pretty_ much, but he kalkilated she'd make a good, stirrin'
wife for a young man who had his livin' to get. Should hev kind o'
thought,' continued Mr. Bull, who seemed to love the subject, 'that he'd
hev fancied _you_; but there's no accountin' for tastes.'

I glided out of the room unperceived, and the old gentleman probably
talked confidentially to the four walls for some time afterward.

* * * * *

Sumter had fallen; and the whole school broke out in badges.
Peppersville was on fire, and burning, of course, in red, white, and
blue flames. No one bought a dress even that had not the loyal colors
displayed _somewhere_ in it; and a man who did not wear a cockade was
rather looked askance upon.

Mr. Bull was in his element, and spent his time principally in going to
the post office in search of news, and asking everybody's political
shibboleth. The subject was discussed at every meal. Mr. Bull thought
that half the members of Congress ought to have been hung long ago. Miss
Friggs, who sometimes attempted the poetical, said that it made her
heart bleed to think of the glorious figure of Liberty wandering
desolate and forsaken, with her costly robe of stars and stripes
trailing in the dust; and Mrs. Bull, who was one of the wisest women I
ever knew, prudently said nothing on a subject which she did not quite
understand.

The militia of Peppersville began to turn out in rusty regimentals, and
cut up queer antics in the street; and Mr. Summers, who appeared to have
a talent for everything, took them in hand to drill.

'Do you understand military tactics?' I inquired in surprise.

'Somewhat,' was the reply. He had been captain of a company of boy
soldiers; and, now that I came to think of it, there was something
decidedly military in his bearing.

'If I were only a _man!_' I exclaimed, discontentedly, 'I would be off
to the war and distinguish myself; but a woman is good for nothing but
to be insignificant.'

'The works of a watch are 'insignificant,' in one sense,' observed my
companion; 'but what would the watch he without them?'

'I do not see any application in this case,' I replied, indifferently.

'A woman,' said he, bending down to adjust some papers, 'is often the
Miriam and Aaron of some Moses whose hands need holding up. Many a
bullet that finds the heart of an enemy is sent, not by the hand that
pulls the trigger, but by a softer hand miles away. Something, or rather
some