"Those who are able to march? Could we leave our wounded here?"
"I was thinking only of the fallen. If ever the history of this war is truly written, the greatest honours of all will be paid to the common soldiers, men who, without a particle of interest in slaves, give their lives for independence--the independence of their States. Yet it is useless to grieve in anticipation."
"A soldier's death should not be a thing to grieve over," said I; "at least, so it seems to me. I think I should prefer death in battle to death by disease."
"True; and death must come, sooner or later, to all of us.
"'On two days it steads not to run from the grave,
The appointed and the unappointed day;
On the first, neither balm nor physician can save,
Nor thee, on the second, the Universe slay.'"
"Who is that, Captain?"
"The Persian Omar Khayyam, followed by Emerson."
"How do you spell that Persian's name, Captain?"
"K-h-a-y-y-a-m."
"And you pronounce it Ki-yam?"