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.
December 19th. - A box has come from home for me. Taking advantage of this good fortune and a full larder, have asked Mrs. Davis to dine with me. Wade Hampton sent me a basket of game. We had Mrs. Davis and Mr. and Mrs. Preston. After dinner we walked to the church to see the Freeland-Lewis wedding. 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 Museum.
265 Harrison and myself brought 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 c.o.xe Lewis followed with Mrs. Freeland. After the ceremony such a kissing was there up and down the aisle. The happy bridegroom kissed wildly, and several girls 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 Army of the West. General Lee had this done, "tis said. Miss Agnes Lee and "little Robert" (as they fondly call General Lee"s youngest son in this hero-worshiping community) called. They told us the President, General Lee, and General Elzey had gone out to look at the fortifications around Richmond. My husband came home saying he had been with them, and lent General Lee his gray horse.
Mrs. Howell, Mrs. Davis"s mother, says a year ago 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 made Dictator by the Army of the West." "Imperator" was suggested. 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 from General Lee, what a horrible failure is Longstreet! Oh, for a day of Albert Sidney Johnston out West! And Stonewall, could he come back to us here!
General Hood, the wounded knight, came for me to drive. I felt that I would soon find myself chaperoning some girls, but I asked no questions. He improved the time between Franklin and Cary Streets by saying, "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 came down for the drive in black velvet and ermine, looking 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 we were hieing us home from the Fair Grounds, Sam, the wounded knight, asked Brewster what are the symptoms of a man"s being 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 himself in love, but that was "a long time ago." Brewster spoke on the symptoms of love: "When you see her, your breath is apt to come short. If it amounts to mild strangulation, you have got 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 mean, before you fell in love. The last stages of unmitigated spooniness, I will spare you," said Brewster, with a giggle and a wave of the hand. "Well," said Sam, drawing a breath of relief, "I have felt none of these things so far, and yet they say I am engaged to four young ladies, a liberal allowance, you will admit, for a man who can not walk without help."
Another day (the Sabbath) we called on our way from church to see Mrs. Wigfall. She was ill, but Mr. Wigfall insisted upon taking me into the drawing-room to rest a while. He said Louly was there; so she was, and so was Sam Hood, the wounded knight, stretched at full length on a sofa and a rug thrown over him. Louis Wigfall 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 handsome girl.
267 December 24th. - As we walked, Brewster reported a row he had had with General Hood. Brewster had told those six young ladies at the Prestons" that "old Sam" was in the habit of saying he would not marry if he could any silly, sentimental girl, who would throw herself away upon a maimed creature such as he was. When Brewster went home he took pleasure in telling Sam how the ladies had complimented his good 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 whimperings.
I was taking 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 small hat pushed back as far as it could get from his forehead.
"What!" said he, "you are not ready yet? The generals are below. Did you get my note?" I begged my husband to excuse me and rushed off to put on my bonnet and furs. I met the girls coming up with a strange man. The flurry of two major-generals had been too much for me and I forgot to ask the new one"s name. They went up to dine in my place with my husband, who sat eating his dinner, with Lawrence"s undivided attention given to him, amid this whirling and eddying in and out of the world militant. Mary Preston and I then went to drive with the generals. The new one proved to be Bruckner,1 who is also a Kentuckian. The two men told us they had slept together the night before Chickamauga. It is useless to try: legs can"t any longer be kept out of the conversation. So General Buckner said: "Once before I slept with a man and he lost his leg next day." He had made a vow never to do so 1. Simon B. Buckner was a graduate 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 Sam and I parted that morning, we said: "You or I may be killed, but the cause will be safe all the same." "
After the drive everybody came in to tea, my husband in famous good humor, we had an unusually gay evening. It was very nice of my husband to take no notice of my conduct at dinner, which had been open to criticism. All the comfort of my life depends upon his being in good humor.
