They  told  of  the  stillness  after  the  army  had
gone,  and  of  the  sense  of  ruin  which  was  upon
them  with  their  cotton  destroyed,  and  all
their  stores  for  the  winter  pillaged,  and  their
live  stock  driven  off.  An  old  dame  told  me  how
the  only  live  animal  in  her  neighborhood  was  a
broken-down  army  horse  left  behind  to  die  by
the  enemy.  The  folk  were  starving,  but  a
woman  resuscitated  the  horse  and  went  off  with
him  to  try  and  bring  food  to  the  village.  She
walked  by  his  side  for  fear  he  would  drop  down
dead — and  first  of  all  she  sought  a  little  corn  for
the  horse,  for  "Old  Yank"  as  she  called  him.
Many  a  weary  mile  they  walked  together,  only
to  find  that  "Sherman's  bummers"  had  been
there  before  her.  She  slept  the  night  in  a  Negro
hut  (a  thing  no  white  woman  would  dream  of
doing  now)  and  the  Negroes  fed  her  and  gave
corn  to  the  horse  and  sent  her  on  her  way.  Out
of  several  old  buggies  and  derelict  wheels  a
''contrapshun"  had  been  rigged  out  and  tied  to
the  old  horse,  but  it  was  not  until  beyond  Cov-
ington and  Conyers  that  a  place  was  found
which  the  foragers  had  missed,  and  the  strange
buggy  was  loaded  for  home.
