Yesterday asked the price of a calico dress; “Fifteen
dollars and sixty cents!” Tea is $20. per lb. A merchant told me he gave $50.
for a pound of sewing silk! The other day our sister, Mrs. Cocke,[1]
purchased 5 gallons of whiskey, for which, by way of favor, she only paid $50.!
It is selling for $15. per gallon. Very coarse unbleached cotton (ten cent cotton)
I was asked 75 cts. for yesterday. Eight dollars a pair for servants' coarse
shoes. Mr. P. paid $11. for a pair for Willy. These prices will do to wonder
over after a while.
10 o'clock P. M. Little did I think, when I wrote the
above, that such sorrow would overtake this family so soon! News came this
afternoon of the late fearful fight on Manassas Plains, and of Willy Preston[2]
being mortally wounded — in the opinion of the surgeons! His Father was
not at home, and did not hear the news for some time. Oh! the anguish of the
father-heart! This evening he has gone to Staunton; will travel all night in
order to take the cars tomorrow morning. I am afraid to go to bed, lest I be
roused by some messenger of evil tidings, or (terrible to dread) the possible arrival
of the dear boy — dead! Father in Heaven! Be merciful to us, and spare us this
bitterness!
_______________
[1] Elizabeth Randolph Preston Cocke, sister of
John Thomas Lewis Preston and the wife of William Armistead Cocke
[2] William C. Preston, son of John Thomas Lewis
Preston and his first wife Sarah Lyle Caruthers.
SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and
Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 146-7
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