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Show MADE BY PRISONERS OUTTA PERCHA BUTTONS HAD 8AD HI8T0RY. Whittled by Southern 8oldlers'ln Captivity Cap-tivity and Worn by Southern Girls Evidently Had Memories for Old Lady.' "Orandma, Just look at those funny rings In that window," snld n young lady on Sixth strcot tho other day ns sh.o and a lady much older passed tho window of a smnll store whose nnturo was advertised by throo largo gilt halls overhead. "They are black. I nover saw b.nck rings before. And look nt that one. It's flat nnd sot with silver stars. And thero's another with n llttlo gold plate. Aro thoy mourning rlngs7" "No," said tho old Indy, "they nro not mourning rings. Thoy nro reminders re-minders of that awful war." "Why, what did they hnvo to do with tho war7" nskod thq girl in ns-tonlshmcnt. ns-tonlshmcnt. "Kings like those woro niado by tho confederate prlsonurs right horo In St. Louis," said tho old lady. "Thcro wero many prisoners, hundreds hun-dreds nt a timo, locked up in tho old McDowell collego nt Eighth nnd Grn-Hot, Grn-Hot, and In tho old Lynch prlsou for slaves, nt Ilrondway and . Clark avenue. ave-nue. Your grandfather wnB In McDowell's Mc-Dowell's collego, nnd tho habits of tho Inmat03 became pretty familiar to him beforo ho got out. Most of tho prisoners woro captured In tlio Hold, with nothing In the world but tho clothes thoy had on, and thoso wcro often vory r3gcd. Tho government supplied clothes for such ns needed them, nnd benevolent pcoplo In tho city, both Northern and Southern sympathizers, sym-pathizers, sent great bundles of clothing cloth-ing to tho prison, but somo of those poor follows woro so proud Umt thoy wouldn't wenr tho government's clothos, and said they'd .dlo In their rags beforo they'd wear charity garments. gar-ments. So they niado rings. "Tho guards wcro permitted to buy gutta porcha buttons for thorn, and thoy woro allowed, by special permit, llttlo packctknlvc3 that were gathered up by tho guards pvory night and Issued Is-sued again In tho morning, and nil day long they would sit and whittle tough black buttons, making rings like thoso, and rounding them and polishing polish-ing them by rubbing them nsaln3t tho wnlls nnd on tho floor. "It sometimes took u man two or threo days to mnko a ring. Then tho union soldiers would Boll them for tho prisoners, nnd there was a good Balo for them at a dollar dplcco. Somo of thoso with sllvpr sets wcro mad.o out ot mmea tr.zt taa prisoners hammered ham-mered until they wero as thin ns paper. pa-per. I Bup;j30 that gold sot may havo corno'f.om a bit of watch chnln or something like that. "Tho Southern girls all woro thorn for a while." Tho two wont on. A day or two after the young lady was passing tho store window with a companion nnd thought of tho rlng3 nnd tho story. "Let's go In and buy ono for a keep-Bako," keep-Bako," sho said. But tho rings wero not In tho window. Tho two went Into tho shop. "I'd Hko to look at somo black rings you had In your window." "They're gone," said the proprietor. "An old lady camo in and bought tho wholo lot." St. Louis aiobe-Domocrat. |