The Long Roll

cold January, while the neighbourhood negroes held that the unusual warmth proceeded from the comet which blazed this year in the skies. An old woman whom the children called a witch sat in the sun

Winchester, and might be true again, it was hardly true of to-day, of Winchester in December 1861; of Winchester with Major-General T. J. Jackson, commanding the Department of the Valley, quartered in the town, and the Stonewall Brigade, commanded by Garnett, encamped upon its edge, and the Valley Troopers commanded by Ashby, flashing by on their way to reconnoitre the Federal General Banks; of Winchester,

uth, a wagon from Staunton way, drawn by oxen and piled high with fo

eam in my s

e de bea

lef' yo' s

yo' own d

ty battle lak Jac

d, a racking cough made itself heard. Just now no wounded lodged in the warehouse, but all the diseases were there with which raw troops are scourged. There were measles and mumps, there were fevers, typhoid and malarial, there were inte

the spirits of the younger, at least, revived. She drew a long breath. "Well! As long as Will is in a more comfortable place, and is getting better, and Richard is well and strong, and they all say he is a born soldier and his men adore him, and there isn't a battle

it. We must stand it with just as high and exquisite a courage as we can muster. If we can add a gaiety that isn't thoughtless, so much the better! We've got to do it for Virginia and for the South-yes, and for every soul who is

as sure 'twas you! Nowadays one meets one's world in no matter how unlikely a place! Not that Winchester is an unlikely place-dear and hospitable little

. Kind friends took him home and cared for him, but Miriam and

g to die, he kept calling for mother, and sometimes he called for me. Now he's better, and the sister of a ma

ally spoiled; not, that is, by Richard.-W

the Army of the Northwest. We are ordered to join General Jackson, and ten days or so shou

the poor men until they're too tired to stand. He makes people get up at dawn in December, and he won't let off

ria

o a piece of cement out of the Virginia Military Institute! And of course the Stonewall Brigade doesn't say it,

mmander of the Army of the Valley!" He took off his gold-braided cap, and lifted his handsome head to the breeze from the west. "But what can you do with professors of military institutes and generals with one battle to their credit? Nothing-when they have managed to convert to their way of thinking both the commanding general and the government at Richmond!-You look grave, Mrs. Cleave! I should not have said that, I know. Pray forget it

s running up to a narrow yard and a small porch.

o-night. I have not seen Captain Cleave. Ind

l Jackson. You have been all this while

yet a few leaves hung from a tree above, and one of the crimson points touched his grey cap. "I am now on General Loring's staf

nd oh, she liked the gold-braided cap and the fine white gauntlet! "There is something to be said

, amused. "But some of

e greeted his mother and sister, then turned with courtesy to Stafford. "Sandy Pendleton told me you were in town. From General Loring, are y

awing us from the Monterey line before we ca

ot like t

oo good to last, and I fail to see what can be done to the northward when winter is once let loose! And w

uld happen. Draw them into the

! Mrs. Cleave, there is no help for it! We are bewi

nk, apparent-You will not go in? I will w

jor Stafford. We think day and night of all you

use. "It is a good thing to have a mother," said Stafford. "Mine died w

t summer we won a

or 'Brute Mass'! To listen to the newspapers one would suppose that the fighting animal was never bred north of the Potomac-Maryla

are b

e case, i

the treasury with honest gold!-not with this delusion of wealth, these sheafs of Promises to Pay the Government is issuing. Five million bales of cotton idle in the South! With every nerve strained, with daring commensurate t

e not b

n. He says that McClellan will organize and organize and organize again until springtime. It's what he does best. Then, if only he can be set going, he will bring into the field an army that is an army. And if he's not thwarted by his own government he'll try

about the place and down the street, in the warm dusk a band was playing. "You ride up the valley

d the sunsets are! Look at

eave, "were you in A

untry looked its loveliest. The old

id Cleave. "My c

d by the sable Julius. The old place was

will say good-bye here." The two touched hands. "A pleasant gallop! You'll have a moon and the

orch. "Under other circumstances," he thought, "I might have liked you wel

grey house with pointed windows occupied, this December, by Stonewall Jackson. A clock in the hall was striking

the hall. "Is that Captai

ands behind him studying an engraving of Washington crossing the Delaware, Cleave went

maps and three books-the Bible, a dictionary, and Napoleon's "Maxims." General Jackson was seated on a small, rush-bottomed chair beside the table. By the window s

, s

stretch of the Po

he country between Ha

w where is

s,

said the general. "Go

eem willing to depend upon the canal. But if Dam No. 5 were cut it would dry that canal like a bone for miles. The river men say that if any considerable breach were made it could not be mended this winter. As for the troops on the other side of the river-" He drew out a slip of paper and read from it: "'Yankees upon the Maryland side of the Potomac from Point of Rocks to Hancock-say thirty-five hundred men. Two thirds of this force above Dam No. 4. At Williamsport Colonel Leonard with three regiments and several guns. At Four Locks a troop. At Dam No. 5 sev

on. "Give me your memor

s,

standing very rigidly before the fire, he slowly and meditatively sucked the lemon. Cleave, beside the table, had a whimsical thought. The general, about to open slightly the door of reticence and im

s,

ade and two of the Rockbridge guns. It will be necessary to cover the operation. The

e lemon, setting it on the table. "Thank you," said Jackson gently, and sucked the acid treasure. "With this reinfor

sir. That part of Virginia i

movement before spring. It is thought at Richmond that General Banks has been ordered to cross the Potomac as soon as practicable, effecting if possible a junction with Kelly and descending upon Winchester; General McClellan at the same time to advance against General Johnston at Manassas. Maybe it is so

General Banks's instructions from Washington. Were Jarrow here he would find out f

ness in the room; then, "V

es. "Go to the adjutant for anything you may need. Captain Cleave on Special Service. Here, too, is the name and address of a Catholic priest in Frederick City. He may be depended upo

, "of a captured dispatch fro

m a box upon the ta

ir, to its reachi

d over it, and gave it back. "No,

courier been s

her line. "This, if you

is all

Within four days, near

tched this, and turned their faces toward the camp. For some distance they were as silent as the street before them; then, "If ever you had taught school," said Allan, "you would know how headings out of reading books and se

quite to myself. Then I think I'll know

kson had with him there his permanent staff. But captains and lieutenants stayed with the men. The general of them all ruled with a rod of iron. For the most part it swayed lightly, with a certain moral effect only over the head of the rank and file, but it grew to a crushing beam for the officer who did not with alacrity habitually attend to his every duty, great or small. The do

Allan, entering, found a fire, and Tullius nodding beside it. At their step he roused himself, rose, and put on another log. He was a negro of sixty years, t

e is Lieutenant Bre

ridge is at the colonel's, sah. An' Lieutenant Co

t the boards. Allan seated himself on a box beside the fire. Tullius took from a flat, heated stone a battered tin coffee-pot, poured into an earthenware cup some smoking mixtu

fixed upon the surface before him as though he were studyi

ffee, you mea

rries. Haven't

along a crack between the boards. Now he advanced one small brown object, now retired another, now crossed them from one side to the other. Following these man?uvres, he sat with his chin upon his hand for five minutes, then began to make a circle with the berries. He worked slowly, dropping point after point in place. The two ends met. He rose from the table. "Th

ox, and the box to the cupboard, sat down by the fire, and fell again into a nod