P O E T R Y
Ghost of the Confederacy
CHARLES RAMMELKAMP
W
E started talking about the Civil War , after trading observations about the latest Confederate flag controversy . Aunt Eleanor , 98 , reminisced about her mother-in-law , a “ Daughter of the Confederacy ,” who ’ d mourned the loss of the noble aristocratic traditions , ignoring the slavery on which it was based .
“ I remember when Jim was born ,” Eleanor mused about the birth of her son , now sixty-four years old himself . “ He was already two weeks late . The doctor wanted to induce labor , and oh ! How Nonny fretted about her grandson being born on Lincoln ’ s birthday ! So we compromised and made it the fourteenth , Valentine ’ s Day , but then Jim , impatient to start life , came to us on the thirteenth instead . Talk about a compromise !”
She laughed again , remembering her mother-in-law , dead now more than half a century . “ Henry and I never did tell Nonny we spent our wedding night at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Springfield , nor that we took the Ann Rutledge up to Union Station Chicago , the next day .”
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