dy, I was stuck in it with a party
of fat needles, and a few of my own race, all with stout bodies and big
heads.

"'The dear boy is clumsy with his fingers, and needs strong things to
use,' said the old lady, as she held the tomato cushion in both hands
and kissed it before she put it into a soldier's 'comfort bag.'

"'Now I shall have a lively time!' I thought, and looked gaily about me,
for I liked adventures, and felt that I was sure of them now.

"I cannot begin to tell you all I went through with that boy, for he was
brave as a lion and got many hard knocks. We marched, and camped, and
fought, and suffered, but we _never_ ran away, and when at last a Minie
ball came smashing through the red cushion (which Dick often carried in
his pocket as a sort of charm to keep him safe, for men seldom use
pins), I nearly lost my head, for the stuffing flew out, and we were all
knocked about in a dreadful way. The cushion and the old wallet together
saved Dick's life, however, for the ball did not reach his brave heart,
and the last I saw of him as I fell out of the hasty hand that felt for
a wound was a soft look in the brave bright eyes, as he said to himself
with a smile,--

"'Dear old mother hasn't lost her boy yet, thank God!'

"A colored lad picked me up, as I lay shining on the grass, and pins
being scarce in those parts, gave me to his mammy, who kept me to fasten
her turban. Quite a new scene I found, for in the old cabin were a dozen
children and their mothers making ready to go North. The men were all
away fighting or serving the army, so mammy led the little troop, and
they marched off one day following the gay turban like a banner, for she
had a valiant soul, and was bound to find safety and freedom for her
children at all risks.

"In my many wanderings to and fro, I never made so strange a journey as
that one, but I enjoyed it, full of danger, weariness and privation as
it was; and every morning when mammy put on the red and yellow
handkerchief I was proud to sit aloft on that good gray head, and lead
the forlorn little army toward a land of liberty.

"We got there at last, and she fell to work over a washtub to earn the
bread for the hungry mouths. I had stood by her through all those weary
weeks, and did not want to leave her now, but went off pinning a paper
round some clean clothes on a Saturday morning.

"'Now I wonder what will come next!' I thought, as Thomas Jefferson, or
'Jeff,' as they called hi