Miss Connie's Commentary

    It's the little things that count in research.  The hidden treasures nestled between the humdrum and the hoho.  And there are glorious baubles a plenty in The Ties of the Past. Edited by Sarah Sites Rodgers, the diaries of Salome Myers Stewart are rich with the kind of home-y details that will make a reenactress' heart throb with excitement.
                     "Tuesday, May 13.  Rose at 6.  Carried twelve buckets
                        of water for mother. She is washing.  Did a very tedious
                        and tiresome job-scalloped the top of the facing of my
                        dress.  Commenced seaming up the skirt when the bell
                        rang.  To school at 8 . . . . ." is a sample of the spirited
                        entries that vividly paint the past with colorful brushstrokes
                        dipped in daily routine.
    Living quietly with her parents in the gentle town of Gettysburg PA, 11year
old Sallie conscientiously recorded her tasks throughout each day which included housework, sewing and more sewing, school, church, music lessens,visiting with school friends, and trysts with her first beau Thomas Snyder.
    Sallie's life is told in a vibrant, concise style that creates a poignant
backdrop to the famous battle that would forever wrench her bucolic world
from its placid moorings.
    Unlike many first person accounts, however, The Ties of the Past does not
endwith death and horror.  It continues to unfold through the creative writing
talent and research skills of Ms. Rodgers, Sallie's great, greatgranddaughter.  In several narrative chapters, Ms. Rodgers brings to lifethevitality of the town, the agony of forgotten soldiers, the valiant effortsofthe women and the ugly aftermath that left the populace limp and dazed.
   The Ties of the Past  is a gold mine for anyone studying mid-Victorian
society, women's culture, or the Battle of Gettysburg and should be onevery
reenactress' bookshelf.  It receives my golden tassel award for excellence!!