Nostalgia Read Online Free Page B

admiration of more than most. The last time he came over here from his hdqrs I was farther away from him than our house is from City Hall, but I could sure hear the bands playing across the way
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    Besides my usual duties, I have been busy with base ball & writing letters for my comrades. You would be astounded by how many of our boys can not read or write. Many did not advance beyond the fourth grade. What is most satisfying is how grateful they are for my services with the pen & it is surely little enough to give. Thank you for the book, dear Sarah. One of our surgeons happened by my tent of an afternoon when I was sitting on my rubber blanket reading. He commended me for studying what he took to be my Bible & when I showed him otherwise he declared himself, like you, a great fan of Dickens. His name is Speck, though he is quite a large man & entirely visible I assure you. Also like you, he does not much care for Hawthorne. He said of The Scarlet Letter that it is gloomy beyond toleration. Some of my mates tease me about being a bookworm &say they are confounded to find in me such a mix of base ball & books. They also say I will soon regret having a thing so heavy as an English novel to carry in my knapsack. These same ones then entreat me to read to them from it when we are idle. I am nearly finished with the first part & it is both a pleasure & a comfort
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    The company I take with Mr. Dickens is the nearest I can come here to having your own. Let me say that I think of you every day & pray for your safety & happiness every night. I so much want you to understand me, Sarah, not for my own sake, but for yours, should I be wrong about my survival & the worst should happen. Can you not see how impossible it was for me to go on playing base ball in Brooklyn, knowing all the while the main cause for the opportunity, that so many in our club had already put on a different uniform, in the service of Uncle Sam? As for college & the law, will they not still be there for me when I return? I am truly sorry for your loneliness & do blame myself for it though I think I am trying to do right. I am thankful for your letters even with their scoldings. My hope is that you will forgive me & that in time you will find less in me that needs forgiving
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    Thank you too for including the clipping from the Eagle , Rev. T.C.’s sketch of his visit with Mr. D in England. I cannot say it shed a lot of light, as you pointed out, but I enjoyed reading it all the same. We are not familiar with Mrs. Hamilton, though I trust your assessment of her & look forward to seeing for myself. I am glad you have been to the academy for I know how music has the power to cheer you. Is the panorama all it is purported to be? I am skeptical of such grand projects but gazing out across our winter quarters from Cole’s Hill I think it does sometimes resemble a vast painting in motion
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    I have had a compliment from the colonel. He said that if the army of the Potomac had a base ball officer, I would be a major general. He added that word had reached his ear that I was the worst poker player in the regiment, which is true. The captain came to my defense then, saying that I could reload a musket as fast as any man in the company
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    A fellow from Maine has taught me the game of backgammon, which is about the best sport I have ever had sitting still. Be prepared, dear Sarah, for I shall force you to learn it. You will be amused to know that I havetried to grow whiskers, which has provided a topic of much mirth around camp. We had a chance to take an image last week & I have enclosed the results for you here, at the risk of a certain impression of vanity
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    As I have already said, I am not sure when I shall write again, though it is my plan to describe my battle experience to you in detail. Thank you for the dried berries, which arrived in time for my birthday. There is a general here called Hays but he spells it without the “e.” No relation, I reckon
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    As always your