Mr. Miles says he is not going anywhere at all, not even
home. He is to sit here permanently — chairman of a committee to overhaul
camps, commissariats, etc., etc.
We exchanged our ideas of Mr. Mason, in which we agreed
perfectly. In the first place, he has a noble presence — really a handsome man;
is a manly old Virginian, straightforward, brave, truthful, clever, the very
beau-ideal of an independent, high-spirited F. F. V. If the English value a
genuine man they will have one here. In every particular he is the exact
opposite of Talleyrand. He has some peculiarities. He had never an ache or a
pain himself; his physique is perfect, and he loudly declares that he hates to
see persons ill; seems to him an unpardonable weakness:
It began to grow late. Many people had come to say good-by
to me. I had fever as usual to-day, but in the excitement of this crowd of
friends the invalid forgot fever. Mr. Chesnut held up his watch to me warningly
and intimated “it was late, indeed, for one who has to travel tomorrow.” So, as
the Yankees say after every defeat, I “retired in good order.”
Not quite, for I forgot handkerchief and fan. Gonzales
rushed after and met me at the foot of the stairs. In his foreign, pathetic,
polite, high-bred way, he bowed low and said he had made an excuse for the fan,
for he had a present to make me, and then, though “startled and amazed, I paused
and on the stranger gazed.” Alas! I .am, a woman approaching forty, and the
offering proved to be a bottle of cherry bounce. Nothing could have been more
opportune, and with a little ice, etc., will help, I am sure, to save my life
on that dreadful journey home.
No discouragement now felt at the North. They take our forts
and are satisfied for a while. Then the English are strictly neutral. Like the
woman who saw her husband fight the bear, “It was the first fight she ever saw
when she did not care who whipped.”
Mr. Davis was very kind about it all. He told Mr. Chesnut to
go home and have an eye to all the State defenses, etc., and that he would give
him any position he asked for if he still wished to continue in the army. Now,
this would be all that heart could wish, but Mr. Chesnut will never ask for
anything. What will he ask for? That's the rub. I am certain of very few things
in life now, but this is one I am certain of: Mr. Chesnut will never ask mortal
man for any promotion for himself or for one of his own family.
SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin
and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 125-6
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