John Ellis - "Personal Experience of a Physician"

Unknown - "The Mabinogion"

Charles Dickens - "The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargin"

Daniel Defoe - "Moll Flanders"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: With Lee in Virginia; A Story Of The American Civil War

G >> G.A. Henty >> With Lee in Virginia; A Story Of The American Civil War




The room, indeed, was strewed with litter of all sorts, rubbish not
worth taking away, old newspapers, and odds and ends of every
description. Lucy looked about among these for some time, and
with an exclamation of satisfaction at last picked up two crumpled
envelopes. They were both addressed "William Jenkins,
Woodford, near Mount Pleasant."

"That is just what I wanted," she said.

"What am you going to do, Miss Lucy?"

"I am going to Mount Pleasant," she said.

"Lor' a marcy, dearie, you are not going to walk that distance! You
must have walked twelves miles already."

"I should if it were twice as far, Chloe. There are some things we
must get. Don't look alarmed, I shall take Dan with me. Now, let
me see. In the first place there are lemons for making drink and
linseed for poultices, some meat for making broth, and some flour,
and other things for ourselves; we may have to stay here for some
time. Tell me just what you want and I will get it."

Clilce made out a list of necessaries.

"I sha'n't be gone long," the girl said. "If he asks after me or Dan,
make out we are looking about the place to see what is useful.
Don't let him know I have gone to Mount Pleasant, it might worry
him."

Dan at once agreed to accompany the girl to Mount Pleasant when
he heard that she was going to get things for his master.

Looking about he found an old basket among the litter, and they
started without delay by the one road from the clearing, which led,
they had no doubt, to the town. It was about two miles distant, and
was really but a large village. A few Federal soldiers from the
camp hard by were lounging about the streets but these paid no
attention to them. Lucy soon made her purchases, and then went
to the house that had been pointed out to her as being inhabited by
the doctor who attended to the needs of the people of Mount
Pleasant and the surrounding district. Fortunately he was at home.
Lucy looked at him closely as he entered the room and took his
seat. He was a middle-aged man with a shrewd face, and she at
once felt that she might have confidence in it.

"Doctor," she said, "I want you to come out to see some one who is
very ill."

"What is the matter with him? Or is it him or her?"

"It is-it's-" and Lucy hesitated, "a hurt he has got."

"A wound, I suppose?" the doctor said quietly. "You may as well
tell me at once, as for me to find out when I get there, then I can
take whatever is required with me."

"Yes, sir. It is a wound," Lucy said. "His shoulder is broken, I
believe, by a pistol bullet."

"Urnph!" the doctor said. "It might have been worse. Do not
hesitate to tell me all about it, young lady. I have had a vast
number of cases on hand since these troubles began. By the way, I
do not know your face, and I thought I knew every one within
fifteen miles around."

"I come from the other side of the Duck river. But at present he is
lying at a place called Woodford, but two miles from here."

"Oh, yes! I know it. But I thought it was empty. Let me see, a man
named Jenkins lived there. He was killed at the beginning of the
troubles in a fight near Murfreesboro. His widow moved in here;
and she has married again and gone five miles on the other side. I
know she was trying to sell the old place."

"We have not purchased it, sir; we have just squatted there. My
friend was taken so had that we could go no further. We were
trying, doctor, to make our way down south."

"Your friend, whoever he is, did a very foolish thing to bring a
young lady like yourself on such a long journey. You are not a pair
of runaway lovers, are you?"

"No, indeed," Lucy said, flushing scarlet; "we have no idea of such
a thing. I was living alone, and the house was attacked by
bushwhackers, the band of a villain named Mullens."

"Oh! I saw all about that in the Nashville paper this morning.
They were attacked by a band of Confederate plunderers, it said."

"They were attacked by one man," the girl replied. "They were on
the point of murdering me when he arrived. He shot Mullens and
four of his band and the rest made off, but he got this wound. And
as 1 knew the villains would return again and burn the house and
kill me, I and my old nurse determined to go southward to join my
friends in Georgia."

"Well, you can tell me more about it as we go," the doctor said. "I
will order my buggy round to the door, and drive you back. I will
take my instruments and things with me. It is no business of mine
whether a sick man is a Confederate or a Federal; all my business
is to heal them."

