Page:The Story of Aunt Becky's Army-Life .djvu/210



1em , I went down to the darky camp, and washed, just for the excitement of the thing, and to earn my good sleep. We have lost one man with fever—a mere boy, from a Pennsylvania regiment. He was too weak to talk, although he manifested a desire to say something to me which I could not understand.

He died very calmly, and we closed his eyes, with a sigh for those who would never look upon his face again. Oh for the death-bed where the last whisper is breathed into the ear of those who love us best! Oh for the quiet burial in the country churchyard, where the grass grows rank over the graves, and the lark builds her nest low among its tufted richness!

I have been on my feet all day, and am very weary to-night. I went over to the Second Corps, and then went down to the New York Relief, and procured six shirts, and the same number of pairs of drawers. So much has been crowded into this long, long day, and I am thankful for night and shadows. It seems like the summer evenings when I was young, and hopes were newly budded in my girlish bosom.