[emailed June 22, 1997]

MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY

I've taken the week off from the War...sort of.

I've been reading, among others, a book called _The Southern Tradition at Bay: A History of Postbellum Thought_, by the late Richard Weaver. I won't go into the book right now (mainly because I'm not very far along); suffice to say, since it's not a specific history of any particular facet of the War, it's a little short on anecdotes and accounts. So this week, I offer the sentiments of a fine Southern lady WITH WHOM I AM IN FULL AGREEMENT. Consider her position, related by a certain Hodding Carter (whoever that is):

"[She] was in her eighties, the daughter of one of Stonewall Jackson's bodyguard, and indomitably Virginian. Not so many years ago, at an age when few of us would be interested in further pursuit of learning, she enrolled in a university summer course in the history of the South. One day during the session, the lecturer made the usual comment, namely, that it was for the best that the War ended with a Norther victory. Later on during his talk he made the same apologetic interjection. The smoldering little lady could stand his treason no longer. She rose from her chair and interrupted him.

"'Professor,' she challenged, 'you keep saying that it was best that the North won the War. But how do you know? We didn't even get a chance to even *try* it our way!'"

I couldn't have said it better myself.