ent into the years to come, and think of the
inheritance he is to bequeath to his children. Let him see the coming
millions of our people on this continent; let him lay his ear to the
ground, and hear the tread of that mighty host which is to people the
Mississippi Valley; which will climb the mountains of the West, to
coin the hidden riches into gold; let him see the great cities
springing up on the Pacific Coast; let him understand that this nation
is yet in its youth; that this continent is to be the highway between
China and Europe; let him behold this contest in its vast proportion,
reaching through all coming time, and affecting the entire human race
forever; let him resolve that, come weal or come woe, come life or
come death, that it shall be sustained, and it will be."

Another letter deals in rather severe sarcasm with a friend who
belonged to "the Nightshade family," one of those individuals who
thrive on darkness. He wrote: "People of New England, are you not
ashamed of yourselves? Away with your old womanish fears, your
shivering, your timidity, your garrulousness.... Sustain your sons by
bold, inspiring, patriotic words and acts; act like men.... This army,
this government must be sustained. It will be."

CHAPTER XI.

THE IRONCLADS OFF CHARLESTON.

After five letters from Washington, in the first of which he had
predicted that in a few days, for the first time in war, there would
be the great contest between ironclads and forts, and the stroke of
fifteen-inch shot against masonry, Carleton set off for salt water,
determining to see the tug-of-war on the Atlantic coast. It was on
Saturday afternoon, February 7th, that he stood on deck of the steamer
_Augusta Dinsmore_ as she moved through the floating masses of ice
down the Hudson River to the sea. This new ship was owned by Adams's
Express Company, and with her consort, _Mary Sandford_, was employed
in carrying barrels of apples, boxes of clothing, messages of love,
and tokens of affection between the Union soldiers along the coast and
their friends at home. Heavily loaded with express packages, with
fifty or sixty thousand letters, and with several hundred
fifteen-inch solid shot, packed ready for delivery by Admiral Du Pont
at or into Fort Sumter, the trim craft passed over a sea like glass,
except that now and then was a dying groan or heave of the storm of a
week before. A pleasant Sunday at sea was spent with worship, sermon,
and song. Af