llage presented himself to H.
He has been our woodsawyer, gardener, and factotum, but having joined the
new company, his time recently has been taken up with drilling. H. and Mr.
R. feel that an extensive vegetable garden must be prepared while he is
here to assist or we shall be short of food, and they sent for him
yesterday.

"So, Mike, you are really going to be a soldier?"

"Yes, sor; but faith, Mr. L., I don't see the use of me going to shtop a
bullet when sure an' I'm willin' for it to go where it plazes."

_March 18, 1862._--There has been unusual gayety in this little village
the past few days. The ladies from the surrounding plantations went to
work to get up a festival to equip the new company. As Annie and myself
are both brides recently from the city, requisition was made upon us for
engravings, costumes, music, garlands, and so forth. Annie's heart was in
the work; not so with me. Nevertheless, my pretty things were captured,
and shone with just as good a grace last evening as if willingly lent. The
ball was a merry one. One of the songs sung was "Nellie Gray," in which
the most distressing feature of slavery is bewailed so pitifully. To sing
this at a festival for raising money to clothe soldiers fighting to
perpetuate that very thing was strange.

_March 20, 1862._--A man professing to act by General Hindman's orders is
going through the country impressing horses and mules. The overseer of a
certain estate came to inquire of H. if he had not a legal right to
protect the property from seizure. Mr. L. said yes, unless the agent could
show some better credentials than his bare word. This answer soon spread
about, and the overseer returned to report that it excited great
indignation, especially among the company of new volunteers. H. was
pronounced a traitor, and they declared that no one so untrue to the
Confederacy should live there. When H. related the circumstance at dinner,
his partner, Mr. R., became very angry, being ignorant of H.'s real
opinions. He jumped up in a rage and marched away to the village
thoroughfare. There he met a batch of the volunteers, and said, "We know
what you have said of us, and I have come to tell you that you are liars,
and you know where to find us."

Of course I expected a difficulty; but the evening passed, and we retired
undisturbed. Not long afterward a series of indescribable sounds broke the
stillness of the night, and the tramp of feet was heard outside the house.