Yankees, whipped before,--
"Bay'nets and grape!" hear "Stonewall" roar;
"Charge, Stuart![6] Pay off Ashby's[7] score!"
In "'Stonewall' Jackson's way."

[Footnote 3: Ambrose P. Hill was a prominent Confederate general.]

[Footnote 4: James Longstreet was one of the most distinguished of the
Confederate generals.]

[Footnote 5: John Pope, the Federal general, was badly defeated by
Jackson and Robert E. Lee in the second battle of Bull Run, August 29
and 30, 1862.]

[Footnote 6: James E. B. Stuart, a cavalry leader in the Confederate
army, took a prominent part in the second battle of Bull Run, and was
with Jackson in other engagements.]

[Footnote 7: Turner Ashby, a Confederate general, had greatly aided
Jackson by covering the latter's retreat before General Banks. He was
killed in a skirmish in June, 1862.]

Ah! maiden, wait and watch and yearn
For news of "Stonewall's" band!
Ah! widow, read with eyes that burn
That ring upon thy hand.
Ah! wife, sew on, pray on, hope on!
Thy life shall not be all forlorn;
The foe had better ne'er been born
That gets in "'Stonewall's' way."

BARON MUNCHAUSEN

INTRODUCTION

Collected in a book called _The Travels of Baron Munchausen_ is a series
of the most extravagant stories imaginable. No one can possibly believe
them to be true, and yet when we are reading them they do not appear so
absurdly ridiculous as they seem afterward when we think of them. The
book is said to have been written by a German named Rudolph Erich Raspe,
but we cannot be sure of it, as there are no proofs. It is said, too,
that there was a German officer, a Baron Hieronymous Karl Friedrich
Munchausen who lived in the early part of the eighteenth century and who
told such marvelous stories that he was very popular among his fellow
officers and that his stories have been collected in a book. The book
appeared first in 1793, and some have believed that it was written to
ridicule the books of travel which had appeared from time to time, some
of which contained narratives not much less incredible than some of the
Baron's fanciful tales. It is probable, however, that the book is merely
a collection of very old stories with many newer ones included among
them, and that it was written solely for entertainment.

The Baron always insists upon the strict truthfulness and accuracy of
his stories and grows quite indignant when his veracity is questioned.
To verify his words