Christmas Day, 1863. - Yesterday dined with the Prestons. Wore one of my handsomest Paris dresses (from Paris before the war). Three magnificent Kentucky generals were present, with Senator Orr from South Carolina, and Mr. Miles. General Buckner repeated a speech of Hood"s to him to show how 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 any man, certainly," was Hood"s reply. This became the standing joke of the dinner; it flashed up in every form. Poor Sam got out of it so badly, if he got out of it at all. General Buckner said patronizingly, "Lame excuses, all. Hood never gets out of any sc.r.a.pe - that is, unless he can fight out." Others dropped in after dinner; some without arms, some without legs; 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 mutton, ham, boned turkey, wild duck, partridge, plum pudding, 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 my husband sat over the wine, Hood gave me an account of his discomfiture last night. 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 am engaged to you," and she said, "I am not engaged 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 am extravagant. "No, my friend, not that," said I. "I had fifteen hundred dollars and I have spent every cent of it in my housekeeping. Not one cent for myself, not one cent for dress nor any personal want whatever." He calls me "hospitality run mad."
January 1, 1864. - General Hood"s an awful flatterer - I mean an awkward flatterer. I told him to praise my husband to some one else, not to me. He ought to praise me to somebody who would tell my husband, and then praise my husband to another person who would tell me. Man and wife are too much one person - to wave a compliment straight in the face of one about the other is not graceful.
One more year of Stonewall would have saved us. Chickamauga is the only battle we have gained since Stonewall died, and no results follow as usual. Stonewall was 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 them."
General Edward Johnston says he got Grant a place - esprit de corps, you know. He could not bear to see an old army man driving a wagon; that was when he found him out West, put out of the army for habitual drunkenness. He is their right man, a bull-headed Suwarrow. He don"t * * *
270 care a snap if men fall like the leaves fall; he fights to win, that chap does. He is not distracted by a thousand side issues; he does not see them. He is narrow and sure - sees only in a straight line. Like Louis Napoleon, from a battle in the gutter, he goes straight up. Yes, as with Lincoln, they have ceased to carp at him as a rough clown, no gentleman, 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 Ma.s.sachusetts. "You mean if he had not the weight of the negro question upon him?" "No, I mean if he had Grant"s unlimited allowance of the powers of war - men, money, ammunition, arms."
Mrs. Ould says Mrs. Lincoln found the gardener of the White House so nice, she would make him a major-general. Lincoln remarked to the secretary: "Well, the little woman must have her way sometimes."
A word of the last night of the old year. "Gloria Mundi" sent me a cup of strong, good coffee. I drank two cups and so I did not sleep a wink. Like a fool I pa.s.sed my whole life in review, and bitter memories maddened me quite. Then came a happy thought. I mapped out a story of the war. The plot came to hand, for it was true. Johnny is the hero, a light dragoon 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 from his ship on * * *
271 the James River and gave us good advice as to how to make the selection. General Hampton sent another basket of partridges, and all goes merry as a marriage bell.
My husband came in and nearly killed us. He brought 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 shivered nervously, as one does when the first handful of earth comes rattling down on the coffin in the grave of one we cared for more than all who are left.
January 5th. - At Mrs. Preston"s, met the Light Brigade in battle array, ready to sally forth, conquering and to conquer. They would stand no nonsense from me about staying at home to translate a French play. Indeed, the plays that have been sent us are so indecent I scarcely know where 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 name would I go with them? I tied up two partridges 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 met us at the door and took in the partridges 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."
Came home and found my husband in a bitter mood. It has all gone wrong with our world. The loss of our private fortune the smallest part. He intimates, "with so much human misery filling the air, we might stay at home and think." "And go mad?" said I. "Catch me at it! A yawning grave, 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 came here the next day, and when I arrived a telegram 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. n.o.body can come to-day, I thought. But they did! My girls, 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 cla.s.sically perfect outline. Next came the four Kentuckians and Preston Hampton. He is as tall as the Kentuckians and ever so much better looking. Then we had egg-nog.
