y members trying to throw dust
therein; while country visitors--having screwed their courage up to the
desperate point of being presented--always dropped Mr. Davis' hand as
if its not over-cordial grasp burned them.

But the "levees" on the whole, if odd exhibitions, were at least useful
in letting the "dear public" have a little glimpse of the inner
workings of the great machine of government. And they proved, even more
than the social evenings, the ease of right with which Varina Howell
Davis wore her title of "the first lady in the land."

The men of Richmond have spoken for themselves. They wrote the history
of their class when they came forward--one and all, to sacrifice
ease--affluence--life for the cause they felt to be just. There were
some, as I shall hereafter endeavor to show, who were dwellers with
them, but were not of them. These did nothing and gave nothing
willingly for a cause in which they saw only a speculation. This is not
the place to speak of such. They belong not to the goodly company of
those who--whatever their weaknesses, or even their errors--proclaimed
themselves honest men and chivalric gentlemen.

The young men of the whole South are off-hand and impulsive; either
naturally careless in pecuniary matters, or made so by habit. Sowing
wild oats is an almost universal piece of farming; and the crop is as
luxuriant in the mountains of Virginia as in the overflowed lands of
Louisiana.

Perhaps in Richmond they were not now seen from the most advantageous
point of view. They were generally young planters from the country,
reckless, jovial and prone to the lighter dissipations; or the young
business and professional men, who rebounded from the routine of their
former lives into a little extra rapidity. One and all--for the eyes
they sought would not have looked upon them else--they had gone into
the army; had fought and wrought well; and now with little to do, boon
companionship and any amount of petting, they were paying for it. The
constant strain of excitement produced much dissipation certainly--but
it seldom took the reprehensible form of rowdyism and debauch. Some men
drank deeply--at dinners, at balls and at bar-rooms; some gambled, as
Virginians always had gambled--gaily, recklessly and for ruinous
stakes. But find them where you would, there was about the men a
careless pervading _bonhomie_ and a natural high tone resistlessly
attractive, yet speaking them worthy descendants of the "Go