Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-06

Lee, Mason, SllQeil, morgan, JackSOH ana
Johnston, painted in black, encireled with
wreaths of characteristic Southern leaves
with ferns and the cotton plant on white
ground.
1T is said to be the only one extant Of
the II ordered for the Confederate gov
eminent in England by Judah P. Benja-
min and was rescued when ON his way TO
this country, from the Alabama when she
sunk
1T subsequently became the property
Of George Kirby Smith, but MIR. Aldrich
now owns it and has it framed and glazed
and values it at 81 Goo"
MR.. ALDRICRS handkerchief was not the
only one extant, for Confederate officer
gave this to Miss Greene during the war.
Three years ago when MRS. Louis Greene, the
present of the handkerchief was in
Winchester, Va, she found in an antique shop
there replica of it, only the silk was badly
Split and the border was blue instead Of red.
This latter fact bore out the story her aunt
told her. that six of them were made with red
borders and six with blue. These three are
the only ones that have been preserved as far
as any one knows.
As it Is true that the nine men depicted on
this interesting relic made history as few other
men have and form, in a sense a composite
picture of the Confederacy, it seems fitting to
Of them. This photograph, with an accom-
panying account of these leaders Of q lost
cause, makes a worthwhile piece Of Confed-
eFatana.
striking group up to 1861, they had served
their united country well, and it was with
real regret that they hade their Northern conn
rades and friends sad farewell and resigned
10 return to serve their native States. 1t was
natural for the Confederate States TO cheese
Tor their leaders men who had proved thsm-
selves as statesmen and soldiers.
From the British and American eneye,o-
pediaS and from that epic poem Of the war;
John Browns Body" by Stephen Vincent
Benet, have been chosen the accounts that fell
low.
But drsk what Of Judah p Benjamin him.
SELF wins ordered the unique handkerchief
made TO honor his compatriots? Bern in the
West Indies in 1871 Of English percentage and
Of Jewish faith, Yale graduate, United States
Senator, then, in turn, JEFF Davis Attorney
General and Secretary of War, catch o glimpse
Of him as Benet sees him:
Judah P. Benjamin, the dapper Jew,
sealsleek black-eyed, lawyer and epicure.
Able. well hated, face alive with LIE
Looked round the council chamber with
the slightest
Perpetual smile he held before himself
Continually like silk-ribbed fam
Behind the fan, his quick, shrewd fluid
mind
Weighed Gentiles in the balance"
After the war, Benjamin went to London,
where he became a successful lawyer In
1917 he was formally presented with silk
gown" and when he carried it with him to
Paris, where he died in 1884 its silken tex
ture must have recalled to him the silk hand
kerchiefs he had ordered from that city 20 years
before.
II lightly, in the center space, surrounded
by the Southern wreath, is JEFF Davis.
The youngest of 10 children, Jefferson Davis
was born on a farm that occupied the pres
ent site Of Farview, Todd County, Kentucky.
Descended from WEIGH family who originally
settled in New Jersey, it is probable that he
was a cousin of Samuel Davis, President of
Princeton College In 1924 he graduated from
the United States Military Academy, number
23, in class of 80. For seven years
he served in the Army, most Of the time in
Wisconsin, but in 1881 severe attack Of
pneumonia left him with chronic facial neu-
ralgia that often, in future years. nearly
blinded him. In 1885 he left the Army, and
with his bride, who was Sarah Knox Taylor,
the daughter Of Col Zachary Taylor,
twelfth President of the United States, he went
TO- live in Mississippi. In three months his
wife died, and for the next 10 years he gave
all his time and interest to his cotton planta,-
tien. Upon it he developed a system that was
almost model in the relations Of masters and
slaves" He established self-governnaent among
his slaves, and, in the light Of after events, il
10 interesting to realize that because he knew
that his servants we're well cared for and
happy he believed that slavery was net evil
- In 1845 he married varina Howell, q grand
daughter of Gov. Richard Howell OF New Jer-
sey. When war with Mexico was declared the