The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-01-15

saw you at the shopt this morning" well,
we're going to take you to town. ''Then
you will have to get me horse. I'm too
tired to walk,-as q prisoner" According
ly, one Of them agreed to stop at Muses.,
road side tavern, and allow me his horse
thus saving me eight miles tramping in nc
mud and rain,-a trife of sweet amid the
bitter.
The troopers were members of Capt. VIM.
Thomas Madison Cavalry, the single COM
pany doing picket duty along the entire river
line They had been guilty of negligence in
the morning and were acting foolishly now !;
have marched along the highway in this
fashion.
Arrived in Leesburg, they reported to
Capt. Thomas, who sent them to the camp
of the Eighth Virginia Infantry, one mile
south of town The colonel being absent,
the foppish subaltern ''Officer of the Day
coolly ordered me down to the Guard
Tent" at foot of the camp, there to await
Col. Hunton's return. vast crowd in
stantly assembled around the tent to see the
long haired Yankee spy whom the caval-
ry had caught down at the river Rough,
uncooth, shaggy bearded men, in all manner
gapeing curiosity, they were in such vivid
contrast with the well-clad Yankees among
whom had been passing, that felt an in
discribable modification thereat; little
dreaming how soon we should all come to a
condition wherein hss would seem gorgeous
| by contrast
Hour after hour passed, and night came,
! but brought not the colonel The tent was
| in low soggy ground, without straw, and Sc
| leaky that the interior was trOdden into
| muck by the chronic OccuIGa't (. an lrlShman,
named Pierce N, who hau been a sailor
and acquired so great distaste for water he
rarely drank else than whiskey. He was
now on the ebb-tide of spree and his
maudin moaning added to the wretchedness
of the place. Neither blankets, nor fooc
were furnished me, though | protested
against such treatment and asked the priv
ilege of sleeping on the grass outside in the
rain rather than in the filthy, and vermin-in
tested tent 1t was denied, and did no
sleep at all.
4 severe test Of the young mans patriot
ism was this long night of sitting in tn,
mud, with back propped against the ten
pole, listening to the howlings of a drunke1
sailor in delirtun, remcns, and wrestling il
spirit against the promptings of humiliation
or modification. 1T is pretty hard, h
muttered, after all that [ have undergone
after all manner of hardship and sufferin
resulting from voluntary surrender Of ease
comfort and safety after sacrificing ever
personal consideration, property, the hop
of obtaining an educatlon etc. after under
going untold trials and positive perils t
reach my native State, and offer my wea
arm in her defence; thus to be dragge
about under arrest, and finally thrust into
filthy guard house, to lie in the mud, like
dog, with drunken rOwdy for compal
ion !"
1t acas pretty hard But on reflection,
, endeavored to consider the fact that only
few hours previous [ had been blaming tt
Confederates for lack Of vigilance and tn;
, of course circumstances were DreSumptive]
against me, seeing that l was an utter stra1
, ger, confessedy directly from the enemy
country, with good deal of ''Yankt
brogue" in my enunciation and above al
/ had crossed the Potomac in a way th
9 was deemed impossible without Yankee CO.
nivance Hence the dictates Of reason d
manded philosophic acceptance of the 81
, uation until relieved. But Philosophy
: apt to prove weak consolation when one
r otat sixteen, barefooted weary, and sleep,
s forced to occupy an lgnomlnlous sltuatlo
t with the storm dripping down his back, al
: twenty-four hours hunger gnawing in from
It was past mid d-day ere Col Hunton r
turned to camp, and had chafed myself i
to such ill-humor that l would not make al
:, effort to set matters straight though h
: %ony mon kaGdy ss1 lRst my b !nssia;Ies Ss "
; truss He therefore released me from Il
guard house, and gave me tent at
+ headquarters. but exacted my parole
r honeur not to leave the bounds of camp
/ for the present. His regiment was sma