of War from a Mr.
Reanes, Jackson, Mississippi, advising the government to lose no time in
making the best terms possible with the United States authorities, else
all would be lost. He says but a short time ago he was worth $1,250,000,
and now nothing is left him but a shelter, and that would have been
destroyed if he had not made a pledge to remain. He says he is an old
man, and was a zealous secessionist, and even now would give his life
for the independence of his country. But that is impracticable--numbers
must prevail--and he would preserve his wife and children from the
horrors threatened, and inevitable if the war be prolonged. He says the
soldiers that were under Pemberton and Lovell will never serve under
them again, for they denounce them as traitors and tyrants, while, as
they allege, they were well treated by the enemy when they fell into
their hands.

Yet it seems to me that, like the Israelites that passed through the
Red Sea, and Shadrach and his brethren who escaped unscorched from the
fiery furnace, my family have been miraculously sustained. We have
purchased no clothing for nearly three years, and had no superabundance
to begin with, but still we have decent clothes, as if time made no
appreciable change in them. I wear a hat bought four years ago, and
shoes that cost me (government price then) $7.50 more than a year ago,
and I suppose they would sell now for $10; new ones are bringing $50.

My tomatoes are maturing slowly, but there will be abundance, saving me
$10 per week for ten weeks. My lima beans are very full, and some of
them will be fit to pull in a few days. My potatoes are as green as
grass, and I fear will produce nothing but vines; but I shall have
cabbages and parsnips, and red peppers. No doubt the little garden, 25
by 50, will be worth $150 to me. Thank Providence, we still have health!

But the scarcity--or rather high prices, for there is really no scarcity
of anything but meat--is felt by the cats, rats, etc., as well as by the
people. I have not seen a rat or mouse for months, and lean cats are
wandering past every day in quest of new homes.

What shall we do for sugar, now selling at $2 per pound? When the little
supply this side of the Mississippi is still more reduced it will
probably be $5! It has been more than a year since we had coffee or tea.
Was it not thus in the trying times of the Revolution? If so, why can we
not bear privation as well as our forefathers did? We mu