s fantastic gyrations among the
tents, so that you never knew whence he would come nor whither he would
go, you were sure to get your face smoked horribly.

With thousands of camps thus circumstanced, it may be conjectured that
no little amount of fuel would suffice us. At first the trees were cut
down without much regard to the height of the stumps, but as the forest
receded from the camps, making transportation difficult, the stumps were
dug up by the roots, leaving the ground perfectly smooth, and made ready
for the ploughman, whenever our swords are beaten into ploughshares and
our battle spears into pruning hooks. And besides the consumption of
wood for fires, no little amount is used for the construction of our
houses or huts. Nearly every man has suddenly become a mason or a
carpenter, and the hammer, the axe, and the trowel are being plied with
the utmost vigor, if not with the highest skill. Many of us, however,
are astonished at the ingenuity that is displayed in this department.
Large logs, notched at the ends so as to dovetail together, and
sometimes hewn on the inside, compose the body of the hut. By the
careful application of mud--that Virginia mortar or plaster with which
every soldier is so familiar--to the crevices between the logs, a very
comfortable structure is made ready for its covering and occupancy.
Shelter-tents, buttoned or sewed together, form the roof, which, by the
aid of talmas or ponchoes, is generally made water-proof.

Three or four men usually unite in the construction of a hut, and share
one another's skill and stores. If they can afford it, they purchase of
the sutlers small sheet-iron stoves, which will keep them very
comfortably warm, and afford them an opportunity to do their own cooking
on extra occasions, such as come with the issues of supplies from the
Christian or Sanitary Commissions, or the reception of boxes from
friends at home. The ordinary cooking of a company is done by men
detailed for that purpose. Often good fire-places and chimneys are
erected in the tents. These are sometimes made of sticks of wood laid in
thick mud, or of stones or bricks taken from the foundations and remains
of buildings that have been destroyed in the neighborhood of our camps.
Every means is resorted to which Yankee ingenuity can devise to make our
soldier-homes as comfortable and convenient as possible. Punch says,
"that a Yankee baby will creep out of his cradle, take a survey of it,
invent