Page 130 - Among the camps, or, Young people's stories of the war

corn-houses were emptied into the great, covered, blue army
wagons; the pick of the horses and mules was given up.
Provisions became scanty and the food plain ; coffee and tea

disappeared; clothes that were worn out were replaced by
homespun, jack dressed in the same sort of coarse, grayish
stuff of which Jake’s clothes used to be made ; and his boots
were made by Uncle Dick at the quarters; but this did not
trouble him. It was rather fun than otherwise, Boys like
to rough it, He had come to care little for these things.

He was getting manlier, His mother called him her pro­
tector ; his father, when lie came home, as he did once or
twice a year, called him a man/’ and introduced him to his
friends as " my son.'’
His mother began to consult him, to rely on him, to

call on him. He used to go about with her, or go for her
wherever she had business, however far off it might be.
The war had been going on two years, when the enemy
first reached Jack's home. It was a great shock to jack, for
he had never doubted that the Confederates would keep them

back. There had been a great battle some time before, and
his father had been wounded and taken prisoner (at first he
was reported killed). But for that, Jack saidt the “ Yankees'
would never have got there. The Union troops did not
trouble Jack personally ; but they made a great deal of

trouble about the place. They took all the horses and
mules that were good for anything and put them in their
wagons. This was a terrible blow to Jack. All his life he