ard,--just to see what the excitement is all about. In this instance a
file of policemen extending almost from curb to curb were marching
abreast to keep the way clear in front of the regiment; close behind
them sounded the crashing of brass, the screaming of clarionet-reeds and
the tap of drums; and a little farther behind, over the heads of the
advancing column, a couple of flags caught the sun and waved softly in
the light summer air--one the glorious old banner, with its three colors
that blend truth, purity and devotion till death,--and the other a
fringed and tasselled embroidery of dark blue silk, bearing the peculiar
arms of the one State that was sending forth more of its bravest sons to
do battle for all.

"A Massachusetts regiment," said Harding. "One was to come down by the
New Haven Road, this morning."

"Yes," said Leslie. "You can afford half an hour more, while I can
afford all day if I wish. Let us wait until the show passes." They
paused accordingly and took shelter beside a lamp-post against the
downward pressure of the sidewalk crowd that was coming.

Nearer came the soldiers, their long line of sloped bayonets glancing
off the sunbeams with a peculiarly threatening aspect, and their
equipments showing the perfection which has been accorded by the Old Bay
State to all her troops, in contradistinction to the men of some of the
other States, that have been allowed to go down to the conflict looking
more like a mob of scarecrows than a body of trained soldiers. The
Colonel, who rode first, lolled easily on his saddle, like one who had
not mounted a horse for the first time when he first put on his
sword-belts; the Captains of the various companies stepped out boldly
and clearly in front of their men, turning occasionally to see that the
line was properly kept; and the rank and file tramped on, their step
almost steady enough for the march of veteran troops, and the dull
thunder of the fall of each thousand of feet on the solid pavement,
making the most impressive sound in the world except that supplied by
the multitudinous clink of the iron hoofs of a cavalry squadron passing
over the same stony road.

It was an impressive spectacle, like all of the same kind that have
preceded and followed it--a glorious spectacle, when the faces of most
of the men were observed, and nothing of the despairing dullness of the
conscript's eye seen there, but the vigorous pride and determination of
men who were going