to bear it. A
costly sword must be presented to our Captain,--intimates a man perhaps
warmly in the Captain's confidence. Forthwith the list is started, and
with extra guard and fatigue duty before the eyes of the men, it makes a
unanimous circuit of the command. Active newspaper reporters, from the
sheer merit of the officer, may be, and may be from the additional
inducement of a little compensation, give an account of the presentation
in one of the dailies that fills the breasts of the officer's friends
with pride, while the decreased remittance of the private may keep back
some creature comfort from his wife and little ones. Statistics showing
how far these presentations are spontaneous offerings, and to what
extent results of wire-working at Head-quarters, would prove more
curious than creditable.

Our Brigade did not escape the Presentation Mania. Never did it develop
itself in a command, however, more spontaneously. The plain, practical
sense of our Brigadier was the more noticeable to the men, on account of
its marked contrast to the quibbles and conceit of the General of
Division. The officers and men of the Brigade had with great care and
cost selected a noble horse of celebrated stock upon which to mount
their Brigadier, and, on a pleasant evening in March, a crowd informally
assembled was busied in arranging for the morrow the programme of
presentation. The General of Division, so far in the cold in the matter,
was just then making himself sensibly felt.

"Colonel," said an officer, who from the direction of Brigade
Head-quarters neared the crowd, addressing a central figure, "you might
as well take the General's horse out to grass awhile."

"Explain yourself," say several.

"Pigey has his foot in the whole matter nicely. The General, you know,
just returned this evening from sick leave. Well, he and his friends,
who came with him to see the presentation ceremonies, had not been at
Head-quarters an hour before that sucker-mouthed Aid made his
appearance, and said that he was directed by the General Commanding the
Division to place him under arrest. The fellow was drunk, and the
General hardly deigned to notice him. As he staggered away, he muttered
that there were fifteen charges against him, and that he would find the
General's grip a tight one."

Amid exclamations, indicating that the perplexity of the matter could
not prevent a sly smile at the ludicrous position in which the Brigadier
and his friend