I was to take Miss Cary to the Semmes"s. My husband inquired the price of a carriage. It was twenty-five dollars an hour! He cursed by all his G.o.ds at such extravagance. The play was not worth the candle, or carriage, in this instance. In Confederate money it sounds so much worse than it is. I did not dream of asking him to go with me after that lively overture. "I did intend to go with you," he said, "but you do not ask me." "And I have been asking you for twenty years to go with me, in vain. Think of that!" I said, tragically. We could not wait for him to dress, so I sent the twenty-five-dollar-an-hour carriage back for him. We were behind time, as it was. When he came, the beautiful Hetty Cary and her friend, Captain Tucker, were with him. Major von Borcke and Preston Hampton were at the Cary"s, in the drawing-room when we called for Constance, who was dressing. I challenge 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 pa.s.sed by Congress yesterday - "thanks of the country to Major von Borcke." The poor man was as modest as a girl - in spite of his huge 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 my face with the newspaper, I feel it grow so red. But my friend he has his newspaper, too, and he sees the same thing. So he looks my way - he says, pointing to me - "Why does he grow so red? He has got something there!" and he laughs. Then I try to read aloud the so kind compliments of the Congress - 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 makes it all very touching - and very hard to understand.
The Semmes charade party was a perfect success. The play was charming. Sweet little Mrs. Lawson Clay had a seat for me banked up among women. The female part of the congregation, strictly segregated from the male, were placed all together in rows. They formed a gay parterre, edged by the men in their black coats and gray uniforms. Toward the back part of the room, the ma.s.s of black and gray was solid. Captain Tucker bewailed his fate. He was stranded out there with those forlorn men, but could see us laughing, and fancied what we were saying was worth a thousand charades. He preferred talking to a clever woman to any known way of pa.s.sing 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 flashing black eyes, she was a marked figure on the stage. She is a handsome creature and she acted her part admirably. The shrine was beautiful beyond words. The Semmes and Ives families are Roman Catholics, and understand getting up that sort of thing. First came the "Palmers Gray," then Mrs. Ives, a solitary figure, the loveliest of penitent women. The Eastern pilgrims were delightfully 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 handsome and regal as heart could wish for. She was accompanied by a very satisfactory king, whose name, if I ever knew, I have forgotten. There was a resplendent knight of St. John, and then an American Indian. After their orisons they all knelt and laid something on the altar as a votive gift.
Burton Harrison, the President"s handsome young secretary, was gotten up as a big brave in a dress presented to Mr. Davis by Indians for some kindness he showed them years ago. It was a complete warrior"s outfit, scant as that is. The feathers stuck in the back of Mr. Harrison"s head had a charmingly 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 champagne. The President came in alone, I suppose, for while we were talking after supper and your humble servant was standing between Mrs. Randolph and Mrs. Stanard, he approached, offered me his arm and we walked off, oblivious of Mr. Senator Hill. Remember this, ladies, and forgive me for recording it, but Mrs. Stanard and Mrs. Randolph are the handsomest women in Richmond; I am no older than they are, or younger, either, sad to say. Now, the President walked with me slowly up and down that long room, and our conversation was of the saddest. n.o.body knows so well as he the difficulties which beset this hard-driven Confederacy. He has a voice which is perfectly modulated, a comfort in this loud and rough soldier world. I think there is a melancholy cadence in his voice at times, of which he is unconscious when he talks of things as they are now.
My husband was so intensely charmed with Hetty Cary * * *
275 that he declined at the first call to accompany his wife home in the twenty-five-dollar-an-hour carriage. He ordered it to return. When it came, his wife (a good manager) packed the Carys and him in with herself, leaving the other two men who came with the party, when it was divided into "trips," to make their way home in the cold. At our door, near daylight of that bitter cold morning, I had the pleasure to see my husband, like a man, stand and pay for that carriage! 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.
