ples, cucumber pickles, two or three kinds of preserves,
coffee with sugar and cream, and some of the best molasses I
ever tasted,--none of this sour, scorched old sorghum stuff,
but regular gilt-edge first class New Orleans golden syrup,
almost as sweet as honey. Then, to top off with, there was a
nice stewed dried apple pie, and some kind of a custard in
little dishes, something different from anything in that line
that I had ever seen before, but mighty good. And then, in
addition to all that, we were seated on chairs, at a table with
a white cloth on it, and eating out of china plates and with
knives and forks, a colored girl waiting on us, and the lady of
the house sitting there and talking to us as pleasantly as if
we were Grant and Halleck in person. Under the influence of the
good grub, John thawed out considerably, and made a full
confession to the lady about his queer actions at the
beginning. He told her that we were going to the nigger
quarters to try to get something to eat, and that when she came
out and gave us such a kind invitation to come in the house, he
was too much ashamed of our appearance to accept. That we had
come up from Bolivar about a week before, riding on top of the
box cars, where we got all covered with smoke, dust, and
cinders; then ordered out to the front that night, then the
fight with Forrest the next day, then the march towards the
Tennessee river and back of about forty miles, and since then
in camp with no shelter, tramping around in the mud, and
sleeping on the ground; that on account of all these things we
looked so rough and so dirty that he just felt ashamed to go
into a nice house where handsome, well-dressed ladies were. Oh!
I tell you, old John is no slouch; he patched up matters
remarkably well. The lady listened attentively, said she knew
we were hungry the moment she saw us, that she had heard the
soldiers were on short rations in consequence of the
destruction of the railroad, and turning towards me she went on
to say: 'There was such a pitiful, hungry look on this boy's
face that it would have haunted me for a long time if I had let
you go away without giving you a dinner. Many a hungry