"I hope so! or I should wish to be a poet. And that would be a
vain wish for me."

"But in these war matters," I resumed, as we cantered on, "I
am very much interested; and I think all women ought to be -
must be."

"Getting to be serious earnest -" said the major, resignedly.

I was silenced for a while. The words, "serious earnest," rang
in my heart as we went through the streets.

"Is it getting to be such serious earnest?" I asked as lightly
as I could.

"We shall know more about it soon," the major answered. _His_
carelessness was real.

"How soon?"

"May be any day. Beauregard is making ready for us at Manassas
Junction."

"How many men do you suppose he has?"

"Can't tell," said the major. "There is no depending, I think
myself, on any accounts we have. The Southern people generally
are very much in earnest."

"And the North are," I said.