Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-01-15

the reader knows, by long period of mas
terly inactivity, SO lar as the Army of the
Potomac was concerned. Mcdowell. good
soldier, but unlucky. retired to Arlington
Heights. and Mcclellan, who had distn-
guished himself in Western Virginia, took
command of the forces in front OF Washing
ton. and bent his energies to recognizing
tae dcmOralized troops. 1t was dreary
time to the people of the north, who looked
fatu0usiy from week to week for '' the fall of
Richmond -; it was a sad dreary time to
tie denizens of that vast city of tents and
forts which stretched in q semi circle before
the beleagured capital-so tedious and soul
wearing a time that the hardShips of force
marches and the horrors of battle became
desirable things to them.
Roll call morning and evening, guard duty,
dress parades, an occasional reconnaissance,
dOmln0es, wrestling matches, and such rude
games as could be carried on in camp. made
up the sum Of our lives The arrival OF
the mail with letters and papers from home
was the event of the day. We noticed that
Bladbu neither wrote nor received any let
ters. When the rest of the boys were scrib-
bling away for dear lie, with drum heads,
knapsacks and cracker boxes Tor writing
desks, he We uld SIT serenely smoking his
pipe, but looking out on through rings OF
smoke with face expressive of the tender
Est interest
:. Look here, Quite So, Strong would say,
:. the mailbag closes il half an hour Amt
you going to write ?
- believe not to-day" B!aiburn would
reply as If he had written Yesterday or
would write Tomorrow; but he never
wrote.
lie had become a great fayorite with US,
aud with all the officers of the regiment.
He talked less than any man ever knew,
out there was nothing q omy or sullen in
hs reticencc 1t was sunshIne-warmt
and brghtness-but no voice Unassuming
aud modest to the verge of shyness he i'm
pressed every one as man of singular pluck
and nerve.
= Do you know" said Curtis 20 me one
day, - that that fellow Quite So is clear grit,
al when We come to close quarters with our
Palmetto brt thren over yOnder he II do some
thing deYil>a 90
q. W hat makes you think SO? -
- Wei nothing quite explainable the
txasperatIug cooIness of the man as much as
anything. This morning the boys wer, teas
ny Muffin Fan IA small mulatto girl who
used TO bring muiliDs into camp three times
d VT Elk, at the risk Of her life), and Jenny
Blunt, Of company k-you know be was
rather rough Oh the gIrl,-when Quite So,
who had been reading under a tree. shut one
finger IN his book, walked over to where the
toys were SIX ylarkIng, and with the smile OF
juvenile on his lace lifted Jenny out OF
that and set him down gently before his own
tent. There Blunt sat 81 eechless staring at
Quite So, who was back again under the
tree peggiug away at his hJtle Latin gram
mar.
That Latin grammar lie always bad it
about him, rtaJIpg 1t oT turning over its dog
cared pages at odd intervals aud ia out o.
the-way places. Halt dozen times a day
be would draw it out from the bosom of his
blouse which had taken the shape of the
book Just over tile leit breast, look at 1t as If
to assure himself it was all right, and then
put the thing back. At night the volume
lay beneath his pillow. The first thin in
the morning, before he was well awake, bis
hand would 80 cropping lnstInctiyely under
MS knapsack IN search OF II.
A devastating curiosity seized upon Us
boys concerning that LaJn grammar, for We
had discovered the nature Of the book.
Stron2 wanted to steal it one night but con-
cludtd not to. x 10 the fist place" rehec-
ted Strong, " havn't the heart TO do it, and
in the next place havn It the moral courage.
Quite So would placidly break every bone IN
my body" And | believe Strong was not
tar out OF the wa.
Sometimes | was yexed with myself for
allowing this TALL simpie-hearted country
fellow To puzzle NE SO much. And vet, was
he supplemented country fellow? City
bred lie certainly was not but his manner,
in spite Of his aWkWardDess, had an lndes-
crlbable air OF refinement. Now and then.
too, he showed himself familiar with unex-
pected lines OF reading. e" The other day,
said Curtis with the slightest elevation oil
eyebrows, {" he lad the cheek to correct nv
Latin for me. In short, Quite So was a
daily problem to the members of Mess 6.
Whenever he was absent, and Blakely and
Curtis and Strong and got together in the
tent, We discussed him, evolving various the
ories TO explain why he never wrote to any
body, and why nobody el er wrote to him
Had the man committed some terrible crime
and fled to the army 10 hide his guilt
Blakely suggested that he must have mur-
dered the = old folks" What did he mean
by eternaliy coming that tatte1ed L1tir
grammar? Ard was his name Bladburp,
how? Even his I'M, ertu1bable am!aLlli-
ty became suspicious. And then his fright
iul rctIcence / lie was the victim OF any
deep gIicI or crushing calamity, why dIdn |
he seem unhappy? ? What business lad he
to be cheerful?
= lt's my opinion said Strong, = that
he rival Wandering jew; tie Original
Jocobs, you know, Was dark fellow"
Bakciy inferred rom something Bladburn
lad SAID, OF something he haunt SAID
which Is more hkely-jhat he had teen a
schoolmaster at some period OF bis lie.
- och0Olmaster lie hanged " was Strong's
comment; D." can you fancy a schoolmasler
gong about ccnjugating BABY verbs out of d
drafted little spelIIns-bOok No Quite
so las evidently been "a, a-blest If | can
imagine 1ohGt he's been =
Whatever John Bladburn had been. he
was lonely man. " henever | wanta type
OF perfect human Isolation, shall think OF
him as he was in those days, moving remote.
sell contained and alone, IN the midst OF
TWO hundred thousand men,
The Indian summer with its Infinite beau
ty and tenderness came ike q reproach that
year to Virginia. The foliage touched here
and there with prismatc tints, drooped
motionless in the golden hazes. The delicate
Virginia cTeeper was almost minded to put
| forth It's scarlet buds again. No wonder the
lovely phantom-this dusky southern sister
oil the pale northern June-lingered not
/ long with us, but, filing the onco peaceful
glens and valleys with ber pathos, stole away
rebukeullY before the savage epginerv OF
man.
The preparations that had been going on
for months in aIsenals and tOundries OF the
North were nearly completed For weeks