a man who boasted that he could whip half a dozen Yankees with a
jackknife. Every day for a month this business, so tiresome to me, went
on. Boss was very brave until it came time for him to go to war, when
his courage oozed out, and he sent a substitute; he remaining at home as
a "home guard." One day when I came back with the papers from the city,
the house was soon ringing with cries of victory. Boss said: "Why, that
was a great battle at Bull Run. If our men had only known, at first,
what they afterwords found out, they would have wiped all the Yankees
out, and succeeded in taking Washington."

* * * * *

PETTY DISRESPECT TO THE EMBLEM OF THE UNION.

Right after the bombardment of Fort Sumter, they brought to Memphis the
Union flag that floated over the fort. There was a great jubilee in
celebration of this. Portions of the flag, no larger than a half dollar
in paper money, were given out to the wealthy-people, and these
evidences of their treason were long preserved as precious treasures.
Boss had one of these pieces which he kept a long time; but, as the
rebel cause waned these reminders of its beginning were less and less
seen, and if any of them are now in existence, it is not likely that
their possessors will take any pride in exposing them to view.

As the war continued we would, now and then, hear of some slave of our
neighborhood running away to the Yankees. It was common when the
message of a Union victory came to see the slaves whispering to each
other: "We will be free." I tried to catch everything I could about the
war, I was so eager for the success of the Union cause. These things
went on until