Village Life in America 1852-1872 Part 9

"Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love."

In returning thanks to the people of Canandaigua for their generous entertainment, Mr. Ralph Wells facetiously said that the cost of the convention must mean something to Canandaigua people, for the cook in one home was heard to say, "These religiouses do eat awful!"

_September_ 13.--Darius Sackett was wounded by a musket shot in the leg, at Maryland Heights, Va., and in consequence is discharged from the service.

_September._--Edgar A. Griswold of Naples is recruiting a company here for the 148th Regiment, of which he is captain. Hiram P. Brown, Henry S.

Murray and Charles H. Paddock are officers in the company. Dr. Elnathan W. Simmons is surgeon.

_September_ 22.--I read aloud to Grandfather this evening the Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation issued as a war measure by President Lincoln, to take effect January 1, liberating over three million slaves. He recommends to all thus set free, to labor faithfully for reasonable wages and to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense, and he invokes upon this act "the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty G.o.d."

_November_ 21.--This is my twentieth birthday. Anna wanted to write a poem for the occasion and this morning she handed me what she called "An effort." She said she wrestled with it all night long and could not sleep and this was the result:

"One hundred years from now, Carrie dear, In all probability you'll not be here; But we'll all be in the same boat, too, And there'll be no one left To say boo hoo!"

Grandfather gave me for a present a set of books called "Irving's Catechisms on Ancient Greeks and Romans." They are four little books bound in leather, which were presented to our mother for a prize. It is thus inscribed on the front page, "Miss Elizabeth Beals at a public examination of the Female Boarding School in East Bloomfield, October 15, 1825, was judged to excel the school in Reading. In testimony of which she receives this Premium from her affectionate instructress, S.

Adams."

I cannot imagine Grandmother sending us away to boarding school, but I suppose she had so many children then, she could spare one or two as well as not. She says they sent Aunt Ann to Miss Willard's school at Troy. I received a birthday letter from Mrs. Beaumont to-day. She wants to know how everything goes at the Seminary and if Anna still occupies the front seat in the school room most of the time. She says she supposes she is quite a sedate young lady now but she hopes there is a whole lot of the old Anna left. I think there is.

_December._--Hon. William H. Lamport went down to Virginia to see his son and found that he had just died in the hospital from measles and pneumonia. Their only son, only eighteen years old!

1863

_January._--Grandmother went to Aunt Mary Carr's to tea to-night, very much to our surprise, for she seldom goes anywhere. Anna said she was going to keep house exactly as Grandmother did, so after supper she took a little hot water in a basin on a tray and got the tea-towels and washed the silver and best china but she let the ivory handles on the knives and forks get wet, so I presume they will all turn black.

Grandmother never lets her little nice things go out into the kitchen, so probably that is the reason that everything is forty years old and yet as good as new. She let us have the Young Ladies' Aid Society here to supper because I am President. She came into the parlor and looked at our basket of work, which the elder ladies cut out for us to make for the soldiers. She had the supper table set the whole length of the dining room and let us preside at the table. Anna made the girls laugh so, they could hardly eat, although they said everything was splendid.

They said they never ate better biscuit, preserves, or fruit cake and the coffee was delicious. After it was over, the "dear little lady" said she hoped we had a good time. After the girls were gone Grandmother wanted to look over the garments and see how much we had accomplished and if we had made them well. Mary Field made a pair of drawers with No.

90 thread. She said she wanted them to look fine and I am sure they did.

Most of us wrote notes and put inside the garments for the soldiers in the hospitals.

Sarah Gibson Howell has had an answer to her letter. His name is Foster--a Major. She expects him to come and see her soon.

All the girls wear newspaper bustles to school now and Anna's rattled to-day and Emma Wheeler heard it and said, "What's the news, Anna?" They both laughed out loud and found that "the latest news from the front"

was that Miss Morse kept them both after school and they had to copy Dictionary for an hour. War prices are terrible. I paid $3.50 to-day for a hoop skirt.

_January_ 13.--P. T. Barnum delivered his lecture on "The Art of Money Getting" in Bemis Hall this evening for the benefit of the Ladies' Aid Society, which is working for the soldiers. We girls went and enjoyed it.

_February._--The members of our society sympathized with General McClellan when he was criticised by some and we wrote him the following letter:

"Canandaigua, Feb. 13, 1863.

"Maj. Gen. Geo. McClellan:

"Will you pardon any seeming impropriety in our addressing you, and attribute it to the impulsive love and admiration of hearts which see in you, the bravest and n.o.blest defender of our Union. We cannot resist the impulse to tell you, be our words ever so feeble, how our love and trust have followed you from Rich Mountain to Antietam, through all slanderous attacks of traitorous politicians and fanatical defamers--how we have admired, not less than your calm courage on the battlefield, your lofty scorn of those who remained at home in the base endeavor to strip from your brow the hard earned laurels placed there by a grateful country: to tell further, that in your forced retirement from battlefields of the Republic's peril, you have 'but changed your country's arms for more,--your country's heart,'--and to a.s.sure you that so long as our country remains to us a sacred name and our flag a holy emblem, so long shall we cherish your memory as the defender and protector of both. We are an a.s.sociation whose object it is to aid, in the only way in which woman, alas! can aid our brothers in the field. Our sympathies are with them in the cause for which they have periled all--our hearts are with them in the prayer, that ere long their beloved commander may be restored to them, and that once more as of old he may lead them to victory in the sacred name of the Union and Const.i.tution.

"With united prayers that the Father of all may have you and yours ever in His holy keeping, we remain your devoted partisans."

Signed by a large number.

The following in reply was addressed to the lady whose name was first signed to the above:

"New York, Feb. 21, 1863.

