od bless his heart!"

"Was your father in the war?"

"Was he in the war? My dear sir, you might say that he was the war. But
you could scrape this town with a fine-tooth comb without finding
anybody of his age that wasn't in the war."

The necessity for a new demonstration checked his speech for a moment.

Queed said: "Who are these veterans? What sort of people are they?"

"The finest fellows in the world," said the young man. "An occasional
dead-beat among them, of course, but it's amazing how high an average of
character they strike, considering that they came out of four years of
war--war's demoralizing, you know!--with only their shirts to their
backs, and often those were only borrowed. You'll find some mighty solid
business men in the ranks out there, and then on down to the humblest
occupations. Look! See that little one-legged man with the beard that
everybody's cheering! That's Corporal Henkel of Petersburg, commended I
don't know how many times for bravery, and they would have given him the
town for a keepsake when it was all over, if he had wanted it. Well,
Henkel's a cobbler--been one since '65--and let me tell you he's a
blamed good one, and if you're ever in Petersburg and want any
half-soling done, let me tell you--Yea-a-a! See that trim-looking one
with the little mustache--saluting now? He tried to save Stonewall
Jackson's life on the 2d of May, 1863,--threw himself in front of him
and got badly potted. He's a D.D. now. Yea-a-a-a!"

A victoria containing two lovely young girls, sponsor and maid of honor
for South Carolina, dressed just alike, with parasols and enormous hats,
rolled by. The girls smiled kindly at the young man, and he went through
a very proper salute.

"Watch the people!" he dashed on eagerly. "Wonderful how they love these
old soldiers, isn't it?--they'd give 'em anything! And what a fine thing
that is for them!--for the people, not the soldiers, I mean. I tell you
we all give too much time to practical things--business--making
money--taking things away from each other. It's a fine thing to have a
day now and then which appeals to just the other side of us--a regular
sentimental spree. Do you see what I mean? Maybe I'm talking like an
ass.... But when you talk about Americans, Mr. Queed--let me tell you
that there isn't a State in the country that is raising better
Americans than we are raising right here in this city. We're as solid
for the Union as Boston. But that isn't sayi