January 9th. - Met Mrs. Wigfall. She wants me to take Halsey to Mrs. Randolph"s theatricals. I am to get him up as Sir Walter Raleigh. Now, General Breckinridge has come. I like him better than any of them. Morgan also is here.1 These huge Kentuckians fill the town. Isabella says, "They hold Morgan accountable for the loss of Chattanooga." The follies of the wise, the weaknesses of the great! She shakes her head significantly when I beg in to tell why I like him so well. Last night General Buckner came for her to go with him and rehea.r.s.e at the Carys" for Mrs. Randolph"s charades.
The President"s man, Jim, that he believed in as we all believe in our own servants, "our own people," as we call them, and Betsy, Mrs. Davis"s maid, decamped last night. It is miraculous that they had the fort.i.tude to resist the temptation so long. At Mrs. Davis"s the hired servants all have been birds of pa.s.sage. First they were seen with gold galore, and then they would fly to the Yankees, and I am sure they had nothing to tell. It is Yankee money wasted.
1. John H. Morgan, a native of Alabama, entered the Confederate army in 1861 as a Captain and in 1862 was made a Major-General. He was captured by the Federals in 1863 and confined in an Ohio penitentiary, but he escaped and once more joined the Confederate army. In September, 1864, he was killed in battle near Greenville, Tenn.
276 I do not think it had ever crossed Mrs. Davis"s brain that these two could leave her. She knew, however, that Betsy had eighty dollars in gold and two thousand four hundred dollars in Confederate notes.
Everybody who comes in brings a little bad news - not much, in itself, but by c.u.mulative process the effect is depressing, indeed.
January 12th. - To-night there will be a great gathering of Kentuckians. Morgan gives them a dinner. The city of Richmond entertains John Morgan. He is at free quarters. The girls dined here. Conny Cary came back for more white feathers. Isabella had appropriated two sets and obstinately refused Constance Cary a single feather from her pile. She said, sternly: "I have never been on the stage before, and I have a presentiment when my father hears of this, I will never go again. I am to appear before the footlights as an English dowager d.u.c.h.ess, and I mean to rustle in every feather, to wear all the lace and diamonds these two houses can compa.s.s" - (mine and Mrs. Preston"s). She was jolly but firm, and Constance departed without any additional plumage for her Lady Teazle.
January 14th. - Gave Mrs. White twenty-three dollars for a turkey. Came home wondering all the way why she did not ask twenty-five; two more dollars could not have made me balk at the bargain, and twenty-three sounds odd.
January 15th. - What a day the Kentuckians have had! Mrs. Webb gave them a breakfast; from there they proceeded en ma.s.se to General Lawton"s dinner, and then came straight here, all of which seems equal to one of Stonewall"s forced marches. General Lawton took me in to supper. In spite of his dinner he had misgivings. "My heart is heavy," said he, "even here. All seems too light, too careless, for such terrible times. It seems out of place here in battle-scarred Richmond." "I have heard something of that kind at home," I replied. "Hope and fear are both gone, and it is distraction or death with us. I do not see * * *
277 how sadness and despondency would help us. If it would do any good, we would be sad enough."
We laughed at General Hood. General Lawton thought him better fitted for gallantry on the battle-field than playing a lute in my lady"s chamber. When Miss Giles was electrifying the audience as the Fair Penitent, some one said: "Oh, that is so pretty!" Hood cried out with stern reproachfulness: "That is not pretty; it is elegant."
Not only had my house been rifled for theatrical properties, but as the play went on they came for my black velvet cloak. When it was over, I thought I should never get away, my cloak was so hard to find. But it gave me an opportunity to witness many things behind the scenes - that cloak hunt did. Behind the scenes! I know a little what that means now.
General Jeb Stuart was at Mrs. Randolph"s in his cavalry jacket and high boots. He was devoted to Hetty Cary. Constance Cary said to me, pointing to his stars, "Hetty likes them that way, you know - gilt-edged and with stars."
January 16th - A visit from the President"s handsome and accomplished secretary, Burton Harrison. I lent him Country Clergyman in Town and Elective Affinities. He is to bring me Mrs. Norton"s Lost and Saved.
