a
further reconnoissance. Others are going the same way; some are
returning. We come to a farm house presently. A crowd is there; among
them a bevy of girls--healthy-looking, fair-skinned daughters of
Pennsylvania farmers. They have been baking all day for the soldiers
who never ceased coming, the stream increasing rather as the day
advanced; and as they must stop sometime, they have concluded to stop
before they reach the bottom of the flour barrel. So we get nothing.
They tell us there is a house on the other side of the river; and at
the foot of the lane just down yonder we may find a boat to take us
across. The boat is found, the ferry accomplished, the house reached,
and there behold another crowd! It would be interesting to know what
farm house for miles around the central halting place was unvisited on
that day by some representative of the New York or Brooklyn militia. We
find our comrades seated decently at table, positively eating with
knives and forks, and drinking tea whitened with real cream! The turn
of our crowd came soon. Fresh bread and butter, ham, sweetmeats,
pickles, tea, and all without stint; and besides, clean white dishes to
eat off! It seemed ridiculous; nevertheless, war or no war, enemy or no
enemy, there was the staring fact! The thrifty housewife seemed
disposed to be sociable while we were regaling ourselves, but not
knowing how to go about it, was silent. Thus the onus fell upon us. So
we began;--the crops, the weather, the soil, the neighbors, the
invasion, the Great City. We had to ransack our heads for topics, each
being quickly exhausted. We ate all our sharp appetites asked for;
sharp they were, for it was now the middle of the afternoon, and we had
been up since 3 o'clock A.M. Rising to go we offered money but the
patriotic lady refused to look at it,--we were welcome to all she could
do for us. So we addressed ourselves to the small fry of the family,
and distributed little souvenirs among them. In this way all were made
happier; and with a feeling of immense satisfaction we saluted our
hospitable host adieu and made our way back without further delay to
the regiment. The column was already moving,--their faces still turned
toward Harrisburg. Accordingly we climbed under our fifty pounds of
lumber again, and plunged along after with renewed vigor.

This absolute freedom of the country which appears to have been at the
disposal of all, and indulged to such an extraordinary degree, m