against him. His face is browned by
exposure, and his blue eyes look quite dark, or would do so if there
were sufficient light to see them. When he straightens up--and he
generally straightens when up at all--he is five feet eleven, or
thereabouts. His appetite is good, and his education is of that superior
kind which enables him, without apparent effort, to misspell
three-fourths of the words in the English language; in fact, at this
present moment he is holding an imaginary discussion with his wife, who
has written him that the underclothing for gentlemen's feet should be
spelled _s-o-c-k-s_, and not "s-o-x". He begs leave to differ with her,
which he would probably not dare to do were she not hundreds of miles
away; and he argues the matter in this way: S-o-x, o-x, f-o-x--the
termination sounds alike in all. Now how absurd it would be to insist
that ox should be spelled o-c-k-s, or fox f-o-c-k-s. The commonest kind
of sense teaches one that the old lady is in error, and "sox" clearly
correct. Much learning hath evidently made her mad. Having satisfied
himself about this matter, he takes a photograph from an inside pocket;
it is that of his wife. He makes another dive, and brings out one of his
children; then he lights a laurel-wood pipe, and, as the white smoke
curls about his head and vanishes, his thoughts skip off five hundred
miles or less, to a community of sensible, industrious, quiet folks, and
when he finally awakes from the reverie and looks about him upon the
beggarly surroundings--he does not swear, for he bethinks him in time
that swearing would do no good.

10. Colonel Hobart, Twenty-first Wisconsin, and Colonel Hays, Tenth
Kentucky, have been added to the Board--the former at my request.

11. To-day I dined with a Wisconsin friend of Colonel Hobart's; had a
good dinner, Scotch ale and champagne, and a very agreeable time.
Colonel Hegg, the dispenser of hospitalities, is a Norwegian by birth, a
Republican, a gentleman who has held important public positions in
Wisconsin, and who stands well with the people. In the course of the
table talk I learned something of the history of my friend Hobart. He
is an old wheel-horse of the Democratic party of his State; was a
candidate for governor a few years ago, and held joint debates with
Randall and Carl Schurz. He is the father of the Homestead Law, which
has been adopted by so many States, and was for many years the leader of
the House of Representatives of Wis