Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-11
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BoOklOrer

The life Of non-combatant Virginia
aristocrats during the Civil War is no.
where more intimately pictured than in
"RecollectionS Grave and Gay" by Mrs.
Burton Harrison. Mrs. Harrison, who
at the outbreak of the war was Miss
Constance Cary, daughter Of Archibald
Cary. editor at the time of his death of
the Cumberland Civilian. Cumberland.
Md, developed during those streSsful
four years from a carefully guarded
young girl into q mature and resource
full woman, experienced far beyond what
would have been possible in peace times.
In 1861 she was living with her widowed
mother at Vaucluse. the estate Of her
mothers father, Thomas Fairfax, 8
miles from Washington, near Alex
andria. But the old white stucco
dwelling, with Its wings to right and
left under the great oak trees of its
lawns" was to be their home no longer.
1t lay too much in the path OF prob
ably advancing armies. So Mrs. Cary
sent her children off to relatives at Mill
wood. Clarke County, Va, while she and
her sister went to Manassas Junction,
where the Southern troops were gather.
ing, to serve as nurses. Before leaving,
the two sisters buried the family silver
In two large trunks, in pits dug by a
Negro servant. Four years later. when
the house had been destroyed by in
cendiaries, the trees cut down, and the
whole place used as O United States
camp, Mrs. Cary came back and found
the silver intact-"not a salt spoon
missing" Soon the daughter was al
lowed to join her mother at Culpeper
Court House, where there was new
military hospital, but was not permitted
to share the hardshipS of nursing. MY
mother had arranged for me to stay
near her at Culpeper, at beautiful old
INl0
wise mothers desire that I, already
pressing forward into unwonted privi-
lege and eager to consider myself a
young lady should be put back into
the place habitual to immature years,
and spend my days in reading and
study. Alasl it was wartime; I had
already tasted the sweets of emancipa-
ton. Like all the other girls Of
my acquaintance thereabout, I grew up
in night, and soon there was plenty
of women'S work for usP' In 1864 Mrs.
Cary went as division matron to the
hospital at Camp Winder, outside Rich
mond, and her daughter accompanied
her as nurse. To the nurses and
matrons was allotted one end Of huge
Noah's Ark, built Of implanted pine,
divided by a partition, the surgeons oc-
cupying the other end. Nearby were
the diet kitchens and storerooms,
around which we're gathered wards and
tents, the whole camp occupying an
arid, shadelesS sun-baked plain, without
grass or water anywhere, encircled by
a noxious trench too often used to re-
ceive the nameless debris of the wards
Much Of the war period was spent by
the Carys In Richmond, where not all
was gloom and horror. Sociabilities, on
q very economical scale, went on even
during the darkest days. Burton Har-
rison, private secretary to President
Jefferson Davis, was frequent visitor
In the Cary home, which shifted from
hotel 10 lodgings, then to part OF
house. The Inauguration OF Jefferson
Davis was witnessed from q window of
the Virginia State Library, in the cap
itol: the receptions Of Mrs. Davis were
attended, there were excursions by
steamer down the James River and rides
to the battlefields below Richmond and
OH one Always-to- be-remembered eve
ming the Carys received a call from the
commander chief OF the Army OF
Northern Virginia, Gen. Lee. 1T was
broad moonlight, and / recall as II it
were yesterday the superb figure of our
hero standing in the little porch with
out, saying few last words as he
swung his military cape around his
shoulders" There were even dinner
and supper parties, though food was so
scarce and UNMARRIED that it could not
constitute the chief entertainment.
The reign Of expedients in food had
now begun. We had pork enough in
different forms. potatoes, bread and
eggs. For sweets there were pies
made with dried fruit or cakes with
black sorghum molasses in lieu of sugar,
chopped dried peaches in place of cur
rants, dried orange peel, making believe
it. was citron, and dried apples doing
their best, but failing, to masquerade as
rRisinS." MY mother catered for us
and We Jared we'll, though by then had
set in the period when it was said a
citizen went to market with his money
In a market basket and brought home
his provisions in his pocketbook." Gifts
OF food were the most acceptable Of all
gifts. Following a visit In the country,
when Constance Cary had given q silk
petticoat to an admiring Negro Serv-
ant, country wagon stopped before
her lodgings in Richmond and q fat
turkey. a supply of sweet potatoes some
apples and bag Of chestnuts were I'M
loaded as . present from the grateful
Dilsey. "Conquering @ strong tempta-
ton to send the whole box to the hos
pital, we committed the rash act of
giving dinner party. None of us had
in months tasted fowl of any kind and
the result was dazzling success. fail
to recall any Of the guests save our !
neighbor lodging in the same house,
Mr.. Robert Dobbin of Baltimore, who
accepted on condition that he might |
Spiced beef which had just dropped |
like mamma upon his path. He came, |
bearing his contribution in q large china |
dish, made himself most witty and |
agreeable, and at the close of our BAN |
quet withdrew, carrying the remainder |
OF his beef at my mothers inSiStent re- |
quest" Nearly all the amenities of life |
were as scarce as food. Dishes and |
glassware were practically unobtain- |
able and the Carys at times ate from !
tin plates, with salt and pepper in !
cocked-hat dishes made from paper |
Stationery, cloth of all kinds, shoes, |
gloves soap and all luxurieS were highly |
priced. "AS loot from the battlefields |
young men passed on to their sweet
hearts presents Of toilet soap, combs and |
brushes, needle books tab, so carefully |
made for the outgoing soldier in far
away Northern homeSD, scissors, pins. |
On the retreat from Maryland in the |
previous Autumn yards of calico rolls
OF tape and SpoOls of sewing cotton had |
been tucked into knapSacks to be CRATE
FULLY received by wives, mothers and !
daughters of soldiers"
X
In Lincoln or Lee" by Prof. William
E. Dodd of the University Of Chicago,
is presented a series Of dramatic epi-
SodeS of the Civil War. Some current
ideas are disputed. There is also much |
reasoning about what would have hap
pened If certain other things had hap
pened differently. For example, II
Sherman had not made his victorious
march to Atlanta, the North would
have returned the peace party to power
and allowed the South to be victor
And Chairman mould ,>ok I@ovn &c.,. IL