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Some War-Time Letters of “Stonewall” Jackson—- By wZ!’
The Famous Confederate General’s.
Widow Presents Some Characteris
tic Epistles in the Current Number
of HEARST’S MAGAZINE.
(From Hearst's Magazine for October, pub
lished by permission of the Editors.)
GENERAL JACKSON’S letters were al
ways full of his personality; they gave
ample evidence of his spiritual charac
ter, and of the sweet thoughtfulness of his na
ture. But they were besides full of graphic
detail about the war. Malls were not always
promptly delivered in these dire times, and his
betters were never an assurance that all was
won, for many days would alapes between the
wClr.f and the receiving. On January 17,
I.AI. he said: “Yesterday I had the pleasure
of receiving a letter from my espoaltta four
days after It was written. Doesn’t It look as
If Confederate malls are better than United
States malls' Don’t you remember how long
It took for letters to oeme from Charlotte to
Lexington under the old regime?"
Naturally my letters to the General were
replete with qiiestlcgis concerning himself,
and he was careful to leave none of them
unanswered. In the name letter which
brought me the welcome news that I might
come and spend a while with Mm In his
Wister quarters at Winchester, there was
ample evidence of his conscientious corre
spondence. The letter Is dated November 9,
IMI. "And now for an answer to your ques
tions ' it reads. "My comamnd is enlarged
and embraces the Valley District, and the
troops of thia district constitute the Army
of the Valley; but my command Is not alto
gether Independent, as It is embraced In the
Department of Northern Virginia, of which
General Johnston has the command. There
are three armies in this department—one un-
Ser General Beauregard, another under Gen
eral Holmes and the third under my command.
Ly headquarters are for the present at Win
chester. A major-general’s rank is Inferior to
that of a full general. The rank of major
gwiera) does not appea.- to be recognized by
the laws of the Confederate States, so far as
I have seen; but there may be some law em
braced in the Army Regulations which I have
not seen. ... My promotion places
Here’s a Gay Atlanta Lass of 75 Who Frolics in a Playhouse and Garden
THERE'S rosemary for remembrance, and
pansies for thought, and sunshine and
green things for the Joy and love of life.
“Gran’ma” Robson's garden out at Kirkwood
has all these things. When you get to be seven
ty-five years old you know, it Is good to have a
plats l where you ran plant flowers and dreams,
and where you can play.
A long time ago. long liefore she was seventy
five, "Gran’ma" Robson wanted all these things,
and right away she began to long for a play
house In addition to a garden. She would have
some very pleasant hours on earth when her
•hair grew white and the great grandchildren
came.
And now she lias the playhouse and the gar
den too, out in Kirkwood. If on some fine
morning you feel Inclined to doubt the good
ness and the wisdom of things In general, just
board an East Lake car. ride out past the paved
street, out beyond the grim mill section, out
into the open space, until you reach Kirkwood.
There, not far from the car line, down the quiet
main street, you will stumble across the haunt
of a familiar spirit of fairyland, who is
"Gran'ma” Robson.
You will see the playhouse, a little log cabin
almost hidden away by .fields of golden Jon
quils In the springtime, roses and thyme and
old-fashioned flowers in the summer, and In the
fall a host of waving chrysanthemums. And
all about is a garden. And very likely the
owner of the playhouse and the garden will be
there, too. planting flowers or garnering dreams.
Maybe she Is writing in her "Garden Book”
or weaving her "Romance Rug." or maybe
merely sitting there, looking and listening.
The playhouse was built for Mrs. Kate Rob
son by her son In 1908, when her health failed,
and the physician ordered her iqto the o]>en
air. When the order came. Mrs. Robson
thought joyfully of her long-cherished dreams
of a playhouse, and was enthusiastic when her
son suggested it. She wrote of all that in her
"Garden Book.”
Mrs. Robson lives with her daughte-. Mrs.
C. R. Dunwody. a block or two from the little
house. And so she is near the place where
she plays, and can easily go when she wants
to be alone, or to “stay a while among the flow
«rs." as idle says.
Th* "Garden Rook" of the old Indy of the
playhouse, or the “Romance Rug." Is evidence
enough that here is one of the cholci'st of spir
its. even If the evidence of the playhouse were
not enough. In the “Garden Book" Mrs. Robson
not only has written some “garden sense,” as
she calls it. but also many thoughts gleaned
from the open, from the sky, the landscape—
butterflies, bug and bees, and the flowers.
These she calls her playmates.
Big thoughts come to Mrs. Robson, there In
the garden and the playhouse. They are
thoughts that transcend the fairy romances of
children, being deeper, and more spiritual. For
Instance, expressing her desire for the out
doors. Mrs. Robson wrote in her book :
“When spring sends her card by bluebirds
and daffodils and all the little given things
spring up through the brown earth, 'and there
is never a blade or leaf too>mean, to be some
happy creature's palace.’ and the atmosphere Is
soft and balmy and the sunshine is kind o'
lazy and hazy, and that suggestion of lacy etch
Ing gets in the trees, I know my spirit gets too
big for my body, and goes off on excursions by
Itself.
