ess is synonymous with rain (for the sun scarcely
ever went down before the elements were imitating the movement), it
accordingly commenced to rain, and by the time it was fairly dark a heavy
storm was raging.

Fortunately, an immense empty barn was at hand, into which the regiment
wedged themselves, like sardines in a box, so tight, in fact, that those
unfortunates who happened to find themselves under a leak in the roof--and
there were many such--had to remain quiet under their douche, and take it
coolly for the whole night. The Eleventh and one or two other regiments,
being without either barn or tents, were obliged to sleep in the woods all
night without any protection whatever, and were consequently regarded as
suffering martyrs by all the rest of us, who wondered how they could
possibly have lived through it.

Little did those think who shuddered when they talked about sleeping in
the rain without cover, that in a very short time they would be doing that
very thing themselves, and come to regard it as a mere matter of course,
inconvenient to be sure, but so commonplace as to be hardly worth
mentioning.

The next morning, having pitched our tents, we entered upon the usual
routine of camp life, humdrum to the last extent. Hot as an oven, stupid
and monotonous as a prison, the first few days passed quietly enough. It
is true that the roofs and spires of the capital of Pennsylvania, which we
had come to defend, were in plain sight, but a very few visits there,
combined with the chilling reception we received in passing through it,
put an effectual quietus on our hopes of the good time that was coming.
Little bills, and big stories of little bills, for necessary purchases;
fifteen cents for a cup of (rye) coffee, and other things in proportion,
the general indifference of the inhabitants as to which side won in the
contest which was impending, and the other annoyances which have been so
fully ventilated in the New York newspapers, in a very short time
destroyed the clamor for passes, and rendered useless the complicated
system of signatures which had been devised to prevent the expected rush
for those documents.

By-and-by we were regaled by perusing in the New York papers the most
astounding accounts of the dangers of our position, and of the uprising of
Pennsylvania; unquestionably it was all true, but we hadn't seen anything
of the kind yet. Still, while laughing over much that we read, we could
not help notici