I am from Virginia."
"I thought you did not look or speak like a Northern or Eastern lady.
Then, why are you interested in our boys? Are you with us in feeling?
Can you be a Union lady?"
"Yes, my boy, I am with you hand and heart. I cannot fight, but I can
feed, comfort and cheer you. Yes, I am a Southern woman and a
slaveholder. Now, I see you open your eyes with wonder; but, believe
me, there are many like me, true, loyal woman in the South; but my
particular interest in our regiments is, my father is a native of
Boston; but I love all our brave boys just the same."
A look of much interest was in his face, which I was so glad to see,
being so different from the total apathy of the day before.
"You are the first lady from Virginia that I have met who was not very
bitter against us Yankees--it is really amusing to be called so, to a
Mississippi man. Do you not feel a sympathy for the South? Your
interest is with them. You against your State and I mine--we certainly
are kindred spirits," he smilingly said. "We think and feel alike. It
is not politics but religion my mother always taught me. Love God
first and best, then my country, and I have followed her precepts, at
a very great sacrifice, too.
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