OF

THE SOLDIER'S WIFE.

CHAPTER FIRST.

THE "CRESCENT CITY"--THE HUSBAND'S DEPARTURE.


Kind reader, have you ever been to New Orleans? If not, we will
attempt to describe the metropolis of the Confederate States of
America.

New Orleans is situated on the Mississippi river, and is built in the
shape of a crescent, from which it derives the appellation of
"Crescent City." The inhabitants--that is, the educated class--are
universally considered as the most refined and aristocratic members of
society on the continent. When we say aristocratic, we do not mean a
pretension of superiority above others, but that elegance and
etiquette which distinguish the _parvenu_ of society, and the vulgar,
but wealthy class of citizens with which this country is infested. The
ladies of New Orleans are noted for their beauty and refinement, and
are certainly, as a general thing, the most accomplished class of
females in the South, except the fair reader into whose hands this
work may fall.

It was in the month of May, 1861, that our story commences. Secession
had been resorted to as the last chance left the South for a
preservation of her rights. Fort Sumter, had fallen, and from all
parts of the land troops were pouring to meet the threatened invasion