They had sent all their
horses to the front long ago to be ridden by cavalrymen or to draw
cannon. Others, not so self-sacrificing, came in heavy carriages with
negroes driving.
Harry noticed that in many cases the clothing of the men showed a little
white at the seams, and there were cuffs the ends of which had been
trimmed with great care. But it was these whom he respected most.
He remembered that Virginia had not really wanted to go into the war,
and that she had delayed long, but, being in it, she was making supreme
sacrifices.
And there were many young girls who did not need elaborate dress.
In their simple white or pink, often but cotton, their cheeks showing the
delicate color that is possessed only by the girls in the border states
of the South, they seemed very beautiful to Harry and George, who had
known nothing but camps and armies so long.
It was the healthy admiration of the brave youth of one sex for the fair
youth of the other, but there was in it a deeper note, too. Age can
stand misfortune. Youth wonders why it is stricken, and Harry felt as
they passed by, bright of face and soft of voice, that the clouds were
gathering heavily over them.
But he was too young himself for the feeling to endure long.
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