d his powerful neck
and head upon the bed and groaned terribly.

"Moss," he said again, "ain't you got no tobacco, Moss? I haint had none
since Christmas. I's mos dead I'm po' sinful nigga'. Do give some
tobacco to po' creature, do!"

I told him that I did not chew the weed, but gave him a crushed cigar,
and he thrust it into his mouth, as if it was food and he was perishing.
This wretched animal performed the duties of a chambermaid upon the
premises; he made the beds, attended to the toilets, answered the bells,
etc. He finally became so offensive that I forbade him my room, and he
revenged himself by paltry thefts. There were two other servants, a
woman with a baby, and a shrewd, dishonest mulatto man, who was the
steward and carver. This fellow secreted provender in the kitchen and
sold it stealthily to hungry soldiers. A public house so mismanaged I
had nowhere met. Sometimes we could get no breakfast till noon, and
finally the price of dinner went up to one dollar and a half, with
nothing to eat. The table was protected from flies by a series of paper
fans, pendant from the ceiling and connected by a cord, which an ebony
boy pulled, at the foot of the room to keep them in motion. This boy
being worked day and night, often fell asleep upon his stool, when the
yellow man boxed his ears, or knocked him down; and then he would fan
with such vigor that a perfect gale swept down the table. The landlord
was a kindly old man, but he could not "keep a hotel," and the
strong-minded part of the house consisted of his wife and four
daughters. Gen. Ben Butler would have sent these young women to Ship
Island, five times of a day. They were very bad-mannered and always sat
apart at one end of the cloth, talking against the "Yankees." As there
was no direct provocation to do so, this boldness was gratuitous, and
detracted rather than added to my estimate of the heroism of Southern
women. I have known them to burst into the office, crowded with
blue-coats, and scream--

"Pop, Yankees thieving in garden!" or, "Pop, drive these Yankees out of
parlor!"

Every afternoon when the pavement was unusually patronized by young
officers, these women would sally out, promenade in crinoline, silk
stockings, and saucy hoods, and the crowd would fall respectfully back
to let them pass. A flag hung from a hospital over the sidewalk, and
with a pert flourish, the landlord's daughters filed off the pavement,
around the ensign, and back again.