who apparently had just come together. There were perhaps fifteen or twenty of them, of ages ranging from ten to fifteen years. Many of them were beautiful, and all were good singers. It seemed to me as though they made not the least discord, and that the sweetest music I ever heard came from their lips as they sang-the first time we had ever heard the song: "Dearest love, do you remember, When we last did meet, How you told me that you loved me, Oh! how proud you stood before me, When you vowed to me and country CHORUS. "Weeping sad and lonely, Hopes and fears how vain! Praying that we meet again!' The "After passing through the city and going into camp, many of us returned again to the pleasing surroundings. citizens threw open their houses and invited us in to enjoy the full privilege of their homes. On every hand we were met with the most cordial reception. Merchants would not even take pay for articles of limited value after we had bought them. Every one seemed heartily glad to assist the bold defenders of the Stars and Stripes. "Indeed we appreciated this, for we had been deprived for a long time of many of the comforts of civilized life, and at times had wanted the necessities, not to say the delicacies; so that the enjoyment of all these, coupled with the earnest way in which we were received, could not fail to draw from us expressions of unalloyed gratitude. We felt that even in the midst of war there is tenderness; that, however fierce the battle may be, the heart which receives the blow and the one which gives it, may then or at any other time be the home of affection. "Gratitude brought a tear to my own eye, and as I looked around to see the expression of other countenances, I beheld at my side an old, wicked, gray-haired man weeping from very joy a man whose heart I had long since concluded had never held many feelings except those kindred to cruelty. This was only the day before the great battle, but I can tell you that even this short relief was welcome." "Let me add another incident to those already given about Sherman's famous march," said Mr. C. E. Harden, addressing the commander. "Proceed," responded His Dignity, and Mr. Harden did proceed thus: "In the first place," said he, "the country through which we were passing produced only two staple commodities, towit: Bull-frogs and bad roads, the two being in almost equal abundance. There were also two other things similar in the purpose of holding food, namely, our stomachs and haversacks; and at this particular time they were exactly alike in one other respect-both were empty. Sometimes a man's appetite suggests a very sudden conclusion about going to work to obtain something eatable; and this was our exact condition. So comrade John Chandler and myself at once determined to see what we could see' in the way of forage. "We left camp at day-break, and knowing the route which the column would take, kept well to the right. We tramped all day, and at night had succeeded in becoming the possessors of the following: "One cart with one broken wheel. "One and one-quarter bushels of potatoes; size of same, 1⁄2 to 34 inches in diameter, "One yoke of 'muley' oxen. "One ox was red; the other brindle. One had lost its tail. The red ox, being the afflicted one, seemed to be favored by nature with a very small horn on the left side of its head, so that it was not entirely muley;' while on the other hand, brindle having no claim to a like favor from nature, had no horn, and was, therefore, entirely muley.' "It was an odd-looking team; but we concluded to try its strength for a few miles, so we loaded our potatoes and continued our journey. The second day added the following to our store: 66 1. 662. One rooster too old to crow. One-half bushel wilted turnips. "Late in the afternoon we began to hunt our command, and about sunset came to the road that the division had passed over, but found no other signs of a soldier. A short 'council of war' was held, after which the line of march was taken up and continued until daylight, when we came to a halt, fed the rooster and the oxen, and breakfasted ourselves on the 'pig-potatoes' and turnips. After a short rest we again proceeded, arriving in camp about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. "As we approached, the cheering resembled the prolonged chirrup from an excited flock of geese. All kinds of exclamations were heard: "Hurrah for the muleys!' "Kill 'em! Kill 'em!' “Beefsteak for supper, boys!' "Give us some ox-tail soup!' "Old brindle's horns for powder flasks!' etc., etc. "When the noise subsided, the commissary sergeant ordered us to report at headquarters with our team. We did this, received a reprimand for being absent from our command, and our oxen were inspected, and ordered slaughtered for the good of the regiment. "Within fifteen minutes from that time the odor from fresh, tough beef emanated from numerous frying pans, and ascended to the evening sky; and in perhaps thirty minutes more no reminder of the oxen's sad fate could be seen, except the iron work of the wagon, the wood having been appro priated to replenish the various camo-fires." CAMP-FIRE XXI. THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC--NOT A POLITICAL ORGANIZATION-ITS PRINCIPLES: FRATERNITY, CHARITY, LOYALTY-A COMPLETE, BRIEF RECORD OF ITS ORGANIZATION AND GROWTH TO THE PRESENT TIME. HIS camp-fire was devoted to delineating the practical part of those magnificent memories which have resulted so happily from the comradeship which was begotten and made strong by the battles of the Civil War. Dr. A. W. Gray was the speaker, and said: "At no time in the history of the world has there been an organization of such magnitude as this; which had such sudden growth and notoriety, and yet of which so little is known. As far as known there are no official records of any connected history of its origin, rise and progress. -- "It is not strange that men who, for many weary months and years had shared the perils and fatigues, the weary marches and bivouacks of a soldier's life, who together had breasted the storms of shot and shell, and shared the privation, suffering and hunger of the prison-pen-should desire to keep alive the memories and associations of their army life. History informs us that after great wars it has been in all ages customary for the surviving soldiers to form associations to preserve the memories of other days. We hear in our day of the associations of veterans of the Crimean war and of the French and German war; and in our own country of the Order of the Cincinnati,' an organization of commissioned |