Green Mount Nov. 14, 1880

I am transcribing again from the journal that the Evergreen Society girls kept. This is evidently a continuation of the last post:

Sept. 22, 1880

I had to make the humiliating confession that my record of the last meeting was unfinished & as a punishment for such unpardonable ? we voted that I should write again. 
We were very glad to welcome to our Society Miss Lulie Starke who played for us the "Spanish Dance." Lou read with much feeling "The Death of the Flowers." (see below). It reminded me of the sad & sudden deaths of our friends ? Toombs & Nellie (?) Rice, cut down like the flowers by the early frosts. I trust we may find them again in that beautiful Land where the flowers never fade & parting cannot come.
Lucy played Recreation No. 24 & Mattie read "Try Try Again." Nannie Read Tennyson's beautiful lines beginning "Break, Break, Break."
Mattie Kate played for the enjoyment of us all Gimbel's Var. on "Old Black Joe."
Sallie read a poem called "The Mountains of the Moon" which was followed by an animated discussion of what is really there, & by the expressed hope that we may have an opportunity to see it for ourselves one of these days.
Sister then played "Music of the Sea" & then we adjourned to hunt ? (starts with an S followed by 4 letters) in the Mount woods.
We were very successful in finding them & had such a funny happy time that we will not soon forget it.

If anyone knows of a flower that starts with an S and is followed by 4 letters please comment below. Thanks...Tere Pistole
http://www.bartleby.com/248/85.html

85. The Death of the Flowers by William Cullen Bryant. Stedman, Edmund Clarence, ed. 1900. An American Anthology, 1787-1900

85. The Death of the Flowers by William Cullen Bryant. Stedman, Edmund Clarence, ed. 1900. An American Anthology, 1787-1900

BARTLEBY.COM

                                                                                          Green Mount Sept. 18, 1880

With very thankful hearts we met to reorganize our Evergreen Society. The short vacation which had intervened since our last meeting was with many mercies and pleasures for us all.

Sallie (probably Sallie Lee Blount) was elected President & Mattie Kate vice President. Lucy was re-elected Treasurer & we decided that the duties of Secretary should be equally divided among us all, consequently it fell to my lot to write first.

Lou played Beauregard March & Mattie Fleet repeated the Frost.  Nannie played Oklahoma Waltz.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lZ8NIMI_s4 (copy and paste this link into your browser to hear Oklahoma Waltz).
Mattie Kate read a pathetic story of how "An Innocent Amusement" proved the ruin of a promising boy.  Sallie played with a great deal of expression "Chant du Berger" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkkL6q76QxM (copy & paste that link into your browser to hear this song on the piano.)
& then Lucy read a charming little story full of good lessons called Rob's Magic Mirror.

Mattie Kate suggested & we passed unanimously the resolution not to use any slang, but to strive together for the improvement & happiness of each other both in & out of school.

I hope we may have as happy a session as the last & that each one of us may try to make the Wednesday evening hour fuller than ever of pleasure & improvement.
                       
                                                                                                 M. L. Fleet

The girls who went to school at Green Mount Home School for Young Ladies formed a club called "The Evergreen Society." They met every Wednesday at 3 p.m. The girls had to take turns writing the minutes. This entry is written by M. L. Henley.(Lou):

Green Mount

June 16th, 1880

We have been interrupted very much of late by our examinations and been obliged to give up our meeting for two weeks, but we determined we would meet again before we part perhaps some of us forever, but I hope not. We took some time getting the account straight, and found we had $1.50 which we decided to send to the "Foreign Mission." Lou played "The Battle of Prague". Mattie repeated the first verse cousin Lou taught her, it runs thus_ "If ever you're inclined to do aught false, unkind, or worthy blame, First find a spot where God is not, where in to do the same."

I think it is an excellent rule, and it would be a great deal better if would act up to it Mattie Kate read." The author appears to have possessed a very vivid imagination. Sallie played "Crown of Rose", very well with great expression. Lou played "Battle of Prague." ?VA was absent as Cousin Ruth has come home & is sick. Lucy was also away as she had to stay home on account of having to start Charlie to Missouri. We are all delighted to hear that cousin Belle & all of aunt M. Lou's little grand children are coming soon, , & that cousin Bess is coming too. It did us good to see how much pleasure it gave aunt M.L. Well, this is the last day that our "Society" will meet, for the session of 1880. It has been a pleasant session. We part, some of us I fear forever, but I hope not. I hope if we ever meet again on earth, that we may meet in that house above.

