en seceded. I fear sometimes that you
Kentuckians are not altogether Southern. You border upon the North,
and stretching as you do a long distance from east to west and a
comparatively short distance from north to south, you thus face three
Northern States across the Ohio--Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and the
pull of three against one is strong. You see your position, don't you?
Three Yankee states facing you from the north and only one Southern state,
Tennessee, lying across your whole southern border, that is three against
one. I fear that these odds have had their effect, because if Kentucky
had sent all of her troops to the South, instead of two-thirds of them
to the North, the war would have been won by us ere this."

"I admit it," said Harry regretfully. "My own cousin, who was more like
a brother to me, is fighting on the other side. Kentucky troops on the
Union side have kept us from winning great victories, and many of the
Union generals are Kentuckians. I grieve over it, sir, as much as you
do."

"But you and your people should not take too much blame to yourselves,
Harry," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, who had a very soft
heart. "Think of the many influences to which you were exposed daily.
Think of those three Yankee states sitting there on the other side of
the Ohio--Ohio, Indiana and Illinois--and staring at you so long and so
steadily that, in a way, they exerted a certain hypnotic force upon you.
No, my boy, don't feel badly about it, because the fault, in a way,
is not so much yours as it is that of your neighbors."

"At any rate," said Happy Tom, with his customary boldness and frankness,
"we're bound to admit that the Yankees beat us at making money."

"Which may be more to our credit than theirs," said Colonel Talbot,
with dignity. "I have found it more conducive to integrity and a lofty
mind to serve as an officer at a modest salary in the army rather than
to gain riches in trade."

"But somebody has to pay the army, sir."

"Thomas, I regret to tell you that inquiry can be pushed to the point of
vulgarity. I have been content with things as they were, and so should
you be. Ah, there are our brave boys singing that noble battle song of
the South! Listen how it swells! It shows a spirit unconquerable!"

Along the great battle front swelled the mighty chorus:

"Come brothers! Rally for the right!
The bravest of the brave
Sends forth her ringing ba