ceived
with civility by Miriam and myself. Of the Yankees, Brother has so much
consideration for us that he has never invited one to his house since
we have been here, though he has many friends among them who visited
here before our arrival. Such delicacy of feeling we fully appreciate,
knowing how very few men of such a hospitable nature would be capable
of such a sacrifice. Thinking we need company, Brother frequently
invites what he calls "a safe old Secessionist" (an old bachelor of
fifty-three who was wounded at Shiloh) to dine with us; thinking it a
fair compromise between the stay-at-home youth and Yankees, neither of
whom this extremely young man could be confounded with.

Sunday, June 14th.

The excitement about Port Hudson and Vicksburg is intense. When I heard
on Friday that the last attack was being made on the former place, I
took to my prayers with a delirium of fervor. If I was a man, if I had
the blessed privilege of fighting, I would be on the breastworks, or
perchance on the water batteries under Colonel Steadman's command. But
as I was unfortunately born a woman, I stay home and pray with heart
and soul. That is all I can do; but I do it with a will. In my
excitement, I was wishing that I was a Catholic, that I might make a
vow for the preservation of Port Hudson, when a brilliant idea struck
me. It was this: though vows are peculiar to Catholics, mosquitoes are
common to all sects. From that arose this heroic scheme: I said, "Hear
me, Miriam, thou who knowest I have slept undisturbed but three nights
out of seventeen, four hours out of each of the other fourteen having
been spent in destroying my insatiable foe. Thou seest that nightly
vigils are torturing me pale and weak, thou knowest what unspeakable
affection I have for the youth yclept by the ancients Morpheus. Yet
listen to my vow: If Port Hudson holds out, if our dear people are
victorious, I offer up myself on the altar of my country to mosquitoes,
and never again will I murmur at their depredations and voracity." Talk
of pilgrimages, and the ordinary vow of wearing only the Virgin's
colors (the most becoming in the world); there never was one of greater
heroism or more sublime self-sacrifice than this. And as if to prove my
sincerity, they have been worse than ever these last two nights. But as
yet I have not murmured; for the Yankees, who swore to enter Port
Hudson before last Monday nigh