Madam--I take great pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of the very kind letter of the 13th inst., from yourself and your friends. Will you do me the favor to say to them how much I thank them for it, and that I am at a loss to express my grat.i.tude for the pleasant and cheering terms in which it is couched. Such sentiments on the part of those whose brothers have served with me in the field are more grateful to me than anything else can be. I feel far more than rewarded by them for all I have tried to accomplish.--I am, Madam, with the most sincere respect and friends.h.i.+p, yours very truly,

Geo. B. McClellan."

_May._--A number of the teachers and pupils of the Academy have enlisted for the war. Among them E. C. Clarke, H. C. Kirk, A. T. Wilder, Norman K. Martin, T. C. Parkhurst, Mr. Gates. They have a tent on the square and are enlisting men in Canandaigua and vicinity for the 4th N. Y.

Heavy Artillery. I received a letter from Mr. Noah T. Clarke's mother in Naples. She had already sent three sons, Bela, William and Joseph, to the war and she is very sad because her youngest has now enlisted. She says she feels as did Jacob of old when he said, "I am bereaved of my children. Joseph is not and Simeon is not and now you will take Benjamin away." I have heard that she is a beautiful singer but she says she cannot sing any more until this cruel war is over. I wish that I could write something to comfort her but I feel as Mrs. Browning puts it: "If you want a song for your Italy free, let none look at me."

Our society met at Fannie Pierce's this afternoon. Her mother is an invalid and never gets out at all, but she is very much interested in the soldiers and in all young people, and loves to have us come in and see her and we love to go. She enters into the plans of all of us young girls and has a personal interest in us. We had a very good time to-night and Laura Chapin was more full of fun than usual. Once there was silence for a minute or two and some one said, "awful pause." Laura said, "I guess you would have awful paws if you worked as hard as I do."

We were talking about how many of us girls would be ent.i.tled to flag bed quilts, and according to the rules, they said that, up to date, Abbie Clark and I were the only ones. The explanation is that Captain George N. Williams and Lieutenant E. C. Clarke are enlisted in their country's service. Susie Daggett is Secretary and Treasurer of the Society and she reported that in one year's time we made in our society 133 pairs of drawers, 101 s.h.i.+rts, 4 pairs socks for soldiers, and 54 garments for the families of soldiers.

Abbie Clark and I had our ambrotypes taken to-day for two young braves who are going to the war. William H. Adams is also commissioned Captain and is going to the front.

_July_ 4.--The terrible battle of Gettysburg brings to Canandaigua sad news of our soldier boys of the 126th Regiment. Colonel Sherrill was instantly killed, also Captains Wheeler and Herendeen, Henry Willson and Henry P. Cook. Captain Richardson was wounded.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Abbie Clark and I had our ambrotypes taken to-day", "Mr. Noah T. Clark's Brother and I"]

_July_ 26.--Charlie Wheeler was buried with military honors from the Congregational church to-day. Two companies of the 54th New York State National Guard attended the funeral, and the church was packed, galleries and all. It was the saddest funeral and the only one of a soldier that I ever attended. I hope it will be the last. He was killed at Gettysburg, July 3, by a sharpshooter's bullet. He was a very bright young man, graduate of Yale college and was practising law. He was captain of Company K, 126th N. Y. Volunteers. I have copied an extract from Mr. Morse's lecture, "You and I": "And who has forgotten that gifted youth, who fell on the memorable field of Gettysburg? To win a n.o.ble name, to save a beloved country, he took his place beneath the dear old flag, and while cannon thundered and sabers clashed and the stars of the old Union shone above his head he went down in the shock of battle and left us desolate, a name to love and a glory to endure. And as we solemnly know, as by the old charter of liberty we most sacredly swear, he was truly and faithfully and religiously

Of all our friends the n.o.blest, The choicest and the purest, The nearest and the dearest, In the field at Gettysburg.

Of all the heroes bravest, Of soul the brightest, whitest, Of all the warriors greatest, Shot dead at Gettysburg.

And where the fight was thickest, And where the smoke was blackest, And where the fire was hottest, On the fields of Gettysburg, There flashed his steel the brightest, There blazed his eyes the fiercest, There flowed his blood the reddest On the field of Gettysburg.

O wailing winds of heaven!

O weeping dew of evening!

O music of the waters That flow at Gettysburg, Mourn tenderly the hero, The rare and glorious hero, The loved and peerless hero, Who died at Gettysburg.

His turf shall be the greenest, His roses bloom the sweetest, His willow droop the saddest Of all at Gettysburg.

His memory live the freshest, His fame be cherished longest, Of all the holy warriors, Who fell at Gettysburg.

These were patriots, these were our jewels. When shall we see their like again? And of every soldier who has fallen in this war his friends may write just as lovingly as you and I may do of those to whom I pay my feeble tribute."

_August,_ 1863.--The U. S. Sanitary Commission has been organized.

Canandaigua sent Dr. W. Fitch Cheney to Gettysburg with supplies for the sick and wounded and he took seven a.s.sistants with him. Home bounty was brought to the tents and put into the hands of the wounded soldiers. A blessed work.

_August_ 12.--Lucilla Field was married in our church to-day to Rev. S.

W. Pratt. I always thought she was cut out for a minister's wife. Jennie Draper cried herself sick because Lucilla, her Sunday School teacher, is going away.

_October_ 8.--News came to-day of the death of Lieutenant Hiram Brown.

He died of fever at Portsmouth, only little more than a year after he went away.

_November_ 1.--The 4th New York Heavy Artillery is stationed at Fort Hamilton, N. Y. harbor. Uncle Edward has invited me down to New York to spend a month! Very opportune! Grandfather says that I can go and Miss Rosewarne is beginning a new dress for me to-day.

_November_ 6.--We were saddened to-day by news of the death of Augustus Torrey Wilder in the hospital at Fort Ethan Allen.