e been uncharacteristic of the man who smiled and saluted when a
pretty girl laughingly flourished an American flag in his face as he
rode past her in the streets of Frederick,--the quickness of the old
lady in catching that flag as it fell from the staff, to say nothing of
her activity in getting to the window from the spot where she was
presumably sheltered from "the rifle-blast," would put a professional
juggler to shame. Then again, why Jackson should have been "riding
ahead" does not seem clear, since that is not the place for a general
while on the march, and every detail of the incident is sufficiently
unmilitary to have been, as it was, the conception of one who had never
in his life as much as smelt gunpowder. No; the legend of Barbara must
be given up, even though it deprive us of one of the few heroines of its
day.

The debatable ground "between the lines" did, however, furnish history
with some notable incidents wherein women figured as the chief
influences, even if the names of these heroines were not chronicled. For
obvious reasons, the names were not disclosed at the time of the
incidents when the respective armies alternately held the ground where
lived the women whose deeds were chronicled, and afterward these deeds
were forgotten in graver matters. One fair inhabitant of Washington in
the early days of the struggle used to give Stuart, who for a time after
the battle of Bull Run held the southern bank of the Potomac, most
valuable information by means of a cunningly devised system of signals,
executed by the raising and lowering of the window shades in her house,
which was within full sight of the Confederate pickets. For a time the
Confederacy had a regular force of female spies in the capital of their
opponents, and some of the information thus gained was of great service.

Of course the Federal government also maintained a corps of female
spies, though the name of only one of all the roll on both sides--that
of Belle Boyd--is known to fame. Belle Boyd's adventurous career during
the war doubtless produced some few results in the movement of the
armies of the South; but even she hardly did yeoman service for her
cause. In respect of espionage, the Confederacy had a decided advantage
over its enemies, for the society at Richmond, both social and official,
was made up of more constant and, therefore, better known elements than
that of the always fluctuating population of Washington. So at Richmond
it