[449]
details of her housekeeping, or visit her neighbors, or look after the needy poor.
She is one of the finest conversationalists I ever met, and her recollections of society and events in Washington, in Richmond, and in Europe, and of the prominent men and women with whom she came in contact, are simply charming, and would make a book of rare interest were she disposed to turn her attention to authorship.
Devoted to her husband, and taking a natural pride in his fame; an affectionate mother, who delights in her children and grandchildren; affable and pleasant with her neighbors; a noted housekeeper and fine economist, and a charming entertainer of visitors, she strikes all who know her as worthy to share the fortunes and comfort the declining years of our chief, as she was worthy to share his honors and reign in society at Washington and at Richmond.
She speaks in the most cordial terms (as does Mr. Davis) of Richmond and Richmond people, and inquires very affectionately after some of her special friends.
Miss Winnie Davis, the single daughter, who was born in Richmond not long before the close of the war, is one of the most thoroughly educated, accomplished young women whom I have ever met. At the same time she is simple, affable, and sweet in her manners, a brilliant conversationalist, a general favorite, and every way worthy of her proud lineage and happy inheritance as ‘Child of the Confederacy.’
Mrs. Hayes, the only other living child, was on a visit to Beauvoir, but was sick, and I had not the pleasure of seeing her; but I heard her spoken of in the warmest terms of admiration by some of the neighbors.
I saw her four sweet children-and what pets they were with their grandfather, whose love of children is one of his strong characteristics!
This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
Annual reunion of Pegram Battalion Association in the
Hall
of
House of Delegates
,
Richmond, Va.
,
May
21st
,
1886
.
Extracts from the diary of
Lieutenant-Colonel
John
G.
Pressley
, of the
Twenty-Fifth South Carolina Volunteers
.
Ceremonies connected with the unveiling of the statue of
General
Robert
E.
Lee
, at
Lee
circle,
New Orleans, Louisiana
,
February
22
,
1884
.
Address before the
Virginia
division of
Army of Northern Virginia
, at their reunion on the evening of
October
21
,
1886
.
Fortification and siege of
Port Hudson
—Compiled by the
Association
of defenders of
Port Hudson
;
M.
J.
Smith
,
President
;
James
Freret
,
Secretary
.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.