him; and am here by appointment.

_Col. B._ You can ascertain for yourself. I am not his door-keeper.
There is his door.

_Gen. W._ (after a moment's reflection). I asked you a civil question in
a courteous manner, and have not deserved this harshness, and will not
submit to it.

_Col. B._ It is not courteous to presume I am acting in the capacity of
a messenger or door-keeper.

Just then the Secretary appeared at the door, having heard the loud
language, and Gen. W. immediately entered his office.

Afterward the colonel fumed and fretted like an angry volcano. He
disliked Col. Myers, and believed he had sent the general in under
prompting to annoy him about the Secretary, whom he (Myers) really
hated.

JULY 13TH.--The Secretary made peace yesterday between the general and
the colonel, or a duel might have transpired.

To-day the colonel carried into the Secretary a number of applications
for commissions as surgeons. Among the applicants were some of the
colonel's friends. He returned soon after in a rage, slamming the door
after him, and then throwing down the papers violently on the floor. He
picked them up the next moment, however, and sitting down beside me,
became instantaneously as gentle as a dove. He said the men of science
were thrust aside to give way to quacks; but, laughing, he remarked that
the quacks would do well enough for the wounded ----. _Our_ men would
have too much sense to submit to their malpractice.

JULY 14TH.--The Secretary is sick again. He has been recommended by his
physician to spend some days in the country; and to-morrow he will leave
with his family. What will be the consequence?

JULY 15TH.--Early this morning, Major Tyler was seated in the
Secretary's chair, prepared to receive the visitors. This, I suppose,
was of course in pursuance of the Secretary's request; and accordingly
the door-keeper ushered in the people. But not long after Col. Bledsoe
arrived, and exhibited to me an order from the President for him to act
as Secretary of War _pro tem_. The colonel was in high spirits, and full
dress; and seemed in no measure piqued at Major Tyler for occupying the
Secretary's chair. The Secretary must have been aware that the colonel
was to _act_ during his absence--but, probably, supposed it proper that
the major, from his suavity of manners, was best qualified for the
reception of the visitors. He had been longer in the department, and was
more familiar with the routine of bu