58 CHICKAMAUGA. 



ful moderation. When a man goes in search 

 of a mood, he must go neither too fast nor 

 too far. As the Scripture saith, " Bodily- 

 exercise profiteth little." So much may 

 readily be confessed now ; for wisdom comes 

 with reflection, and it is no great matter to 

 bear a last year's toothache. 



From the railway station I followed, at a 

 venture, a road that soon brought me to a 

 comfortable, homelike house, with fine shade 

 trees and an orchard. This was the Dyer 

 estate, — so a tablet informed all comers. 

 Here, in September, 1863, lived John Dyer, 

 who suddenly found his few peaceful acres 

 surrounded and overrun by a hundred thou- 

 sand armed men, and himself drafted into 

 service — if he needed drafting — as guide 

 to the Confederate commander. Since then 

 strange things had happened to the little 

 farmhouse, which now was nothing less than 

 a sort of government headquarters, as I 

 rightly inferred from the general aspect of 

 things round about, and the American flag 

 flying above the roof. I passed the place 

 without entering, halting only to smile at the 

 antics of a white - breasted nuthatch, — my 

 first Tennessee specimen, — which was hop- 



