Ham, shoulder-meat, etc., were
tossed into wagons. Cows were driven off, and, oh, the beautiful
horses, the _pride_ and pets of their owners, were _led_, snorting and
frightened, into the road, where the saddles of the cavalry-horses were
put upon their shivering backs preparatory to being mounted and ridden
away by their new masters.
With perfect calmness the ladies watched the havoc and desolation
which was being wrought in their beloved home, among their household
treasures. To one of them had been given, some time previous, a sacred
trust, a watch which before the war had been presented to a minister
by his congregation. When dying in one of the Confederate hospitals he
had given it to Mrs. ----, begging that, if possible, it might be sent
to his wife in Arkansas. This watch had been concealed upon the tester
of a bed, and so far had escaped discovery. But one of the servants
having given information regarding it, suddenly two soldiers dragged
Mrs. ---- into her own room, where they believed it was concealed. She
positively refused to give it up. Throwing off the mattress, the men
held a match to the feather-bed beneath, saying, "_Here_ goes your
d----d old house, then.
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