ePub Systems of Buddhistic Thought by Yamakami Sogen in History

Description

This is a memoir about the Civil War era written by a Southern woman who lived during the conflict. From the intro: " THIS history was told over the tea-cups. One winter; in the South; I had for my neighbor a gentle; little brown-haired lady; who spent many evenings at my fireside; as I at hers; where with bits of needlework in our hands we gossiped away as women will. I discovered in her an unconscious heroine; and her Civil War experiences made ever an interesting topic. Wishing to share with others the reminiscences she gave me; I seek to present them here in her own words. Just as they stand; they are; I believe; unique; possessing at once the charm of romance and the veracity of history. They supply a graphic; if artless; picture of the social life of one of the most interesting and dramatic periods of our national existence. The stories were not related in strict chronological sequence; but I have endeavored to arrange them in that way. Otherwise; I have made as few changes as possible. Out of deference to the wishes of living persons; her own and her husband's real names have been suppressed and others substituted; in the case of a few of their close personal friends; and of some whose names would not be of special historical value; the same plan has been followed. Those who read this book are admitted to the sacred councils of close friends; and I am sure they will turn with reverent fingers these pages of a sweet and pure woman's life - a life on which; since those fireside talks of ours; the Death-Angel has set his seal. Memoirs and journals written not because of their historical or political significance; but because they are to the writer the natural expression of what life has meant to him in the moment of living; have a value entirely apart from literary quality. They bring us close to the human soul - the human soul in undress. We find ourselves without preface or apology in personal; intimate relation with whatever makes the yesterday; to-day; to-morrow of the writer. When this current of events and conditions is impelled and directed by a vital and formative period in the history of a nation; we have only to follow its course to see what history can never show us; and what fiction can unfold to us only in part - how the people thought; felt; and lived who were not making history; or did not know that they were. This is the essential value of A Virginia Girl in the Civil War: it shows us simply; sincerely; and unconsciously what life meant to an American woman during the vital and formative period of American history. That this American woman was also a Virginian with all a Virginian's love for Virginia and loyalty to the South; gives to her record of those days that are still "the very fiber of us" a fidelity rarely found in studies of local color. Meanwhile; her grateful affection for the Union soldiers; officers and men; who served and shielded her; should lift this story to a place beyond the pale of sectional prejudice."