessee in flood had
washed AWAY the military bridge built by
Ro~scran- IN IN" fall 81 a. while IN. rising
tide ~ civilization had done away also
with the forts the warehouses and the
Federal structures put in place for war
pUrpu-e-. when people came down from
IN" North eager 20 he shown over the
hattl,ii-lds and told where this one AS
saulied the ridge and whsr" that one
claml--Fsst tn. rough trail up Lookout
70 the battle above the cloudr then told
the stories NJ they were told TO me. thrilling
AZ realization ~ what theatre that great
valley had been for "A war drama.
But u was not until ] had seriously
undertaken ~" profession ~ letters. !
not indend until produced several novels |.
upOn which ! put earnest end eavOT and
good hard wor' the last two being tales |
~ the Cumberland mountain folk. that
] re1liIed how great story, how touch |
ing. how romantic. there was in che figure |
~ the loyal Southern mo,Intai nc~r isolated !
among his rrbelling neighbOrs CRYING !
acr,Ies the foods ~ war 10 Father Abra- /
ham for s'Iccor. From the zine this came /
homo to ma I was determined 20 write
a book which should tell his story ri
have not done 30 in The Sword in the ,
Mounta ins' u 10 becaiIsa characters Won ,
have treated sometimes tsIrn upon YOU .
and will or won't With personality I
~ their own
-Livihg where have lived with INV
friends, such ~ they are. ! could do no 4
pther than -ee the pathos ~ the Lost /
'Ruzs Nv paoI.le all wore the blue \
Nv mpih"r's forb@lrs. however. we're
slave owners IN Penn@vlvania and Mary !
land when New England and New YORK. ,
vet h,.ld human Chattels and q Southern
With the Confederate point - view than
snv ~ my Onto relatives can find utiite I
ss.rrnlv or Trooper.
Yet am hoping that after all merely
appreciate both ~ the contendinR Amer II
can forces. and am able ~ feel in them \
that mighty pride in their valor. that
'ondnning ~ any faults which portarity
nerCifilly extends tlo her heroes
-ReFoTs ! wrote The Sword IN the
Mountains ! had produced two novels
nic'uring the Southern mountalneer. I
md had written numerous short stories |
NNTfff n a.