"No thief e'er felt the halter draw
With good opinion of the law."
Fortunately my general was absent at the moment. Like the Douglas, he had endured much, but—
"Last and worst, to spirit proud
To bear the pity of the crowd"—
this was more than he could endure.
The suggestive odors within doors could never be stifled or cleansed away. Not before October could I get my consent to eat a morsel in the house. I took my meals under the trees, unless driven by the rains to the shelter of the porch. I suffered terribly for want of occupation. I had no household to manage, no garments to mend or make. My little Lucy could not bear the sun, and she sat quietly beside me all day. I could have made a sun-bonnet for her, but I had no fabric, no thimble, needles, thread, or scissors. Finally I discovered in the pocket of one of my Washington coats my silver card-case with Trinity Church on one side and the Capitol at Washington on the other,—objects I had now no right to hold dear. I made Alick drive me in my little farm cart to the sutler's and effected an exchange for a small straw "Shaker" bonnet which I am sure could have been purchased for less than one dollar. Protected with this, the little girl found a play-house under the trees. A good old friend, Mr. Kemp, invited the boys to accompany him upon relic-hunting expeditions to the narrow plain which had divided the opposing lines on that fateful April morning just three months before. Ropes were fastened around extinct shells, and they were hauled in, to stand sentinel at the door. The shells were short cylinders, with one pointed end like a candle before it is lighted. Numbers of minie balls were dug out of the sand. One day Mr. Kemp brought in a great curiosity—two bullets welded together, having been shot from opposing rifles.
The sultry days were begun and rounded by hours of listless endurance followed by troubled sleep. A bag of army "hard-tack" stood in a corner, so the children were never hungry. Presently they, too, sat around us, too listless to play or talk. A great army of large, light brown Norway rats now overran the farm. They would walk to the corner before our eyes and help themselves to the army ration. We never moved a finger to drive them away. After a while Alick appeared with an enormous black-and-white cat.
"Dis is jest a lettle mo'n I can stand," said Alick. "De Yankees has stole ev'rything, and dug up de whole face o' de yearth—and de Jews comes all de time and pizens de well, droppin' down chains an' grapplin'-irons to see ef we-all has hid silver—but I ain' obleedged to stan' sassyness fum dese outlandish rats."