Part 15 (1/2)
We went to the White House They gave us tea The President said he had been on the way to our house, co with all the Davis family, to see me, but the children became so troublesome they turned back Just then, little Joe rushed in and insisted on saying his prayers at his father's knee, then and there He was in his night-clothes
Decee of this good fortune and a full larder, have asked Mrs Davis to dine with ame We had Mrs Davis and Mr and Mrs Preston After dinner alked to the church to see the Freeland-Leedding Mr Preston had Mrs Davis on his arm My husband and Mrs Preston, and Burton
264a THE DAVIS MANSION IN RICHMOND, THE ”WHITE HOUSE” OF THE CONFEDERACY
Now the Confederate Museuht up the rear Willie Allan joined us, and we had the pleasure of waiting one good hour Then the beautiful Maria, loveliest of brides, sailed in on her father's arm, and Major John coxe Lewis folloith Mrs Freeland After the cere was there up and down the aisle The happy bridegrooirls complained, but he said: ”How am I to know Maria's kin whom I was to kiss? It is better to show too much affection for one's new relations than too little”
December 21st - Joe Johnston has been made Commander-in-chief of the Arnes Lee and ”little Robert” (as they fondly call General Lee's youngest son in this hero-worshi+ping community) called They told us the President, General Lee, and General Elzey had gone out to look at the fortifications around Rich he had been with theray horse
Mrs Howell, Mrs Davis's o on the cars a man said, ”We want a Dictator” She replied, ”Jeff Davis will never consent to be a Dictator” The man turned sharply toward her ”And, pray, who asks him? Joe Johnston will be ested Of late the Army of the West has not been in a condition to dictate to friend or foe Certainly Jeff Davis did hate to put Joe Johnston at the head of what is left of it Detached frostreet! Oh, for a day of Albert Sidney Johnston out West! And Stonewall, could he coht, came forsoirls, but I asked no questions He i, ”I do like your husband so much” ”So do I,” I replied simply
266 Buck was ill in bed, so William said at the door, but she recovered her health and ca queenly And then, with the top of the landau thrown back, wrapped in furs and rugs, we had a long drive that bitter cold day
One day as ere hieing us hoht, asked Brewster what are the sy in love Sam (Hood is called Sam entirely, but why I do not know) said for his part he did not know; at seventeen he had fancied hio” Brewster spoke on the symptoms of love: ”When you see her, your breath is apt to coot it bad You are stupidly jealous, glowering with jealousy, and have a gloomy fixed conviction that she likes every fool you meet better than she does you, especially people that you know she has a thorough contempt for; that is, you knew it before you lost your head, I ated spooniness, I will spare you,” said Brewster, with a giggle and a wave of the hand ”Well,” said Sa a breath of relief, ”I have felt none of these things so far, and yet they say I a ladies, a liberal allowance, you will admit, for a man who can not ithout help”
Another day (the Sabbath) we called on our way frofall insisted upon taking -room to rest a while He said Louly was there; so she was, and so was Sath on a sofa and a rug thrown over hifall said to me: ”Do you know General Hood?” ”Yes,” said I, and the General laughed with his eyes as I looked at him; but he did not say a word I felt it a curious commentary upon the reports he had spoken of the day before Louly Wigfall is a very handsoirl
267 December 24th - As alked, Brewster reported a row he had had with General Hood Brewster had told those six young ladies at the Prestons' that ”old Sa he would not irl, ould throw herself away upon a maimed creature such as he was When Brewster went ho Saood sense, whereupon the General rose in his wrath and threatened to break his crutch over Brewster's head To think he could be such a fool - to go about repeating to everybody his whi my seat at the head of the table when the door opened and Brewster walked in unannounced He took his stand in front of the open door, with his hands in his pockets and his set from his forehead
”What!” said he, ”you are not ready yet? The generals are below Did you get ed my husband to excuse irls coenerals had been too ot to ask the new one's name They went up to dine inhis dinner, with Lawrence's undivided attention given to hi in and out of the world enerals The new one proved to be Bruckner,1 who is also a Kentuckian The two ht before Chickaer be kept out of the conversation So General Buckner said: ”Once before I slept with anext day” He had raduate of West Point and had served in the Mexican War In 1887 he was elected Governor of Kentucky and, at the funeral of General Grant, acted as one of the pall-bearers
268 again ”When Sa, we said: 'You or I may be killed, but the cause will be safe all the same' ”
After the drive everybody caood hu It was very nice of my husband to take no notice of my conduct at dinner, which had been open to criticisood humor
Christmas Day, 1863 - Yesterday dined with the Prestons Wore one of my handsonificent Kentucky generals were present, with Senator Orr from South Carolina, and Mr Miles General Buckner repeated a speech of Hood's to him to sho friendly they were ”I prefer a ride with you to the company of any woman in the world,” Buckner had answered ”I prefer your company to that of anyjoke of the dinner; it flashed up in every forot out of it at all General Buckner said patronizingly, ”Laets out of any scrape - that is, unless he can fight out” Others dropped in after dinner; sos; von Borcke, who can not speak because of a wound in his throat Isabella said: ”We have all kinds now, but a blind one” Poor fellows, they laugh at wounds ”And they yet can show many a scar”
We had for dinner oyster soup, besides roast , sauterne, burgundy, sherry, and Madeira There is life in the old land yet!
