he came to start next morning he suddenly found he
had a pain in his chest! his heart failed him and he backed square
out. Next day he came over here and, after begging some time for me to
give him a shirt, without success, offered me in payment for it a
counterfeit half-dollar which I had told him a week ago was such, but
which he had meantime polished up and hoped to pass. So you see when a
man's heart fails him he will stoop to almost anything.

We had four couples married after church to-day, Andrew and Phoebe of
Pine Grove among the rest. Mr. Phillips tried to tie all four knots at
one twitch, but found he had his hands full with two couples at once
and concluded to take them in detail. They all behaved very well and
seemed impressed with the ceremony, so it certainly has an excellent
effect. We also had an address from Prince Rivers,[70] a black
coachman from Beaufort, who has been in General Hunter's regiment all
summer, and is of sufficient intelligence to take a lively interest in
the cause of enlistment. He has been to Philadelphia lately and comes
back duly impressed with the magnitude of the country and the
importance of the "negro question," but has not sufficient eloquence
to get many recruits. Of course the young men kept away from church
and will keep away, so long as the subject is discussed. They have
made up their silly minds and don't want to be convinced or persuaded
to any change.

You can imagine what a comfort it is to see Mr. G. again and looking
so well.

W. C. G., he who in June spoke so lightly of the dangers of
the Sea Island climate, had been dangerously ill during the
summer and had been obliged to go North for some weeks. In a
letter written October 30 he refers to the death of one of
the superintendents, adding, "It greatly startled me." A
month later another of the superintendents died in the same
house, which later proved fatal to still a third white man.
These three were cases of typhoid, but the malarial fever of
the district not infrequently was as deadly; on October 30
General Mitchel himself died of it. The fact as to the
climate is expressed in one of the letters by the statement
that fevers were "common among the negroes" and "universal
among the whites." A letter of Mr. Philbrick's, written
early in October, speaks of Captain Hooper's "indisposition"
as having cut down "the trio of tough ones" to himself and