The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-08-18
STRONG ARGUMENT
FOR EQUAL SUFFRAGE

BelleyieW, Aug. It.-MrS. IRE
mere left last Tuesday morning for
jacksonville, Brunswick, Darien and
Savannah, where she will visit the
scenes of her childhood.
Out in the fiat piny woods of east
ern Georgia, about 3 II miles north
of the old yellow Altamaha river and
some II miles west of Darien, near
the old Macon turnpike, there sits a
house, unique in it's construction, for
sitting there as it has since way be-
fore the time of the Mexican war, it
has been added to and built on to
from time to time as needs and cir
cumstances justified and having this
age to it's credit, it shows the differ
ent degrees of Woodcraft that has
prevailed in this community the past
80 years, starting with the original
log house at one end, and ending
with modern weather boarding and
lath and plaster construction at the
other end, forms a long, low set,
rambling house of very striking and
unique appearance. A few hundred
yards away, across slough, but
within voice call, reached by a foot
bridge made of pine logs, stand two
old log houses, with age showing in
every crack and joint, and right by
stands a large, modern, two-story
house, marking a strong contrast be-
tween the new and the old. Fifty
years ago, from one of these houses
rushed woman into the night
Clasped in her arms was little girl
baby, wondering what it was all
about, and following close were a
few faithful slaves, and to the woods
they fed in terror of their lives, for
the fame of Sherman and his army
on their march to the sea had pre-
coded them, striking terror into the
hearts of the defenceless women and
children left at the homes and fire.
sides. The day arrived when strange
horsemen were seen in the country,
riding with an arrogant air and de-
handing the best the country afford
ed, and paying for nothing. AS the
stream of the refugees, fleeing for
safety, increased in number, terror
struck to the hearts Of the weak and
as the woman rushed out into the
cold night, with the determination
that the dreaded yankees would new
er capture her little girl baby. So
for days and nights they wandered
through the woods, hiding here and
there At night the cries Of wild
animals blending with the soughing
of the wind in the trees, with
splotches of red striking upward to
the skies, here and there, showing
to the panic stricken wanderers the
location of the latest outrages, until
at last, sick at heart and body weak
ened from exposure, and borne down
with grief of the fearful knowledge
that the Yankees had killed husband
and protector in battle, and that har-
ried and hunted they were growing
weaker and weaker, and the sounds
of the tramping of men and the
booming of guns sounded nearer and
nearer, until overwrought neves
gave way to the strain and they
found them, mother and child, with
the few faithful slaves, emaciated,
worn and helpless. And those awful
Yankees lifted them tenderly into
wagons and carried them into Sa-
vannah and from there they were
shipped to Hilton Head, where a
division of the northern army had its
headquarters. They were placed in
a kind-hearted Southern woman
home, where the mother received
every care and attention, but in spite
of which she faded and withered and
passed away into the great beyond.
That little child is my mother. She
was only one of thousands. From
year to year, as opportunity affords,
she steals quietly away and visits the
scenes of her childhood, going into
little, quiet, out of the way places
that few people of the busy world OF
today hear about, tracing the lines
of Sherman's march over again, and
living over those scenes that bring
wildly to her mind the loss of her
dearest possession on earth-her
mother.
AS the newspapers dish up scenes
of bloody carnage now being enacted
in Europe and all over the world
my thoughts revert to my mother s
stories of the great civil war, and
picture the scenes of gore and strife
and misery and the millions of men
husbands, brothers and sons torn
from their families, their homes
for what? Talk of statecraft and
needs of country much as you please
if woman had a voice in the affairs