tty mess of it. I never expect to get home any more; I
know I shall be gobbled up!"

A youngish, oldish, oddish fellow, whom they called "Pop," here told Mr.
Cindrey to keep his pulse up and take a drink. A tall, large person, in
semi-quaker garb, who did not look unlike George Fox, run to seed, said,
with a flourish, that these battles were nothing to Shiloh. He was
attached to the provincial press, and had been with the army of the West
until recently. Without any exception, he was the "fussiest," most
impertinent, most disagreeable man that I ever knew. He always made a
hero of himself in his reports, and if I remember rightly, their
headings ran after this fashion:--

"_Tremendous Battle at_ ROANOKE! _The Correspondent of_ THE BLUNDERBUSS
_hoists the_ NATIONAL FLAG above the REBEL RAMPARTS!!!" or
again--"_Grand Victory at_ SHILOH! _Mr. Twaddle, our Special
Correspondent_, TAKEN PRISONER!!! _He_ ESCAPES!!! _He is_ FIRED UPON!!!
_He wriggles through_ FOUR SWAMPS and SEVEN HOSTILE CAMPS! _He is_ AGAIN
CAPTURED! _He_ STRANGLES _the sentry_! _He drinks the Rebel Commander,
Philpot_, BLIND! _Philpot gives him_ THE PASSWORD!! --> _Philpot
compliments the Blunderbuss._ <-- OUR _Correspondent gains the
Gunboats_! _He is_ TAKEN ABOARD! _His welcome!_ _Description of_ HIS
BOOTS! _Remarks, etc._, ETC., ETC!!!"

This man was anxious to regulate not only his own newspaper, but he
aspired to control the entire press. And his self adulation was
incessant. He rung all the changes upon Shiloh. Every remark suggested
some incident of Shiloh. He was a thorough Shilohite, and I regretted in
my heart that the "Rebels" had not shut him away at Shiloh, that he
might have enjoyed it to the end of his days.

The man "Pop" produced some apple whiskey, and we repaired to a spring,
at the foot of the hill, where the man "Pop" mixed a cold punch, and we
drank in rotation. I don't think that Cindrey enjoyed his draught, for
it filtered through his neck as if he had sprung a leak there; but the
man Twaddle might have taken a tun, and, as the man "Pop" said, the
effect would have been that of "pouring whiskey through a knot-hole." It
was arranged among our own reporters, that I, being sick, should be the
first of the staff to go to New York. The man "Pop" said jocosely, that
I might be allowed to die in the bosom of my family. The others gave me
their notes and lists, but none could give me what I most needed,--a
morsel of food. At eleven o'clo