SOLDIER 61 



not a scratch have I received. Washington Allen [a class- 

 mate] was slightly wounded on Sunday by a piece of a 

 shell, but nothing dangerous. 



There has been a call for a thousand volunteers to storm 

 the works, and officers to lead them. I have volunteered 

 among the number. Don't think me rash. I thought the 

 matter over a whole day before signing my name, and it 

 seemed too clearly my duty, to refuse. If I fall, " Dulce est 

 pro patria mori." Your "Atlantic'' I received safely. Many 

 thanks. It was indeed a treat to get something to read. 

 There were some capital things in Gail Hamilton's " Spasms 

 of Sense," especially what she says of married women being 

 heard from only six times in ten years and each time a 

 baby. " Reminiscences of Buckle " were good; but is n't 

 the author a conceited, egotistical wretch ! But was n't 

 I living over college and Easthampton days when I read 

 Ik Marvel's pastorals ! I could most hear the bees humming 

 round the Castilian fount. Do you want to know how we 

 are living in the woods? Well, we have scarce nothing at 

 all for breakfast, and have the leavings for supper. We have 

 become ardent students of botany, but it is trees we study, 

 and in proportion as the shells fly thick so do we hug and 

 admire some thick and sturdy magnolia. Yes, "paradoxical 

 as it may appear," the larger the specimen, the greater our 

 admiration. I am now acting adjutant. I am happy to 

 report that I have been promoted to first lieutenant. 



In the bonds of Antiquity, 



H. H. Goodell, Daddy. 



The use of the word "paradoxical" here is an illustration 

 of the fact that nothing ludicrous ever escaped his notice. 



