252 THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 



had got to be mighty handy about every thing, from yok 

 ing a steer, to mending a broken window or cleaning a 

 clock. And when he turned soldier, every little thing 

 that the boy used to do fell back into my hands, and 

 come to pile this on top of Court duties, and war and poli 

 tics, I have hardly had time to find out whether my soul 

 was my own or not. I rather guess tis, however, at least 

 enough of it to give you a bit of my mind on the topics at 

 the head of this letter. 



You see, when I last wrote, I left off in the White 

 House, a place that many a smart man, (and some that 

 aren t so smart) has been crazy to get into, and never 

 fetched. When I got home Jake Frink wanted to know 

 if I had done his errand. I told him I thought I had done 

 it up brown, and if he didn t believe it he might see just 

 what I said in the papers. You see, he hasn t been into 

 our house since. That is the way with some folks ; you 

 may do your best to serve em, and they will treat you 

 with the blackest ingratitude and neglect. Somehow it 

 hasn t been particularly lonesome at our house, though 

 Jake hasn t called as usual. I hadn t time in my last let 

 ter to tell you about the Sanitary Commission business. 

 You see, that was about half that took Mrs. Bunker to 

 Washington ; the other half was John, for I must own she 

 has considerable of a woman s weakness about her. She 

 is such a prudent sort of a woman in her own household 

 that she can t bear to see a bit of anything wasted. Our 

 dog was always lean when we kept one, for all the scraps 

 went into the swill-pail for the pigs. Finally, she thought 

 dogs didn t pay, and as I couldn t gainsay that opinion 

 our dog turned up missing one night. As I noticed an 

 uncommon bleating of sheep and skipping of lambs the 

 next time I went to salt the flock, I kind of thought they 

 had got the news and was holding a sort of Thanksgiving. 

 The cats caught mice and fared better. Now, you see, 

 Mrs. Bunker thought that her notions of economy and sav- 



