Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-02-12

her weaving house and would herself
| spin for the needs Of the family. Her
| hands also used to grind all the meal
we had. In q coffee mill: for Sheridan'S
raiders had burnt all grist mills.
r WAS Just about Is years old when
the war broke out. but our home was
always a public forum with political
atmosphere. for my uncle. Judge Rich
ard CaSsius Lee Moncure. was president
Of the Supreme Court. and my kinsman,
Judge Peter V. Daniel. was on the
bench with Judge fancy of Maryland.
who administered to Abraham Lincoln
the oath of Office as President.
My fathers long years as a public OIL
fetal brought him the personal friend
ship of many men. for he was deSie-
mated by the Virginia Assembly to well
come President Polk on his visit to
Richmond. being noted as a gentleman
of "urbanc manners His first cousin.
Moncure Robinson. the great pioneer
civil engineer of America. who built the
Pennsylvania Railroad. kept him posted
as to views at the North. This branch
of our family ntcrmarried with the
Scott and CaSSatt family Of Phi!adel-
pllia--So that we were not biased Or de-
ceived as to the spirit OF politics IN tho
North.
The discussions of the Wings ana
Democrats in Congress were repeated at
our fireside. and the Missouri Compro-
mise" and bred Scott Case" were
household words.
The South was terribly indignant At
this period over the publication OF
Uncle Toms Cabin" which appeared
as serial in the National Era. We felt
that Uncle Tom and Liza and Simon
Lcerec were all pictures written for abo-
litioniStic propaganda. It seems almost
incredible. in the retrospect OF years. to
comprehend the great excitement that
the book written by Harriet Beechel
Stowe produced but as soon as 1t was
dramatiZed leading actors sought the
role of Uncle Tom. and men like Be-
iasco became famous for its portrayal.
while the character little Eva was Tar
more pathetic than any OF recent years
WE loved our colored people, and par
w ticularly Go I recall all old crone
called Granny Hannah"-then big
Hannah. her daughter. and little Han
nah-a grandchild. Granny Hannah
had been my grandmother's maid, and
originally belonged in the family OF
King Carriers descendants SO she re-
membered Tarlton's raid in Virginia,
1881, when she was 6 years old. He
had carried of her father to the West
Indies and she recalled that the British
stopped at a spring. where she was with
her mother. and that her mother gave
them a gourd Of water. and that they
we're singing. I'm the land Of the brave
lis freedom for the slave?
Hence towards 1862 she was almost
90 years old. dim of vision and crooked
Of back. but she was standing at the
cellar door with a tiny brass tea kettle
in her hand when she saw some Yankee
raiders at the corn crib filling their
haversacss. The sun glinted on their
epaulettes. and she knew a war was
going on and that all the baby boys
she had nursed were now fighting for
Virginia. so she concluded these Fed
erals were the same red coats" that
had been the enemy when her master
was a captain tmy grandfathcr) In the
the British have comet" she dropped
the tea kettle and fell dead In the floor.
OUR modest home In Caroline
" County, in which we resided.
was not far from Bowling Green. and
brought US In the wake Of both armies.
so that the Confederates canped there
for q Winter and burned up all Mother
Moncure's fence rails. They were
Louisianans. the Washington Artillery.
equipped by Mrs. Urquhart, whose
daughter became the actress Mrs.
James Brown Potter. These French
men erected a theater and gave tab
leaux but I have no memory OF any
Southern officers except Col Huger OF
Charleston, S. c.. who left hts cot at
our home.