"Thank you very much, doctor. While the horse is being put in I
will go down and tell the negro boy with me to go straight on with
a basket of things I have been buying."

"Where is he now?" the doctor asked.

"I think he is sitting down outside the door, sir.

"Then you needn't go down," the doctor said. "He can jump up
behind and go with us. He will get there all the quicker."

In five minutes they were driving down the village, with Dan in the
back seat. On the way the doctor obtained from Lucy a more
detailed account of their adventures.

"So he is one of those Confederate officers who broke prison at
Elmira," he said. "I saw yesterday that one of his companions was
captured."

"Was he, sir? How was that?"

"It seems that he had made his way down to Washington, and was
staying at one of the hotels there as a Mr. James of Baltimore. As
he was going through the street he was suddenly attacked by a
negro, who assaulted him with such fury that he would have killed
him had he not been dragged off by passers-by. The black would
hare been very roughly treated, but he denounced the man he had
attacked as one of the Confederate officers who had escaped from
the prison. It seems that the negro had been a slave of his who had
been barbarously treated, and finally succeeded in making his
escape and reaching England, after which he went to Canada; and
now that it is safe for an escaped slave to live in the Northern
States without fear of arrest or ill-treatment he had come down to
Washington with the intention of engaging as a teamster with one
of the Northern armies, in the hope when he made his way to
Richmond of being able to gain some news of his wife, whom his
master had sold before he ran away from him."

"It served the man right!" Lucy said indignantly. "It's a good thing
that the slaves should turn the tables sometimes upon masters who
ill-treat them."

"You don't think my patient would ill-treat his slaves?" the doctor
asked with a little smile.

"I am sure he wouldn't," the girl said indignantly. "Why, the boy
behind you is one of his slaves, and I am sure be would give his
life for his master."

Dan had overheard the doctor's story, and now exclaimed:

"No, sah. Massa Vincent do kindest of masters. If all like him, do
slaves eberywbere contented and happy.

What was de name of dat man, sah, you was speaking of?"

"His name was Jackson," the doctor answered.

"I tought so," Dan exclaimed in excitement. "Massa never
mentioned de names of de two officers who got out wid him, and it
war too dark for me to see their faces, but dat story made me tink
it must be him. Berry bad man that; he libs close to us, and Massa
Vincent one day pretty nigh kill him because he beat dat bery man
who has catched him now on de street of Washington. When dat
man sell him wife Massa Vincent buy her so as to prevent her
falling into bad hands. She safe now wid his mother at de
Orangery-dat's the name of her plantation."

"My patient must be quite an interesting fellow, young lady," the
doctor said, with a rather slight twinkle of his eye. "A very
knight-errant. But there is the house now; we shall soon see all
about him."

Taking with him the case of instruments and medicines he had
brought, the doctor entered Vincent's room. Lucy entered first;
and although surprised to see a stranger with her, Vincent saw by
her face that there was no cause for alarm.

"I have brought you a doctor," she said. "You could not go on as
you were, you know. So Dan and I have been to fetch one."

The doctor now advanced and took Vincent's hand.

"Fererish," he said, looking at his cheeks, which were now flushed.
"You have been doing too much, I fancy. Now let us look at this
wound of yours. Has your servant got any warm water?" he asked
Lucy.

Lucy left the room, and returned in a minute with a kettleful of
warm water and a basin, which was among the purchases she had
made at Mount Pleasant.

"That is right," the doctor said, taking it from her. "Now we will
cut open the shirt sleeve. I think, young lady, you had better leave
us, unless you are accustomed to the sight of wounds."

"I am not accustomed to them, sir; but as thousands of women
have been nursing the wounded in the hospitals, I suppose I can do
so now."

Taking a knife from the case, the doctor cut open the shirt from the
neck to the elbow. The shoulder was terribly swollen and
inflamed, and a little exclamation of pain broke from Lucy.

"That is the effect of walking and inattention," the doctor said. "If
I could have taken him in hand within an hour of his being hit the
matter would have been simple enough; but I cannot search for the
ball, or in fact do anything, till we have reduced the swelling. You
must put warm poultices on every half-hour, and by to-morrow I
hope the inflammation will have subsided, and I can then see
about the ball. It evidently is somewhere there still, for there is no
sign of its having made its exit anywhere. In the meantime you
must give him two tablespoonfuls of this cooling draught every
two hours, and to-night give him this sleeping draught. I will be
over to-morrow morning to see him. Do not be uneasy about him;
the wound itself is not serious, and when we have got rid of the
fever and inflammation I have no doubt we shall pull him round
before long."

