a cheer and a brisker step
from the lagging and tired column.

As the men tired, there was less and less talking, until the whole mass
became quiet and serious. Each man was occupied with his own thoughts.
For miles nothing could be heard but the steady tramp of the men, the
rattling and jingling of canteens and accoutrements, and the occasional
"Close up, men,--close up!" of the officers.

The most refreshing incidents of the march occurred when the column
entered some clean and cosy village where the people loved the troops.
Matron and maid vied with each other in their efforts to express their
devotion to the defenders of their cause. Remembering with tearful eyes
the absent soldier brother or husband, they yet smiled through their
tears, and with hearts and voices welcomed the coming of the
road-stained troops. Their scanty larders poured out the last morsel,
and their bravest words were spoken, as the column moved by. But who
will tell the bitterness of the lot of the man who thus passed by his
own sweet home, or the anguish of the mother as she renewed her farewell
to her darling boy? Then it was that men and women learned to long for
the country where partings are no more.

As evening came on, questioning of the officers was in order, and for an
hour it would be, "Captain, when are we going into camp?" "I say,
lieutenant, are we going to ---- or to ----?" "Seen anything of our
wagon?" "How long are we to stay here?" "Where's the spring?" Sometimes
these questions were meant simply to tease, but generally they betrayed
anxiety of some sort, and a close observer would easily detect the
seriousness of the man who asked after "our wagon," because he spoke
feelingly, as one who wanted his supper and was in doubt as to whether
or not he would get it. People who live on country roads rarely know how
far it is from anywhere to anywhere else. This is a distinguishing
peculiarity of that class of people. If they do know, then they are a
malicious crew. "Just over the hill there," "Just beyond those woods,"
"'Bout a mile," "Round the bend," and other such encouraging replies,
mean anything from a mile to a day's march!

An accomplished straggler could assume more misery, look more horribly
emaciated, tell more dismal stories of distress, eat more and march
further (to the rear), than any ten ordinary men. Most stragglers were
real sufferers, but many of them were ingenious liars, energetic
foragers, plunder hunters and