"The true South will not be conquered; the aristocracy only will go down. Nominally, that is to say in the eyes of unthinking men, the North will conquer the South; but your existing armies will not do it. The Northern idea of social freedom, unconscious and undeveloped, must prevail instead of the Southern idea of individual freedom; but how prevail? By means of bayonets? No; that war in which ideas prevail is not fought with force. Artillery accomplishes naught. I can fancy a battlefield where two great armies are drawn up, and the soldiers on this side and on that side are uniformed alike and their flags are alike, but they kill each other till none remains, and nothing is accomplished except destruction; yet the principle for which each fought remains, though all are dead."
For a time I was speechless.
At length I asked, "But why do you imagine their uniforms and flags alike?"
He replied, "Because flag and uniform are the symbols of their cause, and the real cause, or end, of both, is identical."
"Doctor," I began; but my fear was great and I said no more.
IX
KILLING TIME
"Why, then, let's on our way in silent sort."--SHAKESPEARE.
Lydia was kept busy in the hospital; her evenings, however, were spent with her father.