letter to my father and receive an answer. You can imagine what both
contained; and so I found myself penniless, but not poor, an
outcast, but not alone. Old Bent treated me like a prodigal son, and
put money in my purse; his pretty daughters loved me for Margaret's
sake, and gave me a patriotic salute all round when I left them, the
humblest, happiest man in Pennsylvania. Margaret once said to me
that this was the time for deeds, not words; that no man should
stand idle, but serve the good cause with head, heart, and hand, no
matter in what rank; for in her eyes a private fighting for liberty
was nobler than a dozen generals defending slavery. I remembered
that, and, not having influential friends to get me a commission,
enlisted in one of her own Virginia regiments, knowing that no act
of mine would prove my sincerity like that. You should have seen her
face when I walked in upon her, as she sat alone, busied with the
army work, as I'd so often seen her sitting by my bed; it showed me
all she had been suffering in silence, all I should have lost had I
chosen darkness instead of light. She hoped and feared so much she
could not speak, neither could I, but dropped my cloak, and showed
her that, through love of her, I had become a soldier of the Flag.
How I love the coarse blue uniform! for when she saw it, she came to
me without a word and kept her promise in a month."

"Thunder! what a harnsome woman!" exclaimed Flint, as Phil, opening
the golden case that held his talisman, showed them the beautiful,
beloved face of which be spoke.

"Yes! and a right noble woman too. I don't deserve her, but I will.
We parted on our wedding-day, for orders to be off came suddenly,
and she would not let me go until I had given her my name to keep.
We were married in the morning, and at noon I had to go. Other women