The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-07
WEDDING CAKE CAUSED BATTLE
 IN CIVIL WAR
Human Incidents of Days of '61 Recalled Union Wagons
 Raided for FrOsting.
. (Hartford Times.)

1 In these days of wars and rumors l of wars, the minds of many or the | older people go back half century
 to recall conditions in the days when
 war was stern reality in this coun-
 try, and when tender-hearted women' l north and south, were working, as are
 the Red Cross women of today, to l provide comforts and little luxurles for
 the men at the front. They smile at
 some remembrances. their eyes hll
 with tears at others, and their pity
 for wounded and suffering men and | children in the lands across the water grow deeper and stronger with their
 "reminiscences of the past. Carefully preserved uniforms of
 Federal blue and Confederate gray are | brought out, year by year, by their | owners, to be worn, once more as they
 take part in the Memorial Day cere-
 monies of their sections. But the caps, | with their distinctive shape, are now | seldom, if ever, seen except in old photographs or other pictures, or pre- served as relicts in some museum.
 There are no caps of similar shape worn today, and the modern headgear I is probably better adapted to comfort and convenience than were those. AL though many of the soldiers of 1861 were mere boys, as the survival Of so many today, who are still strong and able to work each day proves, nous | taches, "sideboards' and even boards were worn by men generally, as soon as they could be raised, so that the pictures of the young soldiers of these days look like those of older men. The absence of shaving facilities in camp made the fashion still more wide spread, and. smooth faces were the ex- ception.
 Having ones picture taken was in those days, much more of an ordeal than at present. The card photograph
 had not yet entirely displaced the old ambrotype, so that soldier in the 1 camp and on the field, or little often
 carried one of the older style. If he had his own picture taken in his uni form, his face usually showed all the soIemnity which the placing of ones head in vice and standing or sitting | motionless for what seemed like a long period, combined with the nat | ural regret at leaving home and loved ones, involved. Rarely is a smiling face seen in one of those old photographs, and when one realizes
 the conditions under which the picture had to be made. it is no wonder. There | were no cheap cameras then, by means of which snapshots. showing the little. everyday details of life in the camp and on the field, or pictures of wife,
 babies or mother, in familiar sur- l roundings and dress. could be made to send back and forth in those long let ters so eagerly awaited and so dearly treasured. These would have meant much Ito the soldier of those days, even as they do to the modern fighters. Home by "Christmas."
 To look over letters written from the camps in the days of '61 is a reve- lation in more ways than one. The stationery is different. Soldiers wrote on whatever they could find if they had no note paper handy. The con- venient modern pad had not put in an appearance. Note paper was ruled with distinct blue lines. usually. Some times it was possible to get that which had, at the top of each sheet, gray picture of the flag, or some similar device, and these were looked upon with longing eyes by the children of the households to which the letters came. The letters told of various de- tails of the camp work; of hospital duty, perhaps in some building for merly used as a courthouse or similar public place, in whose attic might be picked up articles like wooden can- teens of Revolutionary days; old swords or other relics of earlier days
 of strife. Men whose names have be- | come famous in the annals of the na- l tion were then just beginning to be known, and the frank comments upon
 them and the way they impressed the | men of the rank and file at first sight,
 are of great interest. Always there
 ran, through those letters, the under
 current of longing for home. The | hope that the war would be a short
 one, and that the soldier might return 'by, next Christmas or even sooner
 was often expressed. There were loving messages to children, some-
 times printed instead of written, that the childish eyes might read them for | themselves. Wives were treasured, told that the writers were well; that
 there was no danger to them, or, if
 there had been sickness or peril from
 the enemy's bullets. that these were past and the writer was safe and sound.
 A box of home comforts for the sol- dier at the front contained much tEat
 was different from what would be sent
 in similar boxes today. The transpor-
 tation facilities were not so good. and
 what was sent must be something that
 was not too perishable in it's nature.
 Jellies were favorite delicacies, since
 they could be packed securely in their glass containers. Dried fruits could be sent, also things like apples and nuts; and, if the distance were not too | great, perhaps cake or something of that sort. For the sick in the hos pitals such things as coffee, white su- gar, barley, tapioca, gelatine and sim
 story is told of the bride of a Confed-
 crate officer, who had solved, one by one, the problems of suitable
 bridal attire by using white crepe
 shawls, old lace and even treasured
 baby dresses for her wedding gown
 and other articles of the trousseau.
 but who was in despair about the | wedding cake. Her old "mammy"
 had ingeniously made the cake itself,
 using dried cherries as substitutes for
 cherries but there was no white sugar | for frosting available. At the last
 moment, the brio groom and his men captured a suffers wagon, laden with hospital supplies, and with the call lousness of war, appropriated to the