house stood beyond the Charlotte depot, in a large lot, was of frame, with a high porch, which was reached by a set of steps outside.  Entering this yard, I noticed ducks and chickens, and a general air of peace and comfort that was really pleasant to behold at that time of universal desolation; the lady in question met us at the head of the steps and invited us into a parlor which was perfectly neat and well furnished.  After inquiring about her father, mother, sisters, and especially her brother James, my special friend, I could not help saying that I was pleased to notice that our men had not handled her house and premises as roughly as was their wont.  “I owe it to you, general,” she answered.  “Not at all.  I did not know you were here till a few minutes ago.”  She reiterated that she was indebted to me for the perfect safety of her house and property, and added, “You remember, when you were at our house on Cooper River in 1845, you gave me a book;” and she handed me the book in question, on the fly leaf of which was written:  “To Miss Poyas, with the compliments of W. T. Sherman, First-lieutenant Third Artillery.”  She then explained that, as our army approached Columbia, there was a doubt in her mind whether the terrible Sherman who was devastating the land were W. T. Sherman or T. W. Sherman, both known to be generals in the Northern army; but, on the supposition that he was her old acquaintance, when Wade Hampton’s cavalry drew out of the city, calling out that the Yankees were coming, she armed herself with this book, and awaited the crisis.  Soon the shouts about the markethouse announced that the Yankees had come; very soon men were seen running up and down the streets; a parcel of them poured over the fence, began to chase the chickens and ducks, and to enter her house.  She observed one large man, with full beard, who exercised some authority, and to him she appealed in the name of “his general.”  “What do you know of Uncle Billy?” “Why,” she said, “when he was a young man he used to be our friend in Charleston, and here is a book he gave me.”  The officer or soldier took the book, looked at the inscription, and, turning to his fellows, said:  “Boys, that’s so; that’s Uncle Billy’s writing, for I have seen it often before.”  He at once commanded the party to stop pillaging, and left a man in charge of the house, to protect her until the regular provost-guard should be established.  I then asked her if the regular guard or sentinel had been as good to her.  She assured me that he was a very nice young man; that he had been telling her all about his family in Iowa; and that at that very instant of time he was in another room minding her baby.  Now, this lady had good sense and tact, and had thus turned aside a party who, in five minutes more, would have rifled her premises of all that was good to eat or wear.  I made her a long social visit, and, before leaving Columbia, gave her a half-tierce of rice and about one hundred pounds of ham from our own mess-stores.