“To try to write what I feel and think under
these conditions would be as futile as ‘lodging
me between a brigadier and a Dill general;
but I don’t think that either a major-general
or a full general will be paid any more than
l.’.hj per month (the pay of a brigadier), but
as commander of an army my additional pay
Is 8100, making In all |lol per month. I send
you a check for >I.OOO. which I wish invested
In Confederate bonds, as I think, as fsr- as
possible, persons should take Confederate
bonds, so as to relieve the government from
any pecuniary pressure Yon’Tiad better not
sell your coupons from the bonds, as I un
derstand they are paid In gold. Citizens sfcouid
not receive a cent of gold from the govern
ment when ft Is so scarce."
And in this same letter I found the hnman
touch which was uppermost in all the Gen
eral’s relationships. It tells of the death of
Amy, an old family servant, who "has gon.
to a better world Th. tears came to my eyes
more than once. . . .”
»•••••••
Banks was now In possession of the lower
valley. Ashby pursued the Federate to within
a mile of Winchester, and on March 28, there
was fought the battle of Kernstown Though
overwhelmed by numbers and obliged to re
treat to Mount Jackson, my husband felt that
he had delivered a severe blow to the enemy.
On April 11 he wrote:
. . . “God gave us a glorious victory in th.
Southwest (at Shiloh), but the loss of the
great Albert Sidney Johnston Is to b.
mourned Ido not remember having ever felt
so sad at the death of a man whom I had
‘never seen. . . . Although I was repulsed
In the attempt to recover Winchester, yet the
enemy’s loss appears to have been three times
that of ours. In addition to this, the great
object which required me to follow up the
enemy, as he fell back from Strasburg, seems
to have been accomplished very thoroughly.
I am well satisfied with the result. Congress
has passed a vote of thanks and General John
ston has issued a very gratifying order upon
the subject, one which will have a fine effect
upon my command. The great object to be
acquired by the battl. demanded Um. to mak.
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“Gran’ma" Robson
-working on her "Ro-
tor mignonette seeds In sand.’
"I verily believe I can almost touch the hem
of the garment of the Almighty!”
In the six years that Mrs. Robson has owned
the playhouse and its garden, she has found
time to do many tilings for other people. That
may tie is why she is tieloved everywhere in
Kirkwood, and why the children and the grown
people too call her “Gran'ma" Robson.
For one thing, there is work enough to do in
her garden, it is no play garden, even if it
dues surround a playhouse, and eveu if the
iwAtvoi o ovxvi/ai n.iinnn aa, aiJjaaia. on.. ouiwai, t/vivotut a, i»l3.
ir " z
1 ’ !
< =wl
A Typical Letter
of G•n• r• I
“S t o n ww.ll"
J.ckson, Sant
t • Brig.-Gaw.
Hill.
known Its aeoom
pllshments T1 me
has shown that
while the field Is
in posawmlon of the
enemy, the most e»
esrtial fruits of th.
battle are our. . ..
Should any report
be published, my
views and object in
fighting and Its
rrults will then b.
come known. I be
lieved that so far
as our troops were
concerned, necessity and mercy both called for
the batUe. I do hope the war will soon b.
over, and that I shall never again have to
take the field. . . .
With a audd.n movement th. General at-
rnanee Rug” in her gar
' den at Kirkwood.
- f
» 1 ~~~~~~~—~~
hands that tend it are not directed with thought
of the difficulty of tile task. To care for the
spreading, sprawling, luxuriant garden is a big
task by itself, tint lyesides that she finds time
to send flowers to her neighliors for the tables
or for invalids. And she weaves rugs and
♦♦ ♦♦
ill
Into th. Hands of These Two Quiet Gentlemen of
th. South, Genenrai R. E. Lee and Lieutenant
General “Stonewall” Jackson, Fell the Peculiar
Destinies of the Confederacy During a War That
Surprised the North and Thrilled the World.
darling: An ever-ktnd Providence blest us with
success at Front Royal on Friday, between Stras
burg and Winchester, on Saturday, and her.
with a successful engagement on yesterday.
I do not remember having ever seen such rw
counterpanes with an adeptness and expert
skill that make the finished products bits of
art. There are hangings, tapestries and pieces
of fancy work that she makes too. All these
are for other people. It Is not her religion to
be idle —so she has written In the "Garden
Book.” ‘
Most wonderful of all the things she has
woven is the “Romance Rug.” It Is alive with
a real story. There are symbolic figures fash
ioned tn its stuff, there is a procession of fan
ciful designs that tell as many things as the
Canterbury Pilgrims. And it all is patterned
to tell the love story of her granddaughter. It
Is really a “Romance Rug.”