At Mrs. Randolph"s, my husband complimented one of the ladies, who had amply earned his praise by her splendid acting. She pointed to a young man, saying, "You see that wretch; he has not said one word to me!" My husband asked innocently, "Why should he? And why is he a wretch?" "Oh, you know!" Going home I explained this riddle to him; he is always a year behindhand in gossip. "They said those two were engaged last winter, and now there seems to be a screw loose; but that sort of thing always comes right." The Carys prefer James Chesnut to his wife. I don"t mind. Indeed, I like it. I do, too.
Every Sunday Mr. Minnegerode cried aloud in anguish his litany, "from pestilence and famine, battle, murder, * * *
278 and sudden death," and we wailed on our knees, "Good Lord deliver us," and on Monday, and all the week long, we go on as before, hearing of nothing but battle, murder, and sudden death, which are daily events. Now I have a new book; that is the unlooked-for thing, a pleasing incident in this life of monotonous misery. We live in a huge barrack. We are shut in, guarded from light without.
At breakfast to-day came a card, and without an instant"s interlude, perhaps the neatest, most fastidious man in South Carolina walked in. I was uncombed, unkempt, tattered, and torn, in my most comfortable, worst worn, wadded green silk dressing-gown, with a white woolen shawl over my head to keep off draughts. He has not been in the war yet, and now he wants to be captain of an engineer corps. I wish he may get it! He has always been my friend; so he shall lack no aid that I can give. If he can stand the shock of my appearance to-day, we may reasonably expect to continue friends until death. Of all men, the fastidious Barny Heywood to come in. He faced the situation gallantly.
January 18th. - Invited to Dr. Haxall"s last night to meet the Lawtons. Mr. Benjamin1 dropped in. He is a friend of the house. Mrs. Haxall is a Richmond leader of society, a ci-devant beauty and belle, a charming person still, and her hospitality is of the genuine Virginia type. Everything Mr. Benjamin said we listened to, bore in mind, and gave heed to it diligently. He is a Delphic oracle, of the innermost shrine, and is supposed to enjoy the honor of Mr. Davis"s unreserved confidence.
1. Judah P. Benjamin, was born, of Jewish parentage, at St. Croix in the West Indies, and was elected in 1852 to represent Louisiana in the United States Senate, where he served until 1861. In the Confederate administration he served successively from 1861 to 1865 as Attorney-General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State. At the close of the war he went to England where he achieved remarkable success at the bar.
279 Lamar was asked to dinner here yesterday; so he came to-day. We had our wild turkey cooked for him yesterday, and I dressed myself within an inch of my life with the best of my four-year-old finery. Two of us, my husband and I, did not damage the wild turkey seriously. So Lamar enjoyed the rchauff, and commended the art with which Molly had hid the slight loss we had inflicted upon its mighty breast. She had piled fried oysters over the turkey so skilfully, that unless we had told about it, no one would ever have known that the huge bird was making his second appearance on the board.
Lamar was more absent-minded and distrait than ever. My husband behaved like a trump - a well-bred man, with all his wits about him; so things went off smoothly enough. Lamar had just read Romola. Across the water he said it was the rage. I am sure it is not as good as Adam Bede or Silas Marner. It is not worthy of the woman who was to "rival all but Shakespeare"s name below." "What is the matter with Romola?" he asked. "t.i.to is so mean, and he is mean in such a very mean way, and the end is so repulsive. Petting the husband"s illegitimate children and left-handed wives may be magnanimity, but human nature revolts at it." "Woman"s nature, you mean!" "Yes, and now another test. Two weeks ago I read this thing with intense interest, and already her Savonarola has faded from my mind. I have forgotten her way of showing Savonarola as completely as I always do forget Bulwer"s Rienzi."
