"Read it! I would not touch it with a pair of tongs! It is the most infamous Abolition, negro-equality sheet in the whole world!"
"So a great many people say," continued Burns. "However, here is one of its correspondents."
"In this room?"
"Yes, madam."
"He must be even worse than you, who come down here to murder us! Where is he?"
"Sitting in the corner there, reading letters."
"I thought you were deceiving me. That is no Tribune correspondent. I do not believe you." (To me:) "This Yankee officer says that you write for The New York Tribune. You don't, do you?"
"Yes, madam."
"Why, you seem to be a gentleman. It is not true! It's a jest between you just to make me angry.'"
At last convinced, she withheld altogether from me the expected vituperation, but assailed Burns in a style which made him very glad to abandon the unequal contest. She relentlessly persisted that he should always wear his star, for nobody would suspect him of being a general if he appeared without his uniform—that he was the worst type of the most obnoxious Yankee, etc.