United States or Peru ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
There was a genial flippancy about it that was new to him, and he wondered what sort of a man the New Yorker was. Mr. Brant wrote to a stranger with the familiarity of an old friend, yet the letter warmed Buel's heart. He smiled at the idea the American evidently had about a previous engagement. Invitations to lunch become frequent when a man does not need them.
Here, for the first time, we received information that some extraordinary movement was on foot. Troops, in large bodies, were constantly coming in from all quarters, and it seemed as if Buel's entire army were about to concentrate at this point, for the purpose of some grand movement upon the enemy. The report was that we were about to return to Kentucky.
I detached myself from the rest, after we were fairly arranged for the day, and wandered away alone to "Miss Buel's." The house was closed, the path grassy, a sweetbrier bush had blown across the door, and was gay with blossoms; all was still, dusty, desolate. I could not be satisfied with this.
She put the book down, and looked up as she heard some one sigh deeply near her. "Have you Hodden's new book?" she asked. "Yes, miss. Six shillings." The clerk quickly put Buel's book beside its lone companion, and took down Hodden's. "Thank you," said the girl, giving him a half sovereign; and, taking the change, she departed with her bundle of literature to the train.
The clerk, following her eye, picked out Buel's book. "Just out, miss. Three and sixpence." "Who is the author?" asked the girl. "Kenan Buel, a new man," answered the clerk, without a moment's hesitation, and without looking at the title-page. "Very clever work." Buel was astonished at the knowledge shown by the clerk.
They are usually called blocks, and are often so denominated in large letters on their front, as Portland Block, Devereux Block, Buel's Block. Such a block may face to two, three, or even four streets, and, as I presume, has generally been a matter of one special speculation.
I was allers handy with tools, and by good luck I'd come off with two jack-knives and a loose awl in my jacket-pocket, so I could beat 'em all at whittlin'; and I made figgers on their bows an' pipe-stems, of things they never see, roosters, and horses, Miss Buel's old sleigh, and the Albany stage, driver'n' all, and our yoke of oxen a-ploughin', till nothin' would serve them but I should have a house o' my own, and be married to their king's daughter; so I did.
He walked to the end of the platform, and then back to the bookstall. "Has that new book of Buel's come out yet?" he asked the clerk in an unconcerned tone. "Yes, sir. Here it is; three and sixpence, sir." "Thank you," said Buel, putting his hand in his pocket for the money. "How is it selling?" "Well, sir, there won't be much call for it, not likely, till the reviews begin to come out."
I hadn't no spunk left; so I married her after their fashion, and I liked her well enough; and she was my wife, after all. "I tell ye, Doctor, it goes a gret way with men-folks to think anything's their'n, and nobody else's. But when I married her, I took the chain with Hetty Buel's ring off my neck, and put 'em in a shell, and buried the shell under my doorway. I couldn't have Wailua touch that.
We were now in the Seventh Brigade of General Buel's department, General Negley commanding. A march of twenty miles through heat and dust, brought us to the pretty little town of Franklin, and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon we camped in a grove one mile from the town. Nearly all the places of business here were closed, many of the inhabitants having fled from the wrath of the "barbarous Yankees."
Word Of The Day