"Oh, I understand you now! It is like Milton"s devil - he has obliterated all other devils. You can"t fix your mind upon any other. The devil always must be of Miltonic proportions or you do not believe in him; Goethe"s Mephistopheles disputes the crown of the causeway with Lucifer. But soon you begin to feel that Mephistopheles to be a lesser devil, an emissary of the devil only. Is there any Cardinal Wolsey but Shakespeare"s? any Mirabeau * * *
280 but Carlyle"s Mirabeau? But the list is too long of those who have been stamped into your brain by genius. The saintly preacher, the woman who stands by Hetty and saves her soul; those heavenly minded sermons preached by the author of Adam Bede, bear them well in mind while I tell you how this writer, who so well imagines and depicts female purity and piety, was a governess, or something of that sort, and perhaps wrote for a living; at any rate, she had an elective affinity, which was responded to, by George Lewes, and so she lives with Lewes. I do not know that she caused the separation between Lewes and his legal wife. They are living in a villa on some Swiss lake, and Mrs. Lewes, of the hour, is a charitable, estimable, agreeable, sympathetic woman of genius."
Lamar seemed without prejudices on the subject; at least, he expressed neither surprise nor disapprobation. He said something of "genius being above law," but I was not very clear as to what he said on that point. As for me I said nothing for fear of saying too much. "You know that Lewes is a writer," said he. "Some people say the man she lives with is a n.o.ble man." "They say she is kind and good if - a fallen woman." Here the conversation ended.
January 20th. - And now comes a grand announcement made by the Yankee Congress. They vote one million of men to be sent down here to free the prisoners whom they will not take in exchange. I actually thought they left all these Yankees here on our hands as part of their plan to starve us out. All Congressmen under fifty years of age are to leave politics and report for military duty or be conscripted. What enthusiasm there is in their councils! Confusion, rather, it seems to me! Mrs. Ould says "the men who frequent her house are more despondent now than ever since this thing began."
Our Congress is so demoralized, so confused, so depressed. They have asked the President, whom they have * * *
281 so hated, so insulted, so crossed and opposed and thwarted in every way, to speak to them, and advise them what to do.
January 21st. - Both of us were too ill to attend Mrs. Davis"s reception. It proved a very sensational one. First, a fire in the house, then a robbery - said to be an arranged plan of the usual bribed servants there and some escaped Yankee prisoners. To-day the Examiner is lost in wonder at the stupidity of the fire and arson contingent. If they had only waited a few hours until everybody was asleep; after a reception the household would be so tired and so sound asleep. Thanks to the editor"s kind counsel maybe the arson contingent will wait and do better next time.
Letters from home carried Mr. Chesnut off to-day. Thackeray is dead. I stumbled upon Vanity Fair for myself. I had never heard of Thackeray before. I think it was in 1850. I know I had been ill at the New York Hotel,1 and when left alone, I slipped down-stairs and into a bookstore that I had noticed under the hotel, for something to read. They gave me the first half of Pendennis. I can recall now the very kind of paper it was printed on, and the ill.u.s.trations, as they took effect upon me. And yet when I raved over it, and was wild for the other half, there were people who said it was slow; that Thackeray was evidently a coa.r.s.e, dull, sneering writer; that he stripped human nature bare, and made it repulsive, etc.
January 22d. - At Mrs. Lyons"s met another beautiful woman, Mrs. Penn, the wife of Colonel Penn, who is making shoes in a Yankee prison. She had a little son with her, barely two years old, a mere infant. She said to him, " Faites comme Butler." The child crossed his eyes and made himself hideous, then laughed and rioted around as if he enjoyed the joke hugely.
1. The New York Hotel, covering a block front on Broadway at Waverley Place, was a favorite stopping place for Southerners for many years before the war and after it. In comparatively recent times it was torn down and supplanted by a business block.
282 Went to Mrs. Davis"s. It was sad enough. Fancy having to be always ready to have your servants set your house on fire, being bribed to do it. Such constant robberies, such servants coming and going daily to the Yankees, carrying one"s silver, one"s other possessions, does not conduce to home happiness.
Saw Hood on his legs once more. He rode off on a fine horse, and managed it well, though he is disabled in one hand, too. After all, as the woman said, "He has body enough left to hold his soul." "How plucky of him to ride a gay horse like that." "Oh, a Kentuckian prides himself upon being half horse and half man!" "And the girl who rode beside him. Did you ever see a more brilliant beauty? Three cheers for South Carolina!!"
