y that his stature was just five feet nine inches and a
quarter. The other affirmed, with a constancy that nothing could shake,
that he was no taller than five feet eight inches and a half. Numerous
assertions were made by as many men, that they had frequently stood near
him, and that he was about their hight. If these declarations were all
as true as they were dogmatic, the General's stature must have varied in
a remarkable manner, and his tailor could have had little peace of mind.
Warm friendships, of long standing, were interrupted by this issue for
entire days, until happily a new question was sprung, and parties were
reorganized. A grave and radical difference of opinion arose as to
whether Selma was on the east or the west bank of the Alabama river. Two
intimate friends got into an argument regarding the relative excellence
of the ancients and moderns in material civilization and the mechanical
arts. The discussion lasted three weeks; during its continuance each
alluded (in support of his position) to architectural and engineering
triumphs, which the most learned encyclopedist might in vain consult his
books or torture his memory to verify. It was at last dropped,
unsettled. But for months the most casual reference by either to the
Egyptian Pyramids, or the bridge over the Menai Straits, would produce a
coolness between them. The battle of Waterloo was an inexhaustible theme
of contention. Wellington did not wish for night on the day itself half
as cordially as he would have wished for it, if he had been a prisoner
at the penitentiary and condemned to listen to the conflicting opinions
about his strategy.

Exchange and escape, however, were the topics of most earnest and
constant thought. One or the other was the first thought which came into
our minds in the morning, and the last that occupied them at night.
Victor Hugo has, in his wonderful book, "Les Miserables," daguerreotyped
the thoughts and the feelings of a prisoner. That book was a great
favorite with the inmates of our hall and the admiration it excited was
so general and honest, that (it is a literal fact) there was not more
than one or two disputes about it. Two of the officers who escaped with
General Morgan, Captains Sheldon and Taylor, were recaptured, and
brought back to the penitentiary. They ventured into Louisville, where
they were well known, were recognized, and arrested.

After General Morgan's escape, the treatment we received was not only