Little Homespun

olemnly, “would you be so kin’ a

l, I’m very sorry, but I can’t tell you,” and th

en he considered any matter required careful thought. Then after a pause, “Well, your las

me I chose for myself. I do no

er night so many years before on Larry’s lighter, how she had found herself landed in the orphan asylum, with no name as far as any one knew, excepting just Sylvia, and how she had named herself Sylvester after one of the ladies who came to

a sigh as of one who has listened with an intentnes

er nor mother, and then ran away in the darkness, but I don’t believe any one related to me would have treated me like that. I would rather you

ent right out to you from de day you done come walkin’ up de 066path a

er the chestnut tree for the others to come back, that they had had their little talk. It reached its natural conclusion just as Colonel Anderson

fashion as in the morning, “I have an idea that you will have to let Joe and me do all the

Joe explained that he himself would rather listen than talk,

d taken refuge. I wish there was time, children, to stop and tell you about John Brown. You know the old song about ‘John Brown’s body lies a mouldering in the grave, but his soul goes marching on.’ Get Joe here to sing it for you some day, if you don’t. Well, you see by all this that General Lee had done a great deal for his country; but there came a day when he felt it his duty to turn against it, that is, to take up arms against the 068United States. You all know how the great civil war finally came about; how the Northern States thought the Southern States should not hold slaves, and how the Southern States thought they had the right to decide whether they should or not without any interference from the North, and so banded themselves together and said they would secede from the United States and form a confederacy of their own. This Virginia, whose air we are breathing this minute, was one of those states, and was General Lee’s native state as well; and when the time came to choose between his state and his country, he decided to sid

lf carried out of de house, and sol’ in de streets up dere in de city of Washington, and some of de negroes—shame on ’em!—ran away with things an’ sol’ ’em for more money dan dey themselves would have sol’ for ’fo’ de wah. Oh, it was pitiful to see the flower beds and lawns tramped over, as dough dey had been so much rubbish, and it wa’n’t long befo’ de smooth green terraces were just ragg

re. At first all who died were taken to the Soldiers’ Home Cemetery on the other side of Washington to be 071buried, but the day came, as you know, when this very place was turned into a cemetery, and this was how it came about. One afternoon as President Lincoln was starting for his usual drive, which seemed to be the only way by which he could gain any relief from the burdens of that anxious time, he met General Meigs (who was Quarter-master General then of the United States Army) walking in the White House grounds. Noticing how tired and worn out the General looked, the President invited him to drive with him, and General Meigs accepted. It was the President’s purpose to drive out to Arlington, and when they reached there, the President started off for a quiet stroll; but General Meigs, whose thoughts were very busy just then as to what should b

al?’ asked General Meigs of the

ozen, sir,’ the

he General, pointing to a low

ly, feeling that an interruption was excusable under the circumstances. To be fair always, if possible, to every

lace had been put up at public sale and bought by the Government. It was not, I believe, until 1873, however, that the Lees received any money for the estate, and that I admit does not seem fair at all. And there is another right of which I am certain, and that is that the brave fe

de loss of human life, and General Lee done took a great ’sponsibility ’pon him, when he help de war on by takin’ command of de

from Brevet up had some question or other to ask of the Colonel, and he was quite willing that they should, for they had a

ar, or since the war, and when we go back to the cabin and Joe makes the hoe-cake and broils a chicken for luncheon, and I get the china down from the cupboard and set the table, with both of us talking most interesting all the t

appy time!” and Joe drew the little fellow into his lap and hel

e chicken nicer than having luncheon out here in the grass lik

” was Brevet’s no

, to take Fo’th of July dinner wid me in my cabin, an’ if Miss Courage will honour me wid her presence, an’ de Colonel will co

ier ending to a perfect day than to have just such another perfect day planned for at i

n’t make no public mention of your two names. Seemed as dough it might make her feel a bit uncomfortable if she was de only one not mentioned; but you understan’, Miss Lindy, de cabin am sma

ll make it all right with Mammy.” But from Grandma Ellis’s point of view Mammy did n