American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1851-1863, 1862-01-18
Correspondence Of the Citizen.
CAHP HILL, NEAR LEEsBuRG, Va,
January 3, 1862.

"Miles" have Ito use camp phrase,) " play
ed outn like the Majors music-Bricks
deems it fit to write you another letter.
We are decidedly quiet here, and nothing
striking turns up, unless we class under tina,
head an occasional fisticuff, wherein but few
are hurt"
, Col. Griffin left US some weeks since to
, visit home on furlough, and is perhaps at this
{ time in your midst-the which goodly
number of US expected about this time to be
in the enjoyment Of
There came an order from Headquarters
allowing ten privates from each company to
have furlough for thirty days but alas for
tie fleeing character of all earthly blessings
the thing was countermanded just as the for
tunate ones had got every thing ready, and
were talking hugely about what they propos-
ed to do "when they got to Canton''-court-
ing sweethearts, eating good biscuit, chickens
| and whole cupboards of cake; riding on
horseback "a great rarity in these pedestrian
days of long infantry marches putting
&" Nike" on double duty for four days." and
| going fox hunting. Some of them proposed
!
somebody. Bricks thinks it would take quick
counting in the mode direct to make the trip
on such furlough, but is aware that under
the pressure of circumstances man certainly
can speak to the point aud even eloquently
| Some of the boys are beginning to think til at
perhaps it soould be best for them TO get home
and have these matters "tied up and arrang-
| "A cd hay RI
"A5raham's bosom" of late but Bricks enter
tains no suspicious as to the constancy of
his beloved, for he remembers that she once
quoted the seldom heard stanza of young
Hamlet to Ophelia to this effect,
Doubt that the Sun doth move,
But never doubt my love;'
whereupon Bricks melted off into delight
| full reverie of self satisfaction, and patheti-
cally repeated in her ear the sonnet of Cole
ridge to Genevieve. Some time afterwards,
however, when he had studied some of the
higher mathematics, and learned that the
sun did more, he began to fear that the young
lady was about to hornsnoggle" him, but
consoled himself with the recollection that
/ the Bard of Avon had written the verse in
| ignorance of this scientific fact 1t was not
long before this maiden married land alas |
her present name is not Mrs. Bricks), and
his first and worst fears were realized. he
has, since that time, engaged the affections
of no other virgin, and therefore feels no
uneasiness in these days of bad faith.
Christmas and New Years passed off with
| out even egg-nog to mark those festive
| DAYS On the night OF the qst Of January,
the 18th Regiment was invited out and en-
joyed itself hugely in sportive entertain
| ment throwing up entertainments on the top
Of high hill, with the wind in the North
and extra ague on hand, beau tIfally blow
ing at the rate of about twenty knots per
hour. The boys seemed to relish this New
Years frolic, for they fairly shook with the
inspiration of the occasion. I" Shoskaney"
was in high demand, and Marcus was will
ing" but Bricks could get g nary" drink
individuals also wanted cakes, oysters, &c,
but ST. Nicholas brought none into this re-
gion, and they fell back upon the enjoyment
of thinking over the good things they once
| eat
| Camp life you doubtless imagine to be very
| dull-and you wouldn't be far wrong; bat
there are many ways of putting in variations;
cards, BACKGAMMON, draft, and chess often
serve the purpose of giving different parts to
the opera. If you could Bricks sitting
| cross-legged on a log, talking politics and
specializing upon the future, surely you would
not think that the days of philosophy had
| passed away, nor from the frequent applica-
ton of the ideas of Byron, Shakespeare,
/ Moore, and others, would you conclude that
the age of poetry was over. Everything is
| suggestive, and all kinds of lore called
| out to supply the emergency. The philoso-
pher, lawyer, doctor, farmer, mechanic and
] scholar, each generally acts his cue and, TAX
ing in the amusing side incidents, the great
drama of camp life moves on, while the
q black curtain +" falls each night and gives
an interim for dreams and the flight of fancy.
You must understand that there is a great
deal of dirt where there are no floors, and in
the process of cooking, &c, absolute neat
ness is a pure chimera- Young gentlemen
who in better days wore kid gloves and sat
| with dignity and grace straight up in cush-
Toned chair, are now brought to look
with complaisance and Indifference upon
smutty hands, and lounge upon the hard
stoolts of nature. Circumstances alter
cases" without doubt and the " vile uses
which Shakespeare says men may come to are
fully demonstrated here.
There was an egg-nog gotten up tonight
whereat large numbers of toasts were offered
to the South, the ladies' &C. but Buckran
was outdone when Jerry and Gen. Marion
were handed each drink and called upon
for sentiment. With characteristic Ethio-
plan saavity they responded to the following
effect-
General M1rioa. Here's to the red bird like
wise the wren:
Heaben maintain De ladies an God bress de men.
Lzry.-Come up to de rack Nv de good ole STAN
Wv our good ole pervider vhar raised leben child