In one of the rugs there is woven a bit of
sunset sky, a branch against the clear tone of
the heavens, a hanging autumn leaf. It is one
of the many things she sees in her fairv gar
den.
And then there are conventional designs, in
cluding an Oriental prayer rug. of ornate but
accurate design, to kneel for worship on which
N;
■ <
■SHMI
Lieutenant-General “Stonewall” Jaekson, from a Painting Made by
Aloysios O’Kelly for Hearst’s Magarino from a Dagurrotype Loaned
by Mrs. Mary A. Jackson.
tacked and drove
back the Federal!
as far as Frank
lin. Aided by Ash
ley, he began to
chaee Banks
through the Val
ley, and there were
sharp contests
around Winchester
on May 25.
“Winchester. May
26. —My precious
joining as was manifested by the people of
Winchester as our army yesterday passed
■irough the town in pursuit of the enemy.
. . . Our entrance into Winchester was one
yf the most stirring scenes of my life. ...
Time forbids a longer letter, but it does not
forbid my loving esposltla.
My husband now sent forward to Richmond
for mon men. He needed 40,000 to Improve
th. opening which offered. Fremont and Mo-
Dowell were converging, and Banks was on
the Potomac side. There followed a series of
rapid retreats on the part of Jackson. Ashby
skirmishing on June 8 with Fremont’s ad
vance. On the Sth. Ashby was killed. Then
there came the victories.of Pert Republic and
Cross Keys. This letter reached me:
Near Port Republic, June 10. —On Sunday,
would bring delight to the soul of any follower
of Mohammed.
Much of the weaving is done in the play
day, all the time plying the rags for her weav
ing, with busy hands. It Is very pleasant to
weave when your hands are inspired to pat
terns for your “Romance Rug.” and your brain
watching the flowers come and go day after
house. Mrs. Robson sits in the front door
is Inspired to thoughts for her “Garden Book,”
and the Inspiration is coming all the time from
the sound of birds singing and flowers nodding.
Over the door of the playhouse, just above
her head as she sits there weaving, is the in
scription, in Latin: “God has given me this
resting place.”
Mrs. Robson did not explain why the inscrip
tion should have been a borrowed thing, and
in Latin. She, has written so many things as
beautiful, and original phrases they are, at
that.
In the cabin, which is of plain pine saplings,
and which has a thatched roof, she has gathered
all the things she loves the best she says they
are her choicest possessions. There are little
pictures, books that have been her companions,
things from her own childhood, with many a
memory around, probably, and possessions of
her own sons and daughters when they were
children.
There is a couch to lie upon and rest when
the sun outside is too hot for a white-haired
great-grandmother, even if she is the most ener
getic great-grandmother alive, and is working
out a labor of love. And lying there, she can
think.
There is a rocking chair Inside also. All the
little house is arranged carelessly, as you very
naturally would think a child's playhouse
should be arranged. And yet in all the fa
miliar disarray there is a hint of order, just
as if things were arranged so that the hands
of the playhouse dweller may find loved things
in the dark.
Altogether, there is room enough and a spot
sufficiently propitious in which to write the
“Garden Book.”
Os all the things that you might consider
wonderful about this little province of fairy
land. there is none of them so wonderful—ex
cept the white-haired grandmother herself—as
the "Garden Book.” In it are her thoughts
and her dreams and her confessions.
And you must admit that, coming from a
seventy-five-year-old woman who glories In a
playhouse, who weaves romance rugs, who
plants and tends her own garden, the "Gar
den Book” must be interesting.
It is. Its style Is simple and sweet and nat
urally melodious just as you imagine would
be the writing of Walter Pater, if he were not
so evidently striving for his beautiful effect.
It is a style without technique, yet surpassing
technique, truthfully revealing the mind of a
white-haired great-grandmother who can see
an element of wonder and beauty and spir
ituality in the world.
It is much to the credit of her eldest grand
son that the book was written for him and
dedicated to him. because, as the writer said,
“he loved to dig in the earth and plant,” as
she did.
At the first of the book is a stanza, clipped
from the pages of a formal, printed book. It
is:
“The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of the birds for mirth :
One is nearer God's heart in a garden, .•
Than auyr here else on earth.” e-X
the Bth. an attack was made upon us by a
part of Shields’s command about 7 o’clock a. m,
which a kind Providence enabled us to re
pulse. During the same morning Fremont
Ittacked us from the opposite side, and after
several hours’ fighting he also was repulsed.
Yesterday morning I attacked that part of
Shields’s force which was near Port Republic,
and, after a hotly contested field from near 6
to 10.30 a. m., completely routed the enemy,
who lost eight pieces of artillery during the
two days. . . . How I do wish for peace,
but only upon the condition of our national in
lependence.”
