I, therefore, close this crude and hasty sketch with a romance of the Revolution, a tale which must appeal to every heart because of its human interest, its bloody setting, its gratifying sequel and by reason of the fact that one of your own members is a lineal descendant of the heroine of this pleasing and delightful romance of love and war.
My story is a note from the life of Sarah Ann Jones who was sent from Burke County, Georgia, to Savannah to a boarding school for young ladies kept by gentlewomen in sympathy with the Royalist faction of the colony. So far did the school management display its royalist sentiment that the school girls were coerced into knitting socks and making shirts for the enemy during the hours for play and recess, and were sternly instructed to be true and loyal servants to the King. This coercion only made the colonial girls more devoted secretly to the cause of liberty, and when Savannah fell into the hands of the British, the times were past when educational advantages could be considered and our little school friend was sent for, and brought home, where it was thought she could find a safer asylum. With three brothers in the army, and all her heart with them, she was happy to be at home. But she was destined to do more for the cause of liberty than fell to the lot of every quiet maiden of those eventful days. She was sent for not a great while after her return home to go at once to Beech Island, near Augusta, to the plantation of Mrs. Sherwood Bugg to help nurse her brother, Captain John Jones, who had been severely wounded and who had been brought there, along with many other wounded soldiers, to be nursed back to life again by every kindly ministration known to the helpful women of these stirring times.
And so she went and helped to nurse her brother, and there the long, anxious days were crowned by a budding romance.
Captain Jones was able again to enter the fight for freedom, and then it was that his lovely young sister, Sarah Ann Jones, found time for seeing much of the youngest son of her hostess, Sherwood Bugg, Jr. Love soon bound the young soldier with silken strands, their troth was plighted and with the consent of both families their marriage was arranged for. Nothing marred their plans and the young couple settled after their marriage, on land in Columbia County, Georgia, granted their families for services rendered during the struggle of 1776 when young girls and mere boys (too young for regular soldiers) found an opportunity for working for the cause of their country as nobly as ever did the soldiers of the line.
Today in a little home of one of your members are to be found two very plain, solid, old mahogany tables that span these years reaching back to the Revolution, that belonged to this young couple—a fitting table on which to pen a love letter and the best exponent of the character of Revolutionary times, serving not one, but five generations, and even now in daily use.
This little romance lends additional charm to the beauty and strength of these old tables, and today, they tell us of the force and nobility of earlier days and a simpler life.—James Waddy Austin. Read before Atlanta Chapter by Mrs. Joseph Morgan.