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As a rule she was not overparticular, but just then she was in that state of nerves when little things fretted her. She said to herself that a cattle car was the proper place for this young man. As he spoke to the porter she listened resentfully, prepared to disapprove of anything he might say. Said he: "Mistuh Washin'ton Jeffe'son Bones, look at me carefully.
"An' so it goes on; an' day by day we r-read th' tur-rble story iv our brave sthrateejans sacrificin' their time on th' altar iv their counthry, as Hogan says. Little we thought, whin we wint into this war, iv th' horrors it wud bring. Little we thought iv th' mothers at home weepin' f'r their brave boys down at Washin'ton hur-rtin their poor eyes over a checker-board.
An' fr'm all cor-rners iv th' counthry they've gone to Washin'ton, where they're called th' Sthrateejy Board. "Day an' night they set in a room with a checker-board on th' end iv a flour bar'l, an' study problems iv th' navy. At night Mack dhrops in. 'Well, boys, says he, 'how goes th' battle? he says. 'Gloryous, says th' Sthrateejy Board.
They'd make thim ten thousand if they had their way an' mark thim: 'F'r men on'y. But, annyhow, th' ladies comity wint down to Washin'ton. They'd been there befure an' dhriven th' Demon Rum fr'm th' resthrant into a lair in th' comity room. A Congressman came out, coughin' behind his hand, an' put his handkerchief into th' northwest corner iv his coat.
One evening, however, they were together in the sitting room and Martha said: "I noticed you got a letter from Washin'ton to-day, Mr. Bangs." Galusha nodded. "Yes," he said. "It wasn't a letter exactly. Merely another of the regular reports, that is all." "I see.... Well, I suppose you will be hearin' from them pretty soon about about that other matter. The plan they told you they had for you."
Some message for Dorothy from Betty Washington, no doubt, and I turned moodily back toward the stables to get out my horse, for I was determined to leave the place without delay. But I was arrested by the negro calling to me. "What is it, Sam?" I asked, as he cantered up beside me. "Lettah f'um Kuhnal Washin'ton, sah," he said, and handed me the missive. I tore it open with a trembling hand.
"Po' lil' honey," was all the complacent "bear" said in reply, without altering her methods in the least. "Well," said Beverly threateningly, with a shake of her head, "be careful, that's all. Have you heard the news?" "Wha' news, Miss Bev'ly?" "We're going back to Washin'ton." "Thank de Lawd! When?" "I don't know. I've just this instant made up my mind.
"Seems somehow," said Jabe Doty one night, as he tilted his chair forward and stared at the fire in the stove, "seems somehow as if Tom was a right smart ways off es ef he got furder as the winter closed in a'most like Washin'ton city hed moved a thousand miles or so out West somewhars, an' took him with it."
"'Twould re'lly learn the young folks a good deal. I should be scared numb to try an' speak from the pulpit. That ain't what the Elder means, is it? Now I was one that had a good chance to see somethin' o' Washin'ton. I shook hands with President Lincoln, an' I always think I'm worth lookin' at for that, if I ain't for nothin' else.
"A man in Washin'ton city with a Congristman's wages has got to be a purty level-headed feller not to get into high-falutin' ways of livin' an' throwin' money about. He's got to keep in his mind that this yere's a republic an' not a 'ristycratic, despotic monarchy."
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