pouring sympathetic and most dangerous compliments into the ears of a New York or Philadelphia belle. It was romance in its concrete form, while the presence of a beautiful woman in a camp has been decidedly fascinating since the days of Antony and Cleopatra.
The cloud was so dark that it needed all the bright lights that could be turned upon it. But for four years there was a contagion of nobility in the land, and the best blood North and South poured itself out a libation to propitiate the deities of Truth and Justice. The great sin of slavery was washed out, but at what a cost!
But for this no work was too hard, no effort too great, no sacrifice too sublime. The thinking bayonets, the men fighting for an idea with no idea of conquest, nothing to gain, facing frightful loss, probable death — such men had different faces from the ordinary soldier. As one heard them chanting their hymns to the accompaniment of iron heels and clanking bayonets there was an expression so lofty, so touching, that no one who has heard it will ever forget.
And the day after was a bright and prosperous one in all our cities. Equipages dashed out in foreign liveries; women dressed superbly; palaces began to go up into the air; New York looked as if she had inherited the wealth of the Indies; and so she had — on paper.
Pay-day came somewhat later on, and has recurred frequently since. But the way these two armies melted immediately into good citizens, how they took up the plough and the hoe — that is the strangest and the most inexplicable fact of all.
During the years after the war, and when General Grant had become President, I made many visits to Washington; twice to the hospitable home of Governor Morgan, whose handsome house was on the very site
