i are not large and flat, like
the monotonous levels of Central Illinois, but they are rolling, usually
small, and broken by frequent narrow belts of timber. In the woods there
are hills, rocky soil, and always one, often two streams, clear and rapid
as a mountain-brook in New England.

The scenery to-day was particularly attractive, a constant succession of
prairies surrounded by wooded hills. As we go south, the color of the
forest becomes richer, and the atmosphere more mellow and hazy.

During the first two hours we passed several regiments of foot. The men
were nearly all Germans, and I scanned the ranks carefully, longing to see
an American countenance. I found none, but caught sight of one
arch-devil-may-care Irish face. I doubt whether there is a company in the
army without an Irishman in it, though the proportion of Irishmen in our
ranks is not so great as at the East.

Early in the afternoon we rode up to a farm-house, at the gate of which a
middle-aged woman was standing, crying bitterly. The General stopped, and
the woman at once assailed him vehemently. She told him the soldiers had
that day taken her husband and his team away with them. She said that
there was no one left to take care of her old blind mother,--at which
allusion, the blind mother tottered down the walk and took a position in
the rear of the attacking party,--that they had two orphan girls, the
children of a deceased sister, and the orphans had lost their second
father. The assailants were here reinforced by the two orphan girls. She
protested that her husband was loyal,--"Truly, Sir, he was a Union man and
voted for the Union, and always told his neighbors Disunion would do
nothing except bring trouble upon innocent people, as indeed it has," said
she, with a fresh flood of tears. The General was moved by her distress,
and ordered Colonel E. to have the man, whose name is Rutherford, sent
back at once.

A few rods farther on we came to another house, in front of which was
another weeping woman afflicted in the same way. Several little
flaxen-haired children surrounded her, and a white-bearded man, trembling
with age, stood behind, leaning upon a staff. Her earnestness far
surpassed that of Mrs. Rutherford. She wrung her hands, and could hardly
speak for her tears. She seized the General's hand and entreated him to
return her husband, with an expression of distress which the hardest heart
could not resist. The General comforted the poor w