At my house to-day after dinner, and while Alex Haskell and ave ht He said he could not sleep after it; it was the hardest battle he had ever fought in his life, ”and I was routed, as it were; she told me there was no hope; that ends it You know at
269 Petersburg on my way to the Western army she half-promised me to think of it She would not say 'Yes,' but she did not say 'No' - that is, not exactly At any rate, I went off saying, 'I aed to you' After I was so fearfully wounded I gave it up But, then, since I came,” etc
”Do you mean to say,” said I, ”that you had proposed to her before that conversation in the carriage, when you asked Brewster the symptoms of love? I like your audacity” ”Oh, she understood, but it is all up now, for she says, 'No!' ”
My husband says I aant ”No, my friend, not that,” said I ”I had fifteen hundred dollars and I have spent every cent of it inNot one cent for myself, not one cent for dress nor any personal hatever” He calls me ”hospitality run mad”
January 1, 1864 - General Hood's an awful flatterer - I mean an aard flatterer I told hiht to praise me to somebody ould tell my husband, and then praise my husband to another person ould tell me Man and wife are too ht in the face of one about the other is not graceful
One a is the only battle we have gained since Stonewall died, and no results follow as usual Stoneas not so much as killed by a Yankee: he was shot by his own men; that is hard General Lee can do no more than keep back Meade ”One of Meade's armies, you mean,” said I, ”for they have only to double on him when Lee whips one of theot Grant a place - esprit de corps, you know He could not bear to see an old aron; that hen he found him out West, put out of the arht man, a bull-headed Su He don't
270 care a snap if hts to win, that chap does He is not distracted by a thousand side issues; he does not see theht line Like Louis Napoleon, froht up Yes, as with Lincoln, they have ceased to carp at hientleman, etc You never hear now of Lincoln's nasty fun; only of his wisdom Doesn't take much soap and water to wash the hands that the rod of empire sway They talked of Lincoln's drunkenness, too Now, since Vicksburg they have not a word to say against Grant's habits He has the disagreeable habit of not retreating before irresistible veterans General Lee and Albert Sidney Johnston show blood and breeding They are of the Bayard and Philip Sidney order of soldiers Listen: if General Lee had had Grant's resources he would have bagged the last Yankee, or have had them all safe back in Massachusetts ”You ro question upon him?” ”No, I mean if he had Grant's unlimited allowance of the powers of war - men, money, amardener of the White House so nice, she would eneral Lincoln remarked to the secretary: ”Well, the little woht of the old year ”Gloria Mundi” sent ood coffee I drank two cups and so I did not sleep a wink Like a fool I passed my whole life in review, and bitter ht I mapped out a story of the war The plot caoon and heavy swell I will call it F F's, for it is the F F's both of South Carolina and Virginia It is to be a war story, and the filling out of the skeleton was the best way to put myself to sleep
January 4th - Mrs Ives wants us to translate a French play A genuine French captain came in froave us good advice as to how to make the selection General Haoes e bell
My husband caht this piece of news: ”North Carolina wants to offer terms of peace!” We needed only a break of that kind to finish us I really shi+vered nervously, as one does when the first handful of earth corave of one we cared for more than all who are left
January 5th - At Mrs Preston's, ade in battle array, ready to sally forth, conquering and to conquer They would stand no nonsense fro at home to translate a French play Indeed, the plays that have been sent us are so indecent I scarcely knohere a play is to be found that would do at all
While at dinner the President's carriage drove up with only General Hood He sent up to ask in Maggie Howell's naes between plates with a serviette, for Buck, who is ill, and then went down We picked up Mary Preston It was Maggie's drive; as the soldiers say, I was only on ”escort duty” At the Prestons', Major Venable es to Buck As we drove off Maggie said: ”Major Venable is a Carolinian, I see” ”No; Virginian to the core” ”But, then, he was a professor in the South Carolina College before the war” Mary Preston said: ”She is taking a fling at your weakness for all South Carolina”
