Page 72 - Arkansas Confederate Women

How Women Supported the Family 65

soldiers and for members of their household, and thought them-

selves lucky.

But the contents of the boxes which were sent from time
to time to the soldiers in the field, showed more clearly the
result of women's labor, and the various expedients which
changed conditions had forced them to adopt. For the box con-
tained many suits of jeans, home-made blankets usually made
from carpets taken from the floors of parlors and sitting-rooms,
shoes of various sizes, home-made handkerchiefs, pin cushions
filled with pins and needles, sewing thread, towels, soap both
to use in washing face and body, and also to put in the soldiers'
socks to prevent the feet from blistering while on a long march,

boxes of different kinds of salves, corn cob pipes with bits of
cane for stems, sacks of red pepper for seasoning food and also
to put in soldier's shoes or boots to keep his feet warm, scores of

black balls made of bees-wax with which to color white thread,
rice, home-grown, and husked in a mortar made from a tree
whose length had been burnt into a cone-shaped hole, the pestle
composed of a piece of wood with nails driven in the end. There
was something for every member of the company, no one being
overlooked or forgotten. And each box had many rolls of linen
for bandages made from bed linen, and lint scraped, oh, how
carefully, from table linen and pillow cases. Aside from these
things there were socks, underclothing, and scores of smaller
articles, all of which were of use and value in the camp. Nor
must I forget a stock of stationery, made of all kinds and col-
ors of wrapping paper, dingy and brown perhaps, but neverthe-

less very acceptable to the soldier to whom it was sent ; and with
it were goose quills for pens, and many bottles of home-made

ink. Furthermore, there were boxes specially prepared for the

sick and for the hospitals, containing many delicacies, such as
coffee, tea, and other things that had been stored away with all a

miser's care for just such purposes, that is to say for the sick

and wounded soldiers. These boxes were usually sent by wagons
to Camden and thence to Memphis, from whence they, were for-
warded to their destination. Later when the federal authority
gained control of the last named place, other sources were found