enty or thirty of them die daily;
most of these, as I was informed, of the scurvy. The corpses laid by the
roadside waiting for the dead-cart, their glaring eyes turned to heaven,
the flies swarming in their mouths, their big-toes tied together with
a cotton string, and their skeleton arms folded on their breasts. You
would hardly know them to be men, so sadly do hunger, disease, and
wretchedness change 'the human face divine.' Presently came the carts;
they were carried a little distance to trenches dug for the purpose
and tumbled in like so many dogs. A few pine-tops were thrown upon the
bodies, a few shovelfuls of dirt, and then haste was made to open a new
ditch for other victims. The burying party were Yankees detailed for
the work, an appointment which, as the Sergeant told me, they consider a
favor, for they get a little more to eat and enjoy fresh air.

"Thus we see at one glance the three great scourges of mankind--war,
famine, and pestilence, and we turn from the spectacle sick at heart,
as we remember that some of our loved ones may be undergoing a similar
misery."

"This publication," said Col. Bush, "made in one of their own papers at
the time, proves that all that has ever been said of their treatment of
our prisoners is true."

"Yes," said Uncle Daniel, "and much more."

"Uncle Daniel," said Dr. Adams, "this Miss Seraine Whitcomb was, indeed,
a true woman, and, as the President well said, a 'little heroine.' I
take it she was rather small, from this expression of his."

"Yes, she was rather small, but a pure jewel."

"She was a woman of great determination, and loved purely and strongly.
There are but few instances of such pure devotion and rare patriotism to
be found in the annals of history. What feelings she must have had while
traveling through the Confederacy in such anguish and suspense. She was
a jewel, sure enough."

Col. Bush here interrupted, saying: "The condition of our poor soldiers
in the prisons she visited must have driven her almost insane. It
certainly drove many of the poor sufferers into a state or condition of
insanity, in which numbers died in their ravings and delirium."

"Is it not wonderful," said Dr. Adams, "how soon these barbarities and
inhumanities are forgotten by our people?"

"Yes," said Col. Bush; "but you must remember that our people are moving
too rapidly to look back upon scenes of distress. Money and power are
now the watchwords--throw patriotism to the dogs