Caone wrong with our world The loss of our private fortune the s the air, we o rave, with piles of red earth thrown on one side; that is the only future I ever see You remember Emma Stockton? She and I were as blithe as birds that day at
272 Mulberry I caram said: 'Emma Stockton found dead in her bed' It is awfully near, that thought No, no I will not stop and think of death always”
January 8th - Snow of the deepest nobody can coirls, first; then Constance Cary tripped in - the clever Conny Hetty is the beauty, so called, though she is clever enough, too; but Constance is actually clever and has a classically perfect outline Next came the four Kentuckians and Preston Hampton He is as tall as the Kentuckians and ever so
I was to take Miss Cary to the See It enty-five dollars an hour! He cursed by all his Gods at such extravagance The play was not worth the candle, or carriage, in this instance In Confederate money it sounds so o with o with you,” he said, ”but you do not ask o with ically We could not wait for hie back for him We were behind time, as it was When he came, the beautiful Hetty Cary and her friend, Captain Tucker, ith him Major von Borcke and Preston Ha-rooe the world to produce finer specimens of humanity than these three: the Prussian von Borcke, Preston Hampton, and Hetty Cary
We spoke to the Prussian about the vote of thanks passed by Congress yesterday - ”thanks of the country to Major von Borcke” The poor e proportions ”That is a compliment, indeed!” said Hetty ”Yes I saw it And the
273 happiest, the proudest day of my life as I read it It was at the hotel breakfast-table I try to hide row so red But my friend he has his newspaper, too, and he sees the sa tothere!' and he laughs Then I try to read aloud the so kind coress - but - he - you - I can not - ” He puts his hand to his throat His broken English and the difficulty of his enunciation with that wound in his windpipe- and very hard to understand
The Sem Sweet little Mrs Lawson Clay had a seat for ation, strictly segregated froay parterre, edged by the ray uniforms Toward the back part of the rooray was solid Captain Tucker bewailed his fate He was stranded out there with those forlorn , and fancied ere saying orth a thousand charades He preferred talking to a clever wo a pleasant hour ”So do I,” somebody said
On a sofa of state in front of all sat the President and Mrs Davis Little Maggie Davis was one of the child actresses Her parents had a right to be proud of her; with her flashi+ng black eyes, she was a e She is a handsome creature and she acted her part admirably The shrine was beautiful beyond words The Seetting up that sort of thing First caure, the loveliest of penitent wohtfully costumed; we could not understand how so much Christian piety could come clothed in such odalisque robes Mrs
274 Ould, as a queen, was as handsoal as heart could wish for She was acco, whose naotten There was a resplendent knight of St John, and then an American Indian After their orisons they all knelt and laid soift
Burton Harrison, the President's handso brave in a dress presented to Mr Davis by Indians for soo It was a complete warrior's outfit, scant as that is The feathers stuck in the back of Mr Harrison's head had a charly comic effect He had to shave himself as clean as a baby or he could not act the beardless chief, Spotted Tail, Billy Bowlegs, Big Thunder, or whatever his character was So he folded up his loved and lost mustache, the Christianized red Indian, and laid it on the altar, the most sacred treasure of his life, the witness of his most heroic sacrifice, on the shrine
Senator Hill, of Georgia, took me in to supper, where were ices, chicken salad, oysters, and chane The President ca after supper and your hu between Mrs Randolph and Mrs Stanard, he approached, offered me his arm and alked off, oblivious of Mr Senator Hill Re it, but Mrs Stanard and Mrs Randolph are the handsoer, either, sad to say Now, the President walked withroom, and our conversation was of the saddest nobody knows so well as he the difficulties which beset this hard-driven Confederacy He has a voice which is perfectly h soldier world I think there is a melancholy cadence in his voice at tis as they are now
My husband was so intensely charmed with Hetty Cary
275 that he declined at the first call to accoe He ordered it to return When it caer) packed the Carys and hi the other two men who came with the party, when it was divided into ”trips,” to ht of that bitter cold , I had the pleasure to see e! To-day he is pleased with himself, with me, and with all the world; says if there was no such word as ”fascinating” you would have to invent one to describe Hetty Cary