ied Mr.
Trenholm's daughter Helen, whose portrait appears on an issue of
Confederate bank notes.

Charlie has just come by the railroad, bringing other letters from him,
to mother and Lilly. In mother's is his last good-bye on the 12th.
Again Mr. Trenholm is the theme. I could not help crying over my dear
little brother's manly, affectionate letter. He says he is sure God
will still care for him, He has raised him up friends wherever he has
been. He says he lost all his clothing in going to Charleston. There,
among other kind people, he met this gentleman, who carried him to his
house, where he has kept him ever since, treating him like his son, and
forced him to accept a magnificent outfit as a present from him. He
procured the appointment which sends Jimmy abroad (I wish Jimmy had
been more explicit concerning it; we hardly know what it is, or how
long it will keep him). The money he received to pay Jimmy's passage
(received from the Government) he in turn obliged Jimmy to accept, as
he sails in one of Mr. Trenholm's steamers; and not satisfied with
that, gives him _carte blanche_ on his house in England, to be filled
up with any amount he chooses to name.

Mother went back to Clinton with Charlie that evening, to my great
distress; for she hates that odious place as much as I.

I know the life will kill her if it lasts six months longer. How happy
I would be, if it were not for the thought of her uncomfortable
position there! Lilly agrees with me that, once out of it, she never
wishes to see the vile place again. Margret says that when the Lord had
finished all the world and all the people, he had some scraps left, and
just thought he'd "batch up" Clinton with them. Perhaps she is right.

Sunday, 26th October.

This place is completely overrun by soldiers passing and repassing.
Friday night five stayed here, last night two more, and another has
just gone. One, last night, a bashful Tennesseean, had never tasted
sugar-cane. We were sitting around a blazing fire, enjoying it hugely,
when in answer to our repeated invitations to help himself, he
confessed he had never eaten it. Once instructed, though, he got on
remarkably well, and ate it in a civilized manner, considering it was a
first attempt.

Everything points to a speedy attack on Port Hudson. Rumors reach us
from New Orleans of extensive preparations by land and water, and of
the determination to