At a Girl's Mercy, or, The Fortunes of War — page 194: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AT A GIRT’S MERCY, 183 hounds in their hurry to get away from the South and up to the North, came down the river al- most into our camp. We were on the look out for ‘most anything at that time, and, of course, we were careful how we took even such poor beggars in, but we were ordered out to capture them—for, of course, we could not let them pass—and it proved to be the strangest set of fugitives I ever came across. There were several women among them, dressed in the garments of men, and if ever you saw a more beaten out set of people I’d like to know it. It seems there was a girl among them who was the sweetheart of one of the men, and she was running away with him up to ‘Linkum,’ as they all were, So sure of his help, and she had brought with her some other women, and the general found out about them, and that night what did he do but give ’em as jolly a wedding as the proudest pair could desire, there on the very eve of that terrible battle. And this young fellow of whom I spoke, he just entered heart and soul into the thing, and got up a spread _ for the bridal party, and we gave them music, and had dancing and a regular wedding time, as though there were not the hardest fight of the war—almost —to come on the morrow. But that’s what we all liked in this fellow. He never seemed to worry about what,might come on the morrow, he just went in, and gave us all.as jolly a time and as free from care a night as any wedding couple could have asked for at the time. And at the end of it, what did he do but up and pass the hat around among us, and there were the officers and their ladies there, and a regular swell time it was, indeed, and he did it as though it were a matter of course that we should help in any way we could this newly married pair who were to start on their tour on the morrow—that’s how he ut it—and as though many of those there did not Sais they were likely to start on an altogether dif- ferent journey themselves on the morrow. But it was his way, and that’s why we all liked him. Even the general himself gave toward the donation, and if ever a couple had a turn out that couple of runaway slaves had, They were the only ones allowed to go, EComichbooks (E(0) =) -