Augusta County: S.B. Coyner to Mary Anna Sibert, March 24, 1862
Summary:
Coyner defends his failure to respond punctually to Mary Anna Sibert's previous letters, offering as his excuse the rigors and uncertainties of army life.
Feb. 24, 1862
Shanghai Berkley Co. Va
Miss M.A. Sibert,-- "My dear Mary Anna,"
The eloquent invective, (almost, if not quite as brilliant as any of Cicero's Phillipics), with which your last letter opened, by no means lessens my love for you. I know that when you chasten, it is with a soft hand & a loving heart. You chasten to improve. But you have certainly not considered all the circumstances. Necessity, like some of our lawyers, knows no law. Tho' the Mother of Invention, she is also the parent of other children; and there she is as tyrannical as a Nero or a Caligula, [unclear: as] he, who out-tyrannizes them all, the autocrat of all the Russias. You accuse me of negligence. I plead "not guilty." My duties are such that I cannot be punctual if I would; & then, if I had the time I have not always the material for writing. To-day in one county tomorrow in another, to-day on the mountain, tomorrow in the plains, one moment here & the next there, at one time encamped in the open and amid rain & snow & sleet, at another in a house from which some man had just turned his hogs, removed from the confines of civilization, denied of many of the luxuries of society, and in fact doing everything we do, like
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the swallow, upon the wing-- can you, my dear creature, consider all these things and then accuse me of negligence, because I may not answer your letters immediately or even for a few days after I get them? I am sure you will not. Come now, be generous! Take back what you have said and let us be more than we have ever been.
Why even the sympathy you tendered me for my misfortune, seemed cold after you talked as you did. And when you came to speak of the severe [unclear: winter] & the sufferings of the soldiers, a shiver ran thro' my whole frame; And when you changed the subject to the state of our political affairs and went to scolding England I thought you were scolding me; By that time you had my feelings in such a condition that when you spoke of Ella's marriage I fainted. She married & I not there! To be married was enough for my feelings; but to be married & I not there was too bad. And then to be scolded by you yet,-- my tender feelings could not endure it. I fell?-- Tell me all about the marriage, won't you? I shall be home soon & I'll see if you have complimented me in comparing me to Mr. Clinebell. Love to all & excuse this letter, this paper & everything and
O! believe me yours forever,
S.B. Coyner
