FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46  
47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   >>  
g people at the White Sulphur. Mr. P. didn't know them all, but he had no doubt that one of them was General LEE; one PHIL. SHERIDAN; another Prof. MAURY; another GOLDWIN SMITH; and others Governor WISE; HENRY WARD BEECHER, WADE HAMPTON, WENDELL PHILLIPS, RAPHAEL SEMMES, and LUCRETIA MOTT. One man, an incognito, excited Mr. P.'s curiosity. This personage was generally found in the society of LEE, JOHNSTON, POPE, HAMPTON, GREELEY, and those other fellows who did so much to injure the Union cause during the war. One day Mr. P. accosted him. He was an oddity, and perhaps it would be a good idea to put his picture in the paper. "Sir!" said Mr. P., with that delicate consideration for which he is so noted, "why do you pull your hat down over your eyes, and what is your object in thus concealing your identity? Come sir! let us know what it all means." The _incognito_ glanced at Mr. P. with the corner of his eye, and perceiving that he was in citizen's dress, pulled his hat still further over his face. "My business," said he, "is my own, but since the subject has been broached, I may as well let _you_ know what it is." "You know me, then?" said Mr. P. "I do," replied the other, and proceeding with his recital, he said, "You may have heard that a number of negro squatters were lately ejected from a private estate in this State, after they had made the grounds to blossom like the rose, and to bring forth like the herring." "Yes, I heard that," said Mr. P. "Well," said the other, "I happened to have some land near by, and I invited those negroes to come and squat on my premises--" "Intending to turn them off about blossoming time?" said Mr. P. "Certainly, certainly," said the other, "and I am just waiting about here until they put in a wheat crop on part of the land. I can then sell that portion, right away." "Well, Mr. BEN BUTLER," said Mr. P., "all that is easily understood, now that I know who you are; but tell me this, why are you so careful to cover your face when in the company of civilians or ladies, and yet go about so freely among these ex-Confederate officers?" "Oh," said the other, "you see I don't want to be known down here, and some of the women or old men might remember my face. There's no danger of any of the soldiers recognizing me, you know." "Oh, no," cried Mr. P. "None in the world, sir." "And besides," said the modest BUTLER, "it's too late now for me to be spooning around among th
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46  
47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   >>  



Top keywords:
BUTLER
 

HAMPTON

 

incognito

 

happened

 

recognizing

 

soldiers

 
Intending
 

negroes

 

premises

 

invited


spooning

 

private

 

estate

 

blossoming

 
herring
 

grounds

 

modest

 

blossom

 

danger

 

ejected


easily
 

understood

 

Confederate

 
officers
 
portion
 

company

 

civilians

 

freely

 

careful

 

remember


Certainly

 

ladies

 

waiting

 

generally

 

society

 

JOHNSTON

 

personage

 
excited
 

curiosity

 

GREELEY


fellows

 

accosted

 
injure
 
LUCRETIA
 

SEMMES

 

General

 
SHERIDAN
 

people

 
Sulphur
 

GOLDWIN