Drove out with Mrs. Davis. She had a watch in her hand which
some poor dead soldier wanted to have sent to his family. First, we went to her
mantua-maker, then we drove to the Fair Grounds where the band was playing.
Suddenly, she missed the watch. She remembered having it when we came out of
the mantua-maker's. We drove back instantly, and there the watch was lying near
the steps of the little porch in front of the house. No one had passed in,
apparently; in any case, no one had seen it.
Preston Hampton went with me to see Conny Cary. The talk was
frantically literary, which Preston thought hard on him. I had just brought the
St. Denis number of Les Miserables.
Sunday, Christopher Hampton walked to church with me. Coming
out, General Lee was seen slowly making his way down the aisle, bowing royally
to right and left. I pointed him out to Christopher Hampton when General Lee
happened to look our way. He bowed low, giving me a charming smile of
recognition. I was ashamed of being so pleased. I blushed like a schoolgirl.
We went to the White House. They gave us tea. The President
said he had been on the way to our house, coming 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.
SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin
and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 264
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