ung by an
outsider. We laughed till we almost cried over the little bits of
ones, but when the grown people wanted to "shout," I would not let
them, and the occasion closed by their "drawing" candy from C. as they
passed out. I daresay this sounds pleasant, and I know they all had a
good time; but if you could have looked in, you would have thought it
Bedlam let loose!

The "Georgia refugees" referred to in several of the
subsequent letters were hundreds of negroes who had followed
Sherman's army northward. "They are said," says C. P. W.,
"to be an excellent set of people, more intelligent than
most here, and eager for work. They will get distributed
onto the plantations before a great while."

_Jan. 6._ Miss Towne gave us quite an interesting account of the
Georgia refugees that have been sent to the Village. The hardships
they underwent to march with the army are fearful, and the children
often gave out and were left by their mothers exhausted and dying by
the roadside and in the fields. Some even put their children to death,
they were such a drag upon them, till our soldiers, becoming furious
at their barbarous cruelty, hung two women on the spot. In contrast to
such selfishness, she told us of one woman who had twelve small
children--she carried one and her husband another, and for fear she
should lose the others she tied them all together by the hands and
brought them all off safely, a march of hundreds of miles. The men
have all been put to work in the quartermaster's department or have
gone into the army, and the families are being distributed where they
can find places for them.

FROM E. S. P.

_Jan. 8._ Miss Towne told some amusing stories of the Georgia
refugees. Some of them, being very destitute, were bemoaning their
condition, and wishing they had never left their old plantations,
feeling rather abashed at the responsibility of taking care of
themselves. The old Edisto people, who have been there a year or two,
encourage them, saying, "Look 'o we," "We come here wi' noffin at
all," "Now we have money for cotton and all the tater and hominy we
can eat," etc. One woman said, "Bress the Lord, I have striven and got
enough to give _seven_ gowns to these poor folk." So it seems they do
what they can for the new-comers. I guess these Edisto people, who
have their own recent destitution fresh in mind, are more kind than
the natives of St. Helena, who are rather inclined to be jealou