Yankee Belles in Dixie Read Online Free Page A

wouldn’t it?”
    Jeff blinked, then nodded firmly. “That would be a miracle, and I guess I need a miracle these days.” He looked at her and said, “Sorry to be such a crybaby. All of us need a miracle—you and your pa and mine, your whole family, all of us.”
    â€œWe’ll see it,” Leah said confidently. “You wait and see!”

3
Rebel in Washington
    J eff looked out the sutler’s wagon where he sat beside Leah and said sharply, “And this is the capital of the United States? I sure don’t think much of it!”
    Mr. Carter, appearing rather pale and worn after the difficult ride all the way from Kentucky to Washington, turned to the boy. “Well, this is the worst part of it—the city, son.”
    Leah had been pointing out the sights to Jeff all the way on the journey. Now she said, “This is what they call the Swampoodle District. It’s not a good place, Jeff.”
    Jeff could not help thinking that Washington was the worst looking town he had ever seen. They were passing along the Old City Canal, which was nothing but a swamp filled with all kinds of garbage and smelling like a hog pen. Cattle and sheep and geese and dozens of dogs ran everywhere. The smell was overwhelming, and he grunted. “I guess I’ll take Richmond anytime.”
    Leah’s father grinned slightly. “Well, it don’t smell too good,” he admitted. “What’s happened is, the country had ideas a mite too big. They wanted to build the capital as a symbol, so they spent a bunch of money putting up public buildings.”
    â€œWhere are they?” Jeff demanded.
    â€œOh, they’re spread out all over the place. There’s the Capitol building and the Library of Congressand the Senate and the Hall of Representatives—but they’re so scattered out you can’t ever see them all together. Guess the government bit off more than it could chew.”
    â€œDon’t look healthy to me.” Jeff shook his head. “Looks like a swamp. I’ll bet there’s fever here.”
    â€œYou’re right about that,” Leah put in. “Even the president’s house is right in the middle of low ground, and everybody in town has malaria at one time or another—even the troops on the other side.”
    As the wagon rumbled over the cobblestone streets, Mr. Carter explained that they would have to pass through the center of town to get to the camp. Then he said, “Did you hear about the comet, Jeff?”
    â€œComet?” Jeff frowned. “No, what about it?”
    â€œOh, it come along last June, just before the big battle at Bull Run. It was something to see. The
New York Herald
wrote about it—said it was a celestial visitor that had sprung upon us.”
    â€œI remember that,” Leah said. “It was just as clear as anything up there. It had a long tail, kind of a bright streamer, Jeff. Why, it seemed to light up the sky!”
    â€œLots of people thought it was come to warn us about something terrible, maybe from the Lord,” her father said.
    â€œWell, maybe it was,” Jeff said. “The war came, didn’t it?”
    Mr. Carter nodded, then shouted at a flock of sheep that impeded the pathway of the horses. “Get out of there, you woollies!” he yelled, but the sheep, in the manner of such animals, took their time.
    When they finally cleared the small flock, he muttered something about people who let theirstock run loose. Then he said, “You know, I heard there was a slave woman, close friend of Mrs. Lincoln and the president. Way I heard it, she could conjure spells—course I don’t believe in
that!
They said when she saw the comet she said, ‘You see that great big fire sword blaze up in the sky? That mean there’s a great war coming, and the handle’s toward the North and the point’s toward the South, and the North’s gonna take that sword