I imparted a plan of mine to Brewster. I would have a breakfast, a luncheon, a matinee, call it what you please, but I would try and return some of the hospitalities of this most hospitable people. Just think of the dinners, suppers, breakfasts we have been to. People have no variety in war times, but they make up for that lack in exquisite cooking.
"Variety?" said he. "You are hard to please, with terrapin stew, gumbo, fish, oysters in every shape, game, and wine - as good as wine ever is. I do not mention juleps, claret cup, apple toddy, whisky punches and all that. I tell you it is good enough for me. Variety would spoil it. Such hams as these Virginia people cure; such home-made bread - there is no such bread in the world. Call yours a "cold collation." " "Yes, I have eggs, b.u.t.ter, hams, game, everything from home; no stint just now; even fruit."
"You ought to do your best. They are so generous and hospitable and so unconscious of any merit, or exceptional credit, in the matter of hospitality." "They are no better than the Columbia people always were to us." So I fired up for my own country.
January 23d. - My luncheon was a female affair exclusively. Mrs. Davis came early and found Annie and Tudie * * *
283 making the chocolate. Lawrence had gone South with my husband; so we had only Molly for cook and parlor-maid. After the company a.s.sembled we waited and waited. Those girls were making the final arrangements. I made my way to the door, and as I leaned against it ready to turn the k.n.o.b, Mrs. Stanard held me like Coleridge"s Ancient Mariner, and told how she had been prevented by a violent attack of cramps from running the blockade, and how providential it all was. All this floated by my ear, for I heard Mary Preston"s voice raised in high protest on the other side of the door. "Stop!" said she. "Do you mean to take away the whole dish?" "If you eat many more of those fried oysters they will be missed. Heavens! She is running away with a plug, a palpable plug, out of that jelly cake!"
Later in the afternoon, when it was over and I was safe, for all had gone well and Molly had not disgraced herself before the mistresses of those wonderful Virginia cooks, Mrs. Davis and I went out for a walk. Barny Heyward and Dr. Garnett joined us, the latter bringing the welcome news that "Muscoe Russell"s wife had come."
January 25th. - The President walked home with me from church (I was to dine with Mrs. Davis). He walked so fast I had no breath to talk; so I was a good listener for once. The truth is I am too much afraid of him to say very much in his presence. We had such a nice dinner. After dinner Hood came for a ride with the President.
Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, walked home with me. He made himself utterly agreeable by dwelling on his friendship and admiration of my husband. He said it was high time Mr. Davis should promote him, and that he had told Mr. Davis his opinion on that subject to-day.
Tuesday, Barny Heyward went with me to the President"s reception, and from there to a ball at the McFarlands". Breckinridge alone of the generals went with us. The others went to a supper given by Mr. Clay, of Alabama.
284 I had a long talk with Mr. Ould, Mr. Benjamin, and Mr. Hunter. These men speak out their thoughts plainly enough. What they said means "We are rattling down hill, and n.o.body to put on the brakes." I wore my black velvet, diamonds, and point lace. They are borrowed for all "theatricals," but I wear them whenever they are at home.
February 1st. - Mrs. Davis gave her "Luncheon to Ladies Only" on Sat.u.r.day. Many more persons there than at any of these luncheons which we have gone to before. Gumbo, ducks and olives, chickens in jelly, oysters, lettuce salad, chocolate cream, jelly cake, claret, champagne, etc., were the good things set before us.
To-day, for a pair of forlorn shoes I have paid $85. Colonel Ives drew my husband"s pay for me. I sent Lawrence for it (Mr. Chesnut ordered him back to us; we needed a man servant here). Colonel Ives wrote that he was amazed I should be willing to trust a darky with that great bundle of money, but it came safely. Mr. Petigru says you take your money to market in the market basket, and bring home what you buy in your pocket-book.