Evening star., 1928-11-03

did not realize 1t then, those fatal
scraps of rusty steel had broken the
neck that day of Robert Lees army.
That time I made a row about it.
said the old wires were dangerous
things and should be got rid of some
how Then the aunts told me they
had hidden theirs in a great mass of
rags and sold them to a ragman who
was in a hurry. A mean trick, and a
Yankee one, but I could not blame
them.
Next day found handsome brown
paper parcel, which the youngsters had
left on my Office table, marked, Secret
Service" They had a great frolic over
it. They had not spared red tape nor
red wax. OF course, it was skeletons
they wished me to dispose of, but I
forgot it, and it was left there.
That night learned what upset our
grand naval attack, the day the YAM
kee gunboats skittled down the river SO
handsomely. The ram blew of steam,
and no water could be got in her boiler.
| They had to wait for them to cool off,
and worked all night. The pumps had
sucked in, somehow, a long string of
| yarn and cloth, and. If you will be-
lieve me, wire of some womans Grim
| oline-one of those discarded hoop
| skirts. That cut short the victory of
| the Confederate Navy never told
| any one what I had thrown into the
water myself soon after my recovery.
| Also, decided to leave the secret serV-
ice parcel in my Office.
| Then came the days of decline and
| defeat. ] burned what ought to burn
/ And In cleaning up my Office 1 came
across parcel of maps that should
have been called for by messenger and
delivered to President Davis to help him
in his escape. l learned from Julia
that the messenger had come and taken
parcel-marked secret service. What
was it that was taken to the President?
AS l live, we had sent the girls old
hoops to the President in his flight
And when the next day we read how
he used them, and how Pritchard ar
rested him, disguised as a woman, we
thought If he had only had the right
parcel he would have found the way
to Florida.
That is really the end of this memoir.
But / should not have written it, but
for something that happened just now
the war is over, and 1t is all past and
done with, but l met one of the big
papermen-our treasury had used tons
OF their paper in printing bonds and
bank notes.
Richards" said one, what became
of that last order of ours for water
lined. pure linen government calender
ed paper OF surety? We never got it
and / never knew why"
. For the loss Of that paper, it seems,
the bottom dropped out of the treasury.
. On that paper was to have been printed
our new issue of 10 per cent-the print
ers were ready for nearly month wait
ing for that paper. The bonds were
never got off, and that was why we had
no money in March.
Richards made this reply:
NO need any longer for secrets.
do not know how it happened-any-
. way, 1t was an extra nice job We had
the paper on an elegant little French
machine, which cost us more than we'll
ever pay. 1t ran like oil the day be-
fore. That day thought all the devils
were in it,
The more power we put on the more
the rollers screamed: the less we put
on, the more stupidity it stopped.
tried 1t myself every Way-old stock
new stock, in vain.
I'VE drained off every drop of water
We washed the tubs free from size
Then my brother there worked all night
with the machinistS. taking down thc
frame ana the rollers. You would MOI
believe 1t, but little piece of wire hac
passed in from some hoopskirt, passed
the nickers, passed the screens. through
all the troughs. up and down through
what we call the lacerators, and hac
got itself wrought in, where it was q
knife by that time. and had been cut
ting to pieces the endless wire wei
every time the machine was started
You lost your bonds because some Yam
kee woman cheated one of my rag
men,"
On that story I came upstairs. Poo
Aunt Eunice! She was the reason I go
no salary the lst of April. I though
l would warn other women by writing
down the story
That fatal present of mine in thos
harmless parcels, was the ruin of tn
Confederate navy, army, ordnance ant
treasury, and it led to the capture o
the poor President, too.