t, which I will put in the letter; I also send by Uncle Jimmie a
tobacco bag, and a watch-guard, made out of horse hair, and a woolen hood,
knit with my own hands, with love and best respects.

We heard that you had captured a flag at Atlanta, and was promoted for it
to corporal. Is that some high office? I know you will be a general yet,
because I always hear of your being in every battle, and always the
foremost man in the attack. Sam, please take care of yourself for my
sake, and don't let the Yankees kill you. Well, good-bye, darling,
I will ever pray for God's richest and choicest blessings upon you.
Be sure and write a long, long letter--I don't care how long, to your
loving and sincere
JENNIE.

THE BRAVE CAPTAIN

When I got back to the Alabama river, opposite Montgomery, the ferryboat
was on the other shore. A steamboat had just pulled out of its moorings
and crossed over to where I was, and began to take on wood. I went on
board, and told the captain, who was a clever and good man, that I would
like to take a trip with him to Mobile and back, and that I was a wounded
soldier from the hospital. He told me, "All right, come along, and I
will foot expenses."

It was about sunset, but along the line of the distant horizon we could
see the dark and heavy clouds begin to boil up in thick and ominous
columns. The lightning was darting to and fro like lurid sheets of fire,
and the storm seemed to be gathering; we could hear the storm king in his
chariot in the clouds, rumbling as he came, but a dead lull was seen and
felt in the air and in nature; everything was in a holy hush, except the
hoarse belchings of the engines, the sizzing and frying of the boilers,
and the work of the machinery on the lower deck. At last the storm burst
upon us in all its fury; it was a tornado and the women and children
began to scream and pray--the mate to curse and swear. I was standing by
the captain on the main upper deck, as he was trying to direct the pilot
how to steer the boat through that awful storm, when we heard the alarm
bell ring out, and the hoarse cry of "Fire! fire! fire!" Men were
running toward the fire with buckets, and the hose began throwing water
on the flames. Men, women, and children were jumping in the water,
and the captain used every effort to quiet the panic, and to land his
boat with its passengers, but the storm and fire were too much, and down