replied that he had from it as much satisfaction as when in far-away
days he had been dismissed from the blackboard with the commendation,
"Very well done, Mr. Sherman." My reception by him, however, was in
the exact spirit of this remark, and characteristic of the man. When I
mentioned my name he broke into a smile--all over, as they say--shook
my hand forcibly, and exclaimed, "What, the son of old Dennis?"
reverting instinctively to the familiar epithet of school-days.

My other errand was to a former school-mate of my mother's, resident
in Savannah, with whom she had long maintained affectionate relations,
which the war necessarily suspended. The next day I sought her out.
When I found the house, she was at the door, in conversation with some
of the subordinate officials of the invading army, probably with
reference to the necessity of yielding rooms for quarters. The men
were perfectly respectful, but the situation was perturbing to a
middle-aged lady brought for the first time into contact with the
rough customs of war, and she was very pale, worried in look, and
harassed in speech; evidently quite doubtful as to what latent
possibilities of harm such a visit might portend--whether ultimately
she might not find herself houseless. I made myself known, but she was
not responsive; courteous, for with her breeding she could not be
otherwise, but too preoccupied with the harsh present to respond to
the gentler feelings of the past. It was touchingly apparent that she
was trying hard to keep a stiff upper lip, and her attempted frame of
mind finally betrayed itself in the words, uttered tremulously, with
excitement or mortification, "I don't admit yet that you have beaten
us." I could scarcely contest the point, but it was very sad. At the
moment I could almost have wished that we had not.

At the mouths of the Georgia rivers Sherman's soldiers struck
tide-water, many of them for the first time in their lives; and a
story was current that two, foraging, lay down to sleep by the edge of
a stream, and were astounded by waking to find themselves in the
water. To consider the tide, however, is an acquired habit. Sherman's
approach to the Atlantic had given rise to a certain amount of naval
and military activity on the part of the forces already stationed
there. In connection with this I had been sent on some staff errand
that caused me to spend a couple of days on board the _Pawnee_, which
had just been carrying about army