and culture were in the grip of poverty, and it was then that the
spirit of Southern womanhood showed its divine strength. Facing
family troubles with the courage of noble resignation, those women who
had been educated--some abroad--and accomplished, became school
teachers at five dollars a month for a pupil, and many a woman to-day
bears gratitude in her heart for the sweet influence of these school
teachers, which has gone with her into every clime, into every
condition, and proved an unfailing guide to the uplands and the
heights. Many became seamstresses, some governesses and others
traveling companions. But wherever these gentlewoman went they
carried refinement and ideals.

The heroism of the Southern women in the Civil War is an Epic
in American History!



Renestine was the mother now of three little daughters.
Jaffray had gone to Mexico to buy up horses, saddles and commissaries
for the army. Caroline and Josiah were her bodyguards and, faithful
servants, they saved her little anxieties and looked after the welfare
of the children.

Renestine made their little shoes by shaping cloth after their
worn ones and sewing them together with pieces of soft cardboard for
soles. She made coffee by drying beets, and flour by drying potatoes.
Her practical little head was resourceful for any emergency. She felt
sad at the separation from her husband, and her large black eyes were
mournful but not tearful. To be and doing was her spirit. In spare
moments she sat down to her tambourine to do crewel work on a