d with a vast pall, or threatened with a plague. Then when
it was again too late, General Scott--"the general," as the hero of
Lundy's Lane and Mexico was universally known--virtually went into the
Cabinet, practically filling the chair that Jefferson Davis had
vacated. Men felt that they must range themselves on one side, or the
other, for the South had spoken and meant what she said. There might be
war; there must be separation!

I was lounging slowly past the rampant bronze Jackson in Lafayette
Square when Styles Staple joined me.

"When do you start?" was his salutation.

"When do I start?" Staple's question was a sudden one.

"Yes, for the South? You're going of course; and the governor writes me
to be off at once. Better go together. Eh? Night boat, 4th of March."

Now the governor mentioned was not the presiding executive of a
southern state, but was Staple _pere_, of the heavy cotton firm of
Staple, Long & Middling, New Orleans. Staple _fils_ had been for
years a great social card in Washington. The clubs, the legations, the
avenues and the german knew him equally well; and though he talked
about "the house," his only visible transaction with it was to make
the name familiar to bill-brokers by frequent drafts. So I answered the
question by another:

"What are you going to do when you get there?"

"Stop at Montgomery, see the Congress, draw on 'the house,' and then t'
Orleans," he answered cheerfully. "Come with me. Lots to see; and, no
doubt, about plenty to do. If this sky holds, all men will be wanted.
As you're going the sooner the better. What do you say? Evening boat,
March 4th? Is it a go?"

It gave only two days for preparation to leave what had come nearer
being home that any other place in a nomadic life. But he was right. I
was going, and we settled the matter, and separated to wind up our
affairs and take _conge_.

The night before President Lincoln's inauguration was a restless and
trying one to every man in Washington. Nervous men heard signal for
bloody outbreak in every unfamiliar sound. Thoughtful ones peered
beyond the mist and saw the boiling of the mad breakers, where eight
millions of incensed and uncontrolled population hurled themselves
against the granite foundation of the established government. Selfish
heads tossed upon sleepless pillows, haunted by the thought that the
dawn would break upon a great change, boding ruin to their prospects,
monetary or political. Even the butter