"George had the tallow-dip, a rusty waiter, three small old-fashioned blue glass tumblers, and a pitcher with the handle knocked off, on the table in good time. We closed around it with our chairs, and the Captain filled the glasses, and rising, gave for the first round 'The old Union.' Our glasses were emptied; the old man had but sipped of his.
"'My old friend, you fought in 1812, you say, and hardly touch your tumbler to the old Union. Come, it must have a full glass.' The authority in the tone of the Captain made the old man swallow it, but as he did so he muttered something about its being very scarce.
"'Now,' said the Captain, refilling the glasses, 'Here is The Union as it is.'
"The old Rebel feeling his first glass a little, and they say anyway when wine goes in the truth comes out, said in rather a low, trembling tone,
"'Now, the fact is, gentlemen officers, some Yankees—not you! not you! but some Yankees way up North, acted kind of bad.'
"'That's not the question,' said the Captain, 'there are bad men all over, and lots of them in Virginia. The toast is before the house,'—the Captain had already swallowed his—'and it must be drunk;' and the Major's sabre struck the floor till the table shook.
"With a shudder at the sound the old man gulped it down. The glasses were refilled and the pitcher emptied.
"'Here's to The blessed Union as it will be, after all the d——d Rebels are either under the sod or swinging in hemp neck-ties about ten feet above it,' the Captain shouted, waving at the same time his uplifted glass in a way that brought a grin on George's face, and made the old man look pale.
"'Now! now! now! gentlemen officers,' gasped the old traitor, as if his breath was coming back by jerks, 'that is pretty hard, considerin'—considerin' my two sons ran off 'gainst my will—'gainst my will, gentlemen officers, understand, and jined the Rebels;' and then, as the liquor worked up his pluck and pride, he went on, 'and old Stonewall when he was here last, told me himself at this very table that such soldiers the South could be proud of; and Turner Ashby told me the same thing, and it would be agin all natur for an old man not to feel proud of such boys, after hearing all that from such men, and now you want me to drink such a toast. That——'