"I know the wound is nothing," Vincent said; "I have told Miss
Kingston so all along. It is nothing at all to one I got at the first
battle of Bull Run, where I had three ribs badly broken by a shell.
I was laid up a long time over that business. Now I hope in a week
I shall he fit to travel."

The doctor shook his head. "Not as soon as that. Still we will hope
it may not be long. Now all you have to do is to lie quiet and not
worry, and to get to sleep as quick as you can. You must not let
your patient talk, Miss Kingston. It will be satisfactory to you, no
doubt," he went on turning to Vincent, "to know that there is no
fear whatever of your being disturbed here. The road leads
nowhere, and is entirely out of the way of traffic. I should say you
might be here six months without even a chance of a visitor.
Every one knows the house is shut up, and as you have no neighbor
within half a mile no one is likely to call in. Even if any one did
by accident come here you would be in no danger; we are all one
way of thinking about here."

"Shall we make some broth for him?" Lucy asked after they had
left the room.

"No; he had best take nothing whatever during the next
twenty-four hours except his medicine and cooling drinks. The
great thing is to get down the fever. We can soon build him up
afterward."

By nightfall the exertions of Dan, Lucy, and Chloe had made the
house tidy. Beds of rushes and grass had been made in the room
upstairs for the women, and Dan had no occasion for one for
himself, as he was going to stop up with his master. He, however,
brought a bundle of rushes into the kitchen, and when it became
dark threw himself down upon them for a few hours' sleep, Lucy
and her old nurse taking their place in Vincent's room, aLd
promising to rouse Dan at twelve o'clock.

During the easy part of the night Vincent was restless and uneasy,
but toward morning he became more quiet and dozed off, and had
hut just awoke when the doctor drove up at ten o'clock. He found
the inflammation and swelling so much abated that he was able at
once to proceed to search for the ball. Chloe was his assistant.
Lucy felt that her nerves would not be equal to it, and Dan's hand
shook so that be could not hold the basin. In a quarter of an hour,
which seemed to Lucy to be an age, the doctor came out of the
room.

"There is the bullet, Miss Kingston."

"And is he much hurt, sir?"

"It is a nasty wound," the doctor replied. "The collarbone is badly
broken, and I fancy the head of the bone of the upper arm, to put it
in language you will understand, is fractured; but of that I cannot
be quite sure. I will examine it again tomorrow, and will then
bandage it in its proper position. At present I have only put a
bandage round the arm and body to prevent movement. I should
bathe it occasionally with warm water, and you can give him a
little weak broth to-day. I think, on the whole, he is doing very
well. The feeling that you are all for the present safe from
detection has had as much to do with the abatement of the fever as
my medicine."

The next morning the report was still satisfactory. The fever had
almost disappeared, and Vincent was in good spirits. The doctor
applied the splints to keep the shoulder up in its proper position,
and then tightly bandaged it.

"It depends upon yourself now," he said, "whether your shoulders
are both of the same width as before or not. If you will lie quiet,
and give the broken bones time to reunite, I think I can promise
you that you will be as straight as before; but if not-putting aside
the chances of inflammation-that shoulder will be lower than the
other, and you will never get your full strength in it again. Quiet
and patience are the only medicines you require, and as there can
be no particular hurry for you to get south, and as your company
here is pleasant and you have two good nurses, there is no excuse
for your not being quiet and contented."

"Very well, doctor. I promise that unless there is a risk of our
being discovered I will be as patient as you can wish. As you say, I
have everything to make me contented and comfortable."

The doctor had a chat with Lucy, and agreed with her that perhaps
it would be better to inform the mistress of the house that there
were strangers there. Some of the people living along the road
might notice him going or coming, or see Dan on his way to
market, and might come and ascertain that the house was
inhabited, and communicate the fact to their old neighbor.

