Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/535

496 jest spur the boys on to renewed vigor in the cause of the South, they felt amidst such inspirations it would be worthy to die, but more glorious to live for such a land of charming women. One of our matrons with her sweet old face softened into a dreamy smile by happy reminiscences of those days of toil, care, and sorrow, where happy thoughts and pleasantries of the past crowded in and made little rifts of sunshine through the war clouds, remarked : "But with all the gloom and suffering, we girls used to have such fun with the soldiers at the home, and at such times we could even forget that our beloved South was in the throes of the most terrible war in the history of any country!"

The home was operated for two years or more and often whole regiments of soldiers came to it, and all that could be accommodated were taken in and cared for. It was destroyed by Sherman's army on their march to the sea. The car shed, depot, hotel and home all disappeared before the torch of the destroyer and only the memory, the well, and the trees remain to mark the historic spot where the heroic efforts of our Burke County women sustained the Wayside Home through two long years of the struggle.

Mrs. Amos Whitehead and others who have "crossed the river" were prominently connected with this work; in fact, every one lent a helping hand, for it was truly a labor of love, and was our Southern women's tribute to patriotism and heroism.

Mrs. Cohen was ninety-three years old on May 30, 191 1. During the four years of the war she remained in Savannah, making it her duty to look after the needs of the Southern soldiers, who had been exchanged, and attended them in sickness, and in every way ministered to their comfort.

When Captain Cuyler, who was then ordnance officer, did not have sufficient bullets, she took the leaden weights from her windows, putting wood in their place to support the windows, and with those weights Captain Cuyler made five hundred bullets. She, with her two daughters, Fanny (Mrs. Henry Taylor) and Georgina