[
163]
ease and luxury.
To such we gave our best homage; and from that time forth the youth who was lukewarm in the cause or unambitious of military glory fared uncomfortably in the presence of the average Confederate maiden.
Thanks to our own carriage, we were able during those rallying days of June to drive frequently to visit “the boys” in camp, timing the expeditions to include battalion drill and dress parade, and taking tea afterward in the different tents.
Then were the gala days of war, and our proud hosts hastened to produce home dainties dispatched from the far-away plantations tears and blessings interspersed amid the packing, we were sure; though I have seen a pretty girl persist in declining other fare, to make her meal upon raw biscuit and huckleberry pie compounded by the bright-eyed amateur cook of a well-beloved mess.
Feminine heroism could no farther go.
And so the days wore on until the 17th of July, when a rumor from the front sent an electric shock through our circle.
The enemy were moving forward!
On the morning of the 18th those who had been able to sleep at all awoke early to listen for the first guns of the engagement of Blackburn's Ford.
Abandoned as the women at
Bristoe were by every male creature old enough to gather news, there was, for us, no way of knowing the progress of events during the long, long day of waiting, of watching, of weeping, of praying, of rushing out upon the railway track to walk as far as we dared in the direction whence came that intolerable booming of artillery.
The cloud of dun smoke arising over
Manassas became heavier in volume as the day progressed.
Still, not a word of tidings, till toward afternoon there came limping
