Page 115 - Arkansas Confederate Women

100 Confederate Women of Arkansas

had six boys in the line of gray, one in the trans-Mississippi

department, four in the army of Tennessee, and one in Virginia,

and in most every battle fought from Texas to Virginia one of

her boys was in the line of battle. This constant anxiety of

mind and tax upon her physical strength and sympathy finally

broke down her superb constitution and she never fully regained

her health yet she lived to be seventy-six years old, dying in the
;

city of Hope, Arkansas, some 'years after the war ended. My

father was treasurer of Hempstead county at the time of his

death, which occurred before that of my mother. Their joint

service in hospital work was a labor of love, for they served free

of charge to the Confederate States. Nothing was too hard

for them to undertake in order to save the lives of our soldier

boys committed to their care. While hundreds were nursed back

to life and health by their untiring efforts, yet many were the

dying messages committed to them and transmitted to loved

ones at home. No doubt there are hundreds of gray haired men

in all parts of our Southland who remember with gratitude and

thanks my mother's administrations at their sick bedside. She

made the hospital brighter and more cheery by her presence, and

when the angel of death came there came also hope and peace,

for she ministered to their spiritual as well as their physical

salvation. Can the value of her work be computed or known?

Her reward shall be the grateful remembrance of her fellow

countrymen and the assurance of her Saviour as He will say
to her, "Inasmuch as you did it unto one of the least of these my

brethren, you did it unto me." These lines are dedicated to
her memory by one of her sons who loves to honor her patriotism

and self-sacrificing conception of duty.

SAVING A WATCH.

A lady in Pendleton, possessor of a gold watch, during

the war, when she heard that the "Yankees" were coming
through Pendleton to destroy everything and burn all the
houses, took her watch and wound her knitting thread around
it. When they came she was quietly knitting, so the watch
was saved.