Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1921-08-12
]. w. BAKER TELLss OF CON.
DITIONS AFTER CIVIL WAR

We read that our father. Noah
after the flood, planted vineyard
made wine. and when in his Gun.
and not fit to be seenithat his sons
Japhet and Shem. took q garment
laid it upon both their shoulders
went backward, and SO unseeing GOV.
cred the nakedness. of their old fat.
her.
The same consideration must keen
me in proper bounds in this writ.
ing.
If it was possible for me now &c
depict conditions as l found then,
when reached home in April, 1866
it would be labor thrown away, be-
cause you could never understand
the description unless you had liv-
ed the conditions. In the part of Vir-
ginia where the big battles were
fought there was no buying nor
selling, for all the stores were emp
ty, and no one wanted confederate
money at any price. You could hard
ly hear of any bread or meat any
where. You may be curious to know
what we found on the table when
the women called us to dinner. SO 1
will tell you. We found potatoes,
turnips, and other root crops. These
root crops were dug that morning,
but they grew the summer before.
If you dug your stuff anyone might
: haul it away. If you made coffee 1t
was wheat or corn or rye coffee; or
you could slice a sweet potato and
burn it some over q hot fire to give
it bitter taste, put in it the coffee
pot, pour on hot water. and SO have
coffee to drink. l heard of neigh
Dor who invited some friends, who
were at his house at meal time, to
cat with him, and when the men and
women got to the table they found
two pones of corn bread and a pitch
er of water. Sometimes it was pu-
tatoes only.
But as bad off as We were as TO
our physical environment it was as
nothing compared to the great weight
that bore down our souls At this
time every decent man in my coul.-
try was disfranchised, carpet-bag-
CARS. scaliwags, ignorant colored pei
pie, day by day were making con-
situations and legislating for the
most conscientious and intelligent
people on the face of the earth.
At the same time Andy Johnson
was swearing that he intended to
have General Lee and some of his
men hung and so make treason
odious. Long before this Thad Stew
ems, backed by Sumner and Staun-
ton, had thrust dagger into the
vitals of the South. and now every
day he gave it another twist that
he might enlarge the wound and see
more blood flow. i
There were thousands of slave
owners in Virginia who were in no
way responsible for the institution,
and whose ancestors had scores of
times petitioned the English Parli-
ment to stop the African slave trade.
Now, in these days of rcconstrut-
tion, both men and women, losing all
hope, despairing of any good, took
to their beds and died because they
could see nothing worth living for.
And there were no better people
than these who lost hope and died.
l knew numbers of them. Many of
them had spent their lives working
for the moral and spiritual benefit
of their own slaves. was there and
know. And now heartbroken, these
good folks went to their graves, de-
rided and scorned by those unfit to
be seated with the dogs of their
flock.
| have in my long life seen SO
much sin and shame, wrong and evil,
crime and infamy, tears and agony,
that l am surprised to find myself
walking the earth today. When will
the Lord come; Who is ready for
His appearance. Will we suffer helc
then suffer far more hereafter?
]. w. BAKER.