"I will see her myself, Miss Kingston, and tell her that I have sent a
patient of mine to take up his quarters here. I will say he is ready
to pay some small sum weekly as long as he occupies the house. I
have no doubt she would be willing enough to let you have it
without that; for although I shall say nothing actually I shall let her
guess from my manner that it is a wounded Confederate, and that
will be enough for her. Still, I have no doubt that the idea of
getting a few dollars for the rent of an empty house will add to her
patriotism. People of her class are generally pretty close-fisted,
and she will look upon this as a little pocket-money. Good-by! I
shall not call to-morrow, but will be round next day again."

On his next visit the doctor told Lucy that he had arranged the
matter with her landlady, and that she was to pay a dollar a week
as rent. "I should not tell your patient about this," he said. "It will
look to him as if I considered his stay was likely to be a long one,
and it might fidget him."

"How long will it be, doctor, do you think?"

"That I cannot say. If all goes well, he ought in a month to be
fairly cured; but before starting upon a journey which will tax his
strength, I should say at least six weeks."

Ten days later Vincent was up, and able to get about. A pile of
grass had been heaped up by the door, so that he could sit down in
the sun and enjoy the air. Lucy was in high spirits, and flitted in
and out of the house, sometimes helping Chloe, at others talking to
Vincent.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked as she came out suddenly
on one of these occasions.

"I was just thinking," he said, "that no stranger who dropped in
upon us would dream that we were not at home here. There is Dan
tidying up the garden; Chloe is quite at her ease in the kitchen, and
you and I might pass very well for brother and sister."

"I don't see any likeness between us-not a bit."

"No, there is no personal likeness; but I meant in age and that sort
of thing. I think, altogether, we have a very homelike look."

"The illusion would be very quickly dispelled if your stranger put
his head inside the door. Did any one ever see such a bare place?"

"Anyhow, it's very comfortable," Vincent said, "though I grant that
it would be improved by a little furniture."

"By a great deal of furniture, you mean. Why, there isn t a chair in
the house, nor a carpet, nor a curtain, nor a cupboard, nor a bed; in
fact all there is is the rough dresser in the kitchen and that plank
table, and your bedstead. I really think that's all. Chloe has the
kettle and two cooking-pots, and there is the dish and six plates we
bought."

"You bought, you mean," Vincent interrupted.

"We bought, sir; this is a joint expedition. Then, there is the basin
and a pail. I think that is the total of our belongings."

"Well, you see, it shows how little one can be quite comfortable
upon," Vincent said. "I wonder how long it will be before the
doctor gives me leave to move. It is all very well for me who am
accustomed to campaigning, but it is awfully rough for you."

"Don't you put your impatience down to my account, at any rate
until you begin to hear me grumble. It is just your own
restlessness, when you are pretending you are comfertable."

"I can assure you that I am not restless, and that I am in no hurry at
all to be off on my own account. I am perfectly contented with
everything. I never thought I was lazy before, but I feel as if I
could do with a great deal of this sort of thing. You will see that
you will become impatient for a move before I do."

"We shall see, sir. Anyhow, I am glad you have said that, because
now whatever you may feel you will keep your impatience to
yourself."

Another four weeks passed by smoothly and pleasantly. Dan went
into the village once a week to do the shopping, and the doctor had
reduced his visits to the same number. He would have come
oftener, for his visits to the lonely cottage amused him; but he
feared that his frequent passage in his buggy might attract notice.
So far no one else had broken the solitude of their lives. If the
doctor's calls had been noticed, the neighbors had not taken the
trouble to see who had settled down in Jenkins' old place. His
visits were very welcome, for he brought newspapers and books,
the former being also purchased by Dan whenever he went into the
village, and thus they learned the course of events outside.

Since Antietam nothing had been done in Northern Virginia; but
Burnside, who had succeeded McClellan, was preparing another
great army, which was to march to Richmond and crush out the
rebellion. Lee was standing on the defensive. Along the whole
line of the frontier, from New Orleans to Tennessee, desultory
fighting was going on, and in these conflicts the Confederates had
generally the worse of things, having there no generals such as
Lee, Jackson, and Longatreet, who had made the army of Virginia
almost invincible.

At the last of these visits the doctor told Vincent that he
considered he was nearly sufficiently restored in health to be able
to start on their journey.

