fifteen hours out of every twenty-four. Here he received the thousands
of visitors whom curiosity, or business, brought; consulted with his
secretaries, revised bills, or framed new projects for strengthening
the defenses of the open and wide frontier. It was said that he managed
the War Department, in all its various details, in addition to other
manifold labors; finding time not only to give it a general
supervision, but to go into all the minutiae of the working of its
bureaux, the choice of all its officers, or agents, and the very
disbursement of its appropriations.

His habits were as simple as laborious. He rose early, worked at home
until breakfast, then to a long and wearing day at the Government
House. Often, long after midnight, the red glow from his office lamp,
shining over the mock-orange hedge in front of his dwelling, told of
unremitting strain. Thus early in the drama, Mr. Benjamin had become
one of its leading actors; having more real weight and influence with
Mr. Davis than any, or all, of his other advisers. The President did
not believe there was "safety in a multitude of counsellors;" and he
certainly chose the subtlest, if not the safest, head of the half-dozen
to aid him. With Mr. Mallory, too, he seemed on very friendly and
confidential terms. These two he met as friends and advisers; but
beside them, the Cabinet--as such--had scarcely a practical existence.
Mr. Davis very naturally considered that the War Department had become
the government, and he managed it accordingly. The secretaries were, of
course, useful to arrange matters formally in their respective
branches; but they had scarcely higher duties left them than those of
their clerks; while Congress remained a formal body to pass bills and
ratify acts, the inspiration for which it derived from the clearest and
coolest brain in the South.

The crisis had called in plain terms that it was time for the leading
spirit of the revolution to take its management; and he had risen to
the occasion and faced the responsibilities, before which the chosen of
the new nation had hitherto cowered.

And naturally, under the iron hand, things began to work more smoothly
than they had under the King-Log reign of a few weeks previous; and the
country felt the change from the Potomac to the Gulf. True, politicians
still grumbled, but less loudly; for even they found something to do,
where everybody began to be busy. The great crowd that at first
collect