all his men, and is in the vicinity of Fort Smith, attacking and
destroying Yankee wagon trains."
DECEMBER 26TH.--Raining--rained all night. The dark and dismal weather,
together with our sad reverses, have made the countenances of croakers
in the streets and in the offices more gloomy and somber than ever,
foreboding evil in the future. No one doubts the evacuation of Savannah,
and I suppose it must be so. Hardee had but 8000 reliable men. The
Georgians in Lee's army are more or less demoralized, and a reward of a
sixty days' furlough is given for shooting any deserter from our ranks.
An old black chest, containing mostly scraps and odds and ends of
housekeeping, yet brought on by my family from Burlington, has remained
four years unopened, the key being lost. We have felt an irrepressible
anxiety to see its contents, for even rubbish is now valuable. I got a
locksmith to send a man to pick the lock, last week, but he failed to
find the house, and subsequently was sent to the trenches. I borrowed
twenty-five keys, and none of them would fit. I got wire, and tried to
pick the lock, but failed. Yesterday, however, when all were at church,
I made another effort, prizing at the same time with the poker, when the
screws of the hasp came out and the top flew up, revealing only "odds
and ends" so far as I could see. I closed it, replaced the striped
cover, and put the cage with the parrot on it, where it usually remains.
The day, and the expressed objection of my wife to have the lock broken
or injured, have, until to-day, restrained me from revealing to the
family what I had done. But now I shall assemble them, and by a sort of
Christmas story, endeavor to mollify my wife's anticipated displeasure.
The examination of the contents will be a delightful diversion for the
children, old and young.
My impromptu Christmas tale of the old Black Chest interested the
family, and my wife was not angry. Immediately after its conclusion, the
old chest was surrounded and opened, and among an infinite variety of
rubbish were some articles of value, viz., of chemises (greatly needed),
several pairs of stockings, 1 Marseilles petticoat, lace collars,
several pretty baskets, 4 pair ladies' slippers (nearly new), and
several books--one from my library, an octavo volume on Midwifery, 500
pages, placed there to prevent the children from seeing the
illustrations, given me by the publisher for a notice in my paper, _The
Madisonian_, mo
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