In the meanwhile Richmond was threat
ened by McClellan, and Lee needed Jackson.
Jackson himself was convinced that after Win
chester, with reinforcements, he should have
Invaded the North. But General Lee was in
dir. need of him at Richmond. So there were
secret movements and swift marches, and
t en the Seven Days Battles, when the Fed
•■ais were forced back into the swamps of
>'• Chlekahomfny. Jackson’s report paid trlb
fte to General Hood and his Texans: ‘
"Advancing through a number or retreating
and disordered regiments, he came within
range of the enemy's fire, who, concealed in an
open wood and protected by breastworks,
poured a destructive fire, for a quarter of a
mile, into his advancing line, under which
many brave officers and men fell. Dashing
on with unfaltering steps in the face of these
murderous discharges of canister and mus
ketry. General Hood and Colonel Laws, at the
head of their respective brigades, rushed to
the charge with a yell. Moving down a pA>-
clpttous ravine, leaping ditch and stream,
clambering up a difficult ascent, and exposed
to an incessant and deadly fire from the io
trenchments, these brave and determined men
pressed forward, driving the enemy from bis
wall-selected and fortified position. In this
charge, in which upward of a thousand men
fell, killed and wounded, before the face of
the enemy, and in which fourteen pieces of
artillery and nearly a regiment were cap
tured, the Fourth Texas, under the lead of
General Hood, was the first to pieroe these
strongholds and seize the guns. . . . The
shouts of triumph which rose from our brave
men as they, unaided by artillery, had stormed
this citadel of their strength, were promptly
carried from line to line, and the triumphant
issue of this assault, with the well-directed
fire of the batteries, and the successful charges
of Hili and Winder upon the enemy's right,
determined the fortunes of the day. The Fed
eral!, routed at every point, and aided by
the darkness of the night, escaped across the
Chlckahomlny.
(Thea, excerpts are taken from a remark
able article publlehed In the current number
es HEARST'S MAGAZINE.)
Here and there on the pages of the book—
which is a plain blankbook such as the public
school children use—are photographs and pic
tures clipped from books or magazines, garden
scenes, lawns and flowers.
The book, being the book of her garden, con
tains a history of the gardefi and the house.
Os the building of the house she has written:
, “Henry was home from Missouri for a few
months. He said to me: ‘Mother, you have
always wanted a playhouse. Let's build it in
your garden while I’m here.’
“I said: ‘They say old people go back to sec
ond childhood. I still want it Let's get busy.’
“I can never forget how happv we were
building the cabin in my daffodil ’garden ! We
hardly took time to eat. In a few weeks it
was finished, and I jcould not tell if I were to
try the pleasure and the happiness it has been
to me.”
In her book, Mrs. Robson becomes the apostle
of gardens. Throughout the little record she
makes a strong plea for gardens as a means
of relaxation from care and worry, and recom
mends their culture as the most cheerful pur
suit for women who love the outdoors.
, She tells of her own love of gardens:
“The earth is so sweet and warm and brown,
it Is impossible for me to keep away from it
with hoe or trowel in my hand, and joy in my
heart. I think how good it is to be alive —to
have a garden to dig in, and more than all, to
be well and able to dig.
"I doubt if there was a time that I did not
love gardens and flowers. Family tradition
says that when I was born, my father brought
violets from the yard and put them in the lace
border of my cap.
“I have owned several homes in my life—
three in Atlanta—and at all of them I have
planted things.”
“I have thought that of all the homes in At
lanta I would rather have Mrs. Richard Peters'
place. It makes an impression of outdoor
breathing space—also of quiet and refinement —
and of not being continually on dress parade.
“If I had to live in a house in Atlanta I
would choose the stone house Mr. Dougherty
built, and the most attractive part of that place
is the natural stone boulders jutting out of the
terrace along the sidewalk.”
In her old age. Mrs. Robson is supremely
happy. Her eyesight is practical! v undimmed
and she has written the entire “Garden Book”
without a blot. Somewhere she remarks:
“I think the complete enjoyment of all the
beautiful things God has so lavishly spread
about us is reserved for the aged—those whose
pulses have grown calm, and who open their
souls to the vision. They find many revelations
of beauty that are withheld from the eager
eyes of youth.”
Something of Browning's fine spirit in all
that. Something of the same big, generous soul
in this self-revelation, also from the “Garden
Book:”
“My world has been very circumscribed, bnt
my spirit has owned the universe!
_“I know I have heard the call of the wild.
Not the call of the original nature of the dog
to go back to his wolfish forefathers, nor the
call of primitive man to go back to the stone
age. Rut the call of nature and nature's God
to lay aside conventionalities and turn my han !
with fork or hoe or rake to help the face of the
earth to smile back at me in fruits and flow
1 ers.”