"It is a much better job than I had expected it would turn out. I
was almost afraid that your shoulder would never be quite square
again. However, as you can see for yourself it has come out quite
right; and although I should not advise you to put any great strain
on your left arm, I believe that in a very short time it will be as
strong as the other."

"And now, doctor, what am I in debt to you? Your kindness cannot
be repaid, but your medical bill I will discharge as soon as I get
home. We have not more than twenty dollars left between us,
which is little enough for the journey there is before us. You can
rely that the instant I get to Richmond I will send you the money.
There is no great difficulty in smuggling letters across the
frontier."

"I am very pleased to have been able to be of service to you," the
doctor said. "I should not think of accepting payment for aid
rendered to an officer of our army; but it will give me real pleasure
to receive a letter saying you have reached home in safety. It is a
duty to do all we can for the brave men fighting for our cause. As
I have told you, I am not a very hot partisan, for I see faults on
both sides. Still, I believe in the principle of our forefathers, that
each State has its own government and is master of its own army,
joining with the others for such purposes as it may think fit. If I
had been a fighting man I should certainly have joined the army of
my State; but as it is, I hope I can do more good by staying and
giving such aid and comfort as I can to my countrymen. You will,
I am sure, excuse my saying that I think you must let me aid you a
little further. I understand you to say that Miss Kingston will go to
friends in Georgia, and I suppose you will see her safely there.
Then you have a considerable journey to make to Richmond, and
the sum that you possess is utterly inadequate for all this. It will
give me real pleasure if you will accept the loan of one hundred
dollars, which you can repay when you write to me from
Richmond. You will need money for the sake of your companions
rather than your own. When you have once crossed the line you
will then be able to appear in your proper character."

"Thank you greatly, doctor. I will accept your offer as frankly as it
is made. I had intended telegraphing for money as soon as I was
among our own people, but there would be delay in receiving it,
and it will be much more pleasant to push on at once."

"By the way, you cannot cross at Florence, for I hear that Hood has
fallen back across the river, the forces advancing against him from
this side being too strong to be resisted. But I think that this is no
disadvantage to you, for it would have been far more difficult to
pass the Federals and get to Florence than to make for some point
on the river as far as possible from the contending armies."

"We talked that over the last time you were here, doctor, and you
know we agreed it was better to run the risk of falling into the
hands of the Yankee troops than into those of one of those partisan
bands whose exploits are always performed at a distance from the
army. However, if Hood has retreated across the Tennessee there
is an end of that plan, and we must take some other route. Which
do you advise?"

"The Yankees will be strong all round the great bend of the river to
the west of Florence and along the line to the east, which would, of
course, be your direct way. The passage, however, is your real
difficulty, and I should say that instead of going in that direction
you had better bear nearly due south. There is a road from Mount
Pleasant that strikes into the main road from Columbia up to
Camden. You can cross the river at that point without any
question or suspicion, as you would be merely traveling to the west
of the State. Once across you could work directly south, crossing
into the State of Mississippi, and from there take train through
Alabama to Georgia.

"It seems a roundabout way, but I think you would find it far the
safest, for there are no armies operating upon that line. The
population, at any rate as you get south, are for us, and there are,
so far as I have heard, very few of these bushwhacking bands
about either on one side or the other. The difficult part of the
journey is that up to Camden, but as you will be going away from
the seat of war instead of toward it there will be little risk of being
questioned."

"I had thought of buying a horse and cart," Vincent said. "Jogging
along a road like that we should attract no attention. I gave up the
idea because our funds were not sufficient, but, thanks to your
kindness, we might manage now to pick up something of the sort."

The doctor was silent for a minute.

"If you will send Dan over to me to-morrow afternoon I will see
what can be done," he said. "It would certainly be the safest plan
by far; but I must think it over. You will not leave before that, will
you?"

"Certainly not, doctor. In any case we should have stayed another
day to get a few more things for our journey."

The next afternoon Dan went over to Mount Pleasant. He was
away two hours longer than they had expected, and they began to
feel quite uneasy about him, when the sound of wheels was heard,
and Dan appeared coming along the road driving a cart. Vincent
gave a shout of satisfaction, and Lucy and the negress ran out from
the house in delight.

"Here am de cart. Me had to go to five miles from de town to get
him. Dat what took me so long. Here am a letter, sah, from the
doctor First-rate man dat Good man all ober."