ation]

The _Commissary_ man--he happened to be in our mess--never had any sugar
over, any salt, any soda, any coffee--oh, no! But beg him, plead with
him, bear with him when he says, "Go way, boy! Am I the
commissary-general? Have I got all the sugar in the Confederacy? Don't
you know rations are short now?" Then see him relax. "Come here, my son;
untie that bag there, and look in that old jacket, and you will find
another bag,--a little bag,--and look in there and you will find some
sugar. Now go round and tell everybody in camp, won't you. Tell 'em all
to come and get some sugar. _Oh! I know you won't. Oh yes, of course!_"

As a general rule every mess had a "Bully" and an "Argument man." Time
would fail me to tell of the "lazy man," the "brave man," the "worthless
man," the "ingenious man," the "helpless man," the "sensitive man," and
the "gentleman," but they are as familiar to the members of the mess as
the "honest man," who would not eat stolen pig, but would "take a little
of the gravy."

Every soldier remembers--indeed, was personally acquainted with--the
_Universal_ man. How he denied vehemently his own identity, and talked
about "poison oak," and heat, and itch, and all those things, and
strove, in the presence of those who knew how it was themselves, to
prove his absolute freedom from anything like "universality!" Poor
fellow! sulphur internally and externally would not do. Alas! his only
hope was to acknowledge his unhappy state, and stand, in the presence of
his peers, confessed.

The "Boys in Blue" generally preferred to camp in the open fields. The
Confeds took to the woods, and so the Confederate camp was not as
orderly or as systematically arranged, but the most picturesque of the
two. The blazing fire lit up the forms and faces and trees around it
with a ruddy glow, but only deepened the gloom of the surrounding woods;
so that the soldier pitied the poor fellows away off on guard in the
darkness, and, hugging himself, felt how good it was to be with the
fellows around the fire. How companionable was the blaze and the glow of
the coals! They warmed the heart as well as the foot. The imagination
seemed to feed on the glowing coals and surrounding gloom, and when the
soldier gazed on the fire peace, liberty, home, strolls in the woods and
streets with friends, the church, the school, playmates, and sweethearts
all passed before him, and even the dead came to mind. Sadly, yet
pleasantly, he thought of