✺ ✺ ✺ ✺ ✺
Introductory experiences as a prisoner of
war included many hours of fasting, followed by a most exhaustive march of
twenty-eight miles to Orange Courthouse under close cavalry guard; thence by
rail to Gordonsville, where the place of detention was a pen frequently used
for the rounding up of cattle. At this point the prisoners were usually relieved
of any superfluous clothing and outfit.
Fortunately the writer had discovered in
the crowd five members of his regiment. He and they drew together as companions
in misfortune, and formed a group in which each one was to have a share and
share alike of all they possessed; and they entered into a solemn pledge to
care for one another in sickness.
Very early in the morning of our night at
Gordonville we were aroused by the sharp command, "Wake up there, wake up
there, you Yanks. Fall into two ranks. Quick there," given by a
Confederate sergeant. The occasion was the arrival of a trainload of beef
cattle for the Confederate army, and the master of transportation saw an
opportunity to load the prisoners into the freight cars just made vacant and
which were to return to Lynchburg immediately.
To be thus unceremoniously aroused from
sleep and hustled into filthy cars made us very indignant, but "There is a
divinity that shapes our ends; rough-hew them how we will," and in the
confusion of moving in the twilight, and the absence of inspection we got off
scot free from the usual ceremony of being stripped of superabundant clothes
and accouterments. Thus our group of six were each left in possession of a blanket,
a section of shelter tent, a haversack, a tin cup and plate, a knife, a fork, a
spoon, and such scanty clothing as we had on. The extras we possessed were a
frying pan, a file, and several pocket knives, two or three towels, a small
mirror, and a thin piece of mottled soap. The latter was used exclusively for a
Sunday morning wash of hands and face until it melted away.
Prison Life in Andersonville
by John L. Maile
Language: English ✵✵✵✵
✺ ✺ ✺ ✺ ✺
4. The Scold.
To return to the
proverbs. Solomon had some unhappy domestic experiences, and such proverbs as
these may have been the outcome:
"As a jewel of gold in
a swine's snout, so is a fair woman without discretion."
"A continual dropping
in a very rainy day, and a contentious woman are alike. Whosoever hideth her,
hideth the wind."
"It is better to
dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and angry woman."
"Better is a dinner
of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and hatred therewith."
"It is better to dwell
in the corner of a house top than with a brawling woman in a large house."
✺ ✺ ✺ ✺ ✺
