Page 25 - Among the camps, or, Young people's stories of the war

had come to their knowledge. A young man had one clay
been earned by the Holly Hill gate on his way to the head­
quarters of the officer in command of that portion of the
lines, General Den by. He was in citizen's clothes and was
■
charged with being a spy. The next morning Ran, who had
risen early to visit his hare-traps, rushed into his mothers

room while-faced and wide-eyed.
“ Oh, mamma. J " he gasped, “ they have hung him, just
because he had on those clothes!”
Mrs. Stafford, though she was much moved herself,

endeavored to explain to the boy that this was one of the
laws of war ; but Rail's mind was not able to comprehend
the principles which imposed so cruel a sentence for what
he deemed so harmless a fault.
I his act and some other measures of severity gave Gen­
eral Denby a reputation of much harshness among the few

old residents who yet remained at their homes in the lines,
and the children used to gaze at him furtively as he would
ride by, grim and stern, followed by his staff. Yet there
were those who said that General Den by s rigor was simply

the result of a high standard of duty, and that at bottom he
had a soft heart.