the comfort and the
grotesqueness of the apartment in no small degree. The babies had bowls
of milk furnished them, and the elder portion of the caravan was regaled
with a taste of the colonel's home-made wine, pending the supper to
which he continued to entreat our stay. Meantime he entered into
conversation with the gentlemen; and my veneration waxed deep, when the
old man, unfolding his history, proclaimed himself one of the heroes of
the revolution,--a fellow-fighter with Washington. I, who, comforted to
a degree of high spirits by our sudden transition from the cold and
darkness of the railroad to the light and shelter of this rude mansion,
had been flippantly bandying jokes, and proceeded some way in a lively
flirtation with this illustrious American, grew thrice respectful, and
hardly ventured to raise either my eyes or my voice as I inquired if he
lived alone in this remote place. Yes, alone now; his wife had been dead
near upon two years.

Suddenly we were broken in upon by the arrival of the expected train. It
was past eight o'clock. If we delayed we should have to travel all
night; but then, the colonel pressed us to stay and sup (the bereaved
colonel, the last touching revelation of whose lonely existence had
turned all my mirth into sympathizing sadness). The gentlemen were
famished and well inclined to stay; the ladies were famished too, for we
had eaten nothing all day. The bustle of preparation, urged by the
warmhearted colonel, began afresh; the negro girls shambled in and out
more vigorously than ever, and finally we were called to eat and refresh
ourselves with--dirty water--I cannot call it tea,--old cheese, bad
butter, and old dry biscuits. The gentlemen bethought them of the good
supper they might have secured a few miles further and groaned; but the
hospitable colonel merely asked them half a dollar apiece (there were
about ten of them); paying which, we departed, with our enthusiasm a
little damped for the warrior of the revolution; and a tinge of rather
deeper misgiving as to some of his virtues stole over our minds, on
learning that three of the sable damsels who trudged about at our supper
service were the colonel's own progeny. I believe only three,--though
the young negro girl, whose loquacity made us aware of the fact, added,
with a burst of commendable pride and gratitude, "Indeed, he is a
father to us all!" Whether she spoke figuratively, or literally, we
could not determine. So much for