Some  Iowa  soldiers,  on  seediest  horses  and  sorriest  mules,  were
riding  round  on  a  frolic.  Shiftless,  long-haired,  red-eyed  men
and  women,  lounging  about,  dressed  in  coarsest  homespun,
stared  at  us.  A  score  of  horses  and  mules  were  in  sight,  and
hero  were  collected  old  carts,  wagons,  and  carriages  which
Sherman's  boys  had  brought  from  the  interior.
<<  We  want  to  get  a  horse  and  wagon  to  tak6  us  to  Savan^
nab,"  said  one  of  the  party  to  a  little  old  man,  standing  at
the  door  of  a  house.
^^  Wal,  I  reckon  ye  can  take  any  one  of  these  yere,"  ho  said,
pointing  to  tlie  horses  and  mules.  Such  animals  I  Ringboned,
spavined,  knock-kneed,  wall-eyed,  sore-backed,  — -  more  hides
and  bones,  some  of  them  too  weak  to  stand,  others  unable
to  lie  down  on  account  of  stiff  joints.
^^  How  far  is  it  to  Savannah  ? "  we  asked  of  the  residents  of
the  village.
^^  Three  miles,"  said  one.
^^  Two  miles  and  a  half,  I  reckon,"  said  a  second.
"  Three  miles  and  three  quarters,"  was  the  estimate  of  •
third  person.
1864.]  GHBISTIAMITT  AND  BABBARISM.  405

A  woman,  dressed  in  a  plaid  petticoat,  a  snuff-colored  linsey*
iroolsey  tunic,  with  a  tawny  countenance,  black  hair,  and  flash-
ing black  eyes,  smoking  a  pipe,  said :  ^'  I  'U  tell  yer  how  fur  it
be.  Savannah  be  a  frying-pan  and  Tliunderbolt  be  the  handle,
and  I  lire  on  the  eend  on  it.    It  be  four  miles  long,  zactly."

Two  colored  soldiers  rode  up,  both  on  one  horse,  with  "  55 ''
on  their  caps.
