Little book, give me
your ear. Close! There! Promise me never to breathe it! Blank loves Blank! Yes,
he does! And she doesn't care for him—not a pennyworth! It is a dreadful state
of affairs, to be sure. Why must there be so much loving and making of love?
How much nicer to just keep on being friends with everybody (except one!) and
nothing more. It is a shame that I have so little time to devote to my journal.
We meet so many delightful people and so many famous people. The other day,
attended a review of Gary's Brigade, by Generals Fitzhugh Lee and Longstreet,
in an open field between the Nine Mile and Darby Town roads. We went in an army
ambulance, attended by a number of our gentlemen friends. Fitz. Lee passed very
near us. It was the sight of a lifetime; it thrilled and pulsated all through
me. When the review was over, we were speedily surrounded by a throng of
gallants, officers and privates—the noble privates, heroes, I love them! They
bear the yoke and do the fighting, while some of the officers don't do anything
but ornament the army. Mind, I don't say all—some. Do you think we women give
no heed to these things? I know what kind of a heart a man carries under his
brass buttons. We spoke to many of our own State troops, some of them gaunt and
battle-scarred veterans, and some of them young in service but with the courage
of veterans in them. Whether we get whipped in this fight or not, one thing
will be forever indisputable—our soldiers are true soldiers and good fighters.
Sometimes I fear that we are going to get the worst of it—but away with all
fears!
To doubt the end were want of trust in God.
So says Henry
Timrod, in his Ethnogenesis, and he is a poet, and the poet has a far-seeing
eye. It open beautifully—this poem, I mean—
Hath not the morning dawned with added light?
And shall not evening call
another star
Out of the infinite regions of the night
To mark this day in Heaven?
I hear Timrod's
health is poor. What a pity! I hope he will live to sing us many songs. I must
not forget to chronicle the fact that I saw my gallant cousin, Robert D—, out
at the review. We greeted each other with unfeigned pleasure.
SOURCE: South
Carolina State Committee United Daughters of the Confederacy, South
Carolina Women in the Confederacy, Vol. 1, “A Confederate
Girl's Diary,” p. 280