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Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander), 1862-1919

"A Story of Lee's Great Stand"

Clair, "there is one
man I'd like to find, when this war is over."
"'What is the appearance of this man, Arthur?" asked Colonel Talbot.
"I don't know exactly how he looks, sir, though I've heard of him often,
and I shall certainly know him when I meet him. You understand, sir,
that, while I've not seen him, he has very remarkable characteristics of
manner."
"And what may those be, Arthur? Are they so salient that you would
recognize them at once?"
"Certainly, sir. He has an uncommonly loud voice, which he uses nearly
all the time and without restraint. Words fairly pour from his tongue.
Facts he scorns. He soars aloft on the wings of fancy. Many people who
have listened to him have felt persuaded by his talk, but he is perhaps
not so popular now."
"An extraordinary person, Arthur. But why are you so anxious to find
him?"
"Because I wish, sir, to lay upon him the hands of violence. I would
thrash him and beat him until he yelled for mercy, and then I would
thrash him and beat him again. I should want the original pair of
seven-leagued boots, not that I might make such fast time, but that I
might kick him at a single kick from one county to another, and back,
and then over and over past counting.


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