FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94  
95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   >>   >|  
aiding and abetting the enemies of his country. If that ain't treason I'd like to know what is." "The Captain headed off a lot of young regulars the other evening a little the prettiest," said the Sergeant. "Let's have it!" said a dozen in the crowd, now considerably increased. "The Captain," continued the Sergeant, "had asked me to take a walk with him after dress-parade, and we strolled along the Sharpsburg road towards Corps Head-quarters. As we got just beyond the house and barn where the Rebel wounded are, we came upon a crowd of officers, commissioned and non-commissioned, and some privates. A quite young officer, with a milk-and-water face and a moustache like mildew on a damp Hardee, was talking very excitedly about the Administration not appreciating General McClellan; that there wasn't intellect enough there to appreciate a really great military genius; that European officers praised him as our greatest General, and that even the Rebel officers said that they feared him more than any of our Commanders; and yet all the while the Abolition Administration tied his hands and fettered his movements, and all because Little Mac wasn't crazy enough to say that the Rebels could be subjugated and their armies exterminated, as some fanatical Regulars and nearly all the Volunteer officers pretend to say. 'Now, I believe,' said the officer, thrusting his thumbs between his armpits and his vest, and puffing out his breast pompously, 'I believe, as Little Mac says, 'we can drive them to the wall;' we can lessen the limits of their country; but, gentlemen, after all, there will have to be a peace.' "I thought," said the Sergeant, "the Captain was going to break in upon him here. He threw back his cap till the rim was on top of his head, rammed his hands into his pockets, and edged his way a little further into the crowd, towards the speaker; but he didn't, and the speaker went on to say: "'There are the people, too, crazy about a forward movement. Why don't they come down and shoulder muskets themselves?' "The Captain could hold in no longer. He drew his hands out of his pockets, straightened them along his side, like a game rooster stretching his wings just before a fight, and sidling up to the officer, looking at him out of the corner of his eye, he burst out-- "'Why don't they shoulder muskets themselves? I'll tell you why,--because we are here to do it for them. They have sent us, they pay us, and they've a
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94  
95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

officers

 

Captain

 

Sergeant

 
officer
 
shoulder
 

muskets

 
General
 

Administration

 

pockets

 

commissioned


speaker
 

Little

 

country

 

thrusting

 

Volunteer

 
pretend
 

pompously

 

lessen

 

armpits

 
gentlemen

thought

 
thumbs
 

limits

 

breast

 

puffing

 

sidling

 

corner

 
rooster
 

stretching

 

straightened


rammed

 

longer

 

people

 

forward

 

movement

 

greatest

 

parade

 

strolled

 

increased

 

continued


Sharpsburg

 

quarters

 

considerably

 

treason

 

aiding

 

abetting

 
enemies
 

headed

 

prettiest

 

evening