M. L. Henley

The roster for the year 1879-1880 included:

Virginia Bagby

Sallie Lee Blount

Bettie Lee Carlton

Mattie Kate Fauntleroy

Lucy Fleet

Sallie Browne Fleet

M. Lou Henley

Rosa V. Latane

Mary Reynolds

Lelia Smith (music)

This is the last part of Lou Henley's handwritten minutes. She had beautiful penmanship. I wanted you to see it too!

When we moved into Green Mount in May of 2008 I was cleaning this dresser top mirror and when I pulled out the drawer I discovered writing all over one side of it. It reads "Mattie Kate Faunt le Roy is a very bad girl." Signed friends Sallie, Lou (Henley) and others. I have no idea why someone wrote that, so you can just use your imagination.

I want to share with those of you who follow this blog the pages from a book titled Sallie Lee Mahood Autobiography. This young girl was sent to school at Green Mount Home School for Young Ladies. She went there for 4 school year sessions. Here are the pages from her book that pertain to her years as a student there. I hope you enjoy them. I have permission to share her writing from her descendant Julia Mahood, who like her ancestor is also an artist. If you look up Julia online you will see she looks much like Sallie and even paints in a similar fashion. Thanks to both of these ladies for making the pages of this book available to us all. Her son Alex Blount Mahood is the one who encouraged her to tell her story. It's a great read! Her book can be found online. I am so appreciative to Sallie for telling her story and for Julia for allowing me to share it with all of you.

This entry is not dated...but since they met each Wednesday I would imagine this would be October 13th, 1880. Here goes:

This is really not my time to write this record, as I am next in age to Lucy but as I am one of the old scholars and all of the old ones have to write before the new, it falls to my lot to perform this task.

We opened our meeting by reading one half of the thirty first Psalm.  Then Miss Florence read Lucie's account of the last meeting which was very amusing and which we enjoyed very much especially as she was not there to take part in our entertainment herself.

Nannie played her own arrangement of "Mockingbird" which was very pretty.  Mattie repeated a very pretty piece called "Perseverance" very well much better than she ever repeated anything. Lou played "Les Borders Du R Line very well and Miss Lou complimented her. Lulie read "A Lament for the ???? Flowers" which was very appreciated at this season (fall).  Mattie Kate read "Half Way Doings" which is a very good sermon preached by a negro.  Sallie played "Mountain Zephyrs".  (Sorry I cannot find the lyrics). 

Miss Lou read a very pretty piece about a walk which two boys took. One of them did not enjoy the walk at all, while the other saw an endless number of interesting things.  There was a very good lesson to be learned from it but I have not time to write it here.

                                                                                                                                 LS
The only girl with the initials LS that year was Loulie Starke. I find her name spelled different ways...sometimes Lulie, sometimes Lula M. Starke, She is found in the book Green Mount After the War on three pages, 192, 216, and 273.  There were only 6 girls on the roster for the year 1880-81 and they were:

Blount, Sallie Lee (married name Mahood)

Fauntleroy, Mattie Kate
Fleet, Lucy
Henley, M. Lou
Sale, Nannie F. 
Starke, Loulie

If you have ever read Green Mount After the War also by Betsy Fleet, copyright 1978, then you are familiar with the name Martha Gaines Baylor. Well, fortunately descendants of hers visited Green Mount in April of this year and they had a photo of her, her husband Richard, one of their sons Herman and another relative, a little girl named Dorothy Baylor [Brown]. She was the daughter of Harry Washington Baylor and Gustavia Corbin Baylor. Thanks to Crystal Baylor Satchell and her brother Warner Baylor I have permission to post these pictures. In the beginning of Green Mount After the War Betsy says that Martha always reminded her of a cylindrical Christmas tree when she was dressed in her fancy clothes. Here she is dressed in her Mid-Wife uniform. That's what she was, a mid-wife. Her husband Richard was a brick mason. Thank you Crystal and Warner and the rest of your family for finally putting names to these faces. We believe that Martha was the last of the servants buried in the slave cemetery here at Green Mount and we think we have finally found that too. It is pretty much directly across from the Fleet family cemetery, just on the other side of the dirt road that divides the property.