d on dress parade; surmounted
by every variety of head gear, from the straw hat of many seasons to
the woolen night-cap the good "marm" had knitted.

Notwithstanding much work, there was still too much leisure time; and
"apple jack" filtered its way through provost guards, and cards, the
greasiest and most bethumbed, wiled many an hour for the unwary and
verdant.

The lower class of conscripts were almost invariably from the
cities--the refuse population of the wharf, bar-room and hotel.
Unwilling to volunteer, these gentry skulked behind every excuse to
avoid conscription; but when forced off at last, they and the
substitutes banded in an unholy brotherhood to make the best of their
position.

Ringleaders in every insubordination and every vice they assumed a
_degage_, or air of superiority, and fleeced their verdant companions
of the very clothes they wore; while they made the impure air of the
camps more foul with ribald jest and profane song.

A single glance segregated this element from the quiet country
conscripts. The latter were generally gloomy, thinking of the field
untilled and the wife and little ones, perhaps, unfed. When they drank
"new dip" it was to drown thought, for the fumes of every stew-pan
brought back shadowy memories of home and comfort; and when they slept
on the damp ground--wrapped in the chance rug, or worn scrap of carpet
charity had bestowed--a sad procession marched through their dreams,
and sorrowful and starving figures beckoned them from mountain side and
hamlet.

Great misery and destitution followed the conscription. Large numbers
of men, called from their fields just as they were most needed, cut
down greatly the supplies of grain. Almost all who remained at home
bought their exemption by giving so large a portion of their product to
Government as to reduce civil supplies still more; and these two facts
so enhanced the price of food--and so reduced the value of money--that
the poorer classes rapidly became destitute of all but the barest means
of life. Whether this was the result of inevitable circumstance, or the
offspring of mismanagement, in no way affects the fact. Food became
very hard to procure even at high prices; and the money to get it was
daily more and more monopolized by a grasping few.

The Confederate soldier now had a double share of toil and torture.
When the smoke of the fight rolled away, and with it the sustaining
glow of battle, thought bore him but grim