ey used to come before the war parted 'em."

She dried her eyes once more on the gingham apron and tried to smile
at me in her usual way, but the smile would not come.

"This ain't the right kind of a story to tell you, honey, on a pretty
spring day," she said brokenly, "and I never set out to tell it. But
that old bayonet got me started, and before I knew it I was right back
in war times livin' it all over. And while I'm about it, there's one
more story I'm goin' to tell you, whether you want to hear it or not.
It's about Elizabeth Taylor. I reckon I've told you Sally Ann's
experience, haven't I? And if you ricollect that, you'll know who
Elizabeth Taylor was.

"Elizabeth felt different from Mother about the war. She was strong
for States' rights, and when Harrison, the only son she had, went into
the army, he went with her blessin' and consent, and he made a mighty
brave soldier, too. I ricollect the day 'Lizabeth come over to tell us
about Harrison bein' promoted at the battle o' Port Gibson. You've
heard o' the battle o' Port Gibson, haven't you, honey? That was
another time when they fought all day long. I've heard Harrison say
the first gun was fired before daylight, and when they give up and
begun fallin' back, it was gittin' on towards dusk. Harrison said his
officers went down one by one, first the captain and then the
lieutenants, and when the last one fell, he up and took charge o'
things himself jest like he'd seen the captain do; and when they
found they had to give up the fight, Harrison somehow or other managed
to carry away two cannons out o' the six they'd been workin' that day,
and with these two he kind o' kept the Yankees off while the men fell
back, and if it hadn't been for that they'd 'a' been cut all to
pieces. Harrison was nothin' but a striplin', not out of his teens,
but he went into that battle a sergeant and he come out of it a
captain. 'Lizabeth was the proudest, gladdest woman you ever saw; says
she, 'I've had a hard life, but this pays me for all my troubles.'

"But what I set out to tell you was somethin' 'Lizabeth herself did,
not what Harrison did. It was along towards the close of the war, the
summer of '64. One evenin' in July a squad o' Yankee soldiers come
gallopin' along the pike about dark, and camped over in the fields
back of 'Lizabeth's house. 'Lizabeth said she went up in the garret
and looked out o' the window, and she could see 'em lightin' their
camp-fires and feedin'