Kiiiiiiuun.i.i ^4-j [March K, 



knowledge which I acquired from him at that time was far 

 more than I have got from any other one person. Strange 

 as it may seem in these days, Mr. Trego was elected to the 

 Legislature. They do not send such men to the Legislature 

 now ; and if they did, they would probably be entirely out of 

 place. Mr. Trego and, I were very frequently together, and I 

 will go on loving him as I love my own father. He was not 

 what could be called a jovial man. I recollect that I went 

 to the Capitol at Harrisburg one day to hear the debates, 

 and some western member was speaking without much re- 

 ference to the matter before the House. Mr. Trego saw him 

 and came over to me and said, " Do you know what that 

 man is talking about?" I said, "I have not the slightest 

 idea." "Well," he said, "neither have I; he is letting the 

 dark out on it." 



Then about Samuel Jackson and Joe Carson. "What a 

 remarkable man Jackson was. Paralyzed in both of his 

 legs, yet I never saw anything but a smile upon his face. 

 Carson was more grave, more dryly humorous. He once 

 gave me a conundrum which was unlike anything I had 

 ever heard before. I was then an assistant surgeon of the 

 army, and rather more puffed up than I am now. Carson 

 said to me, " I have often noticed that assistant surgeons of 

 the army are the knowingest military men in it; I have 

 been thinking about a conundrum. As a military man, can 

 you tell me the difference between a piece of roast beef and 

 a fortification?" On my replying in the negative, "Well," 

 said he, "I will tell you. A fortification is a work placed 

 usually for purposes of defence at the entrance of a harbor, 

 armed with heavy guns, sometimes built of stone, and some- 

 times built of earth; usually garrisoned by troops, and these 

 troops have various munitions of war, which are furnished 



