be a grief and disappointment to the pious old ladies of the South.  Jackson, with a quiet smile, replied that perhaps he had had more to do with race-horses than his friends suspected.  It was in the midst of such a scene as this that dinner was announced, and the two generals passed to the mess-table.  It so happened that Jackson had just received, as a present from a patriotic lady, some butter, upon the adornment of which the fair donor had exhausted her housewife’s skill.  The servants, in honour of General Stuart’s presence, had chosen this to grace the centre of the board.  As his eye fell upon it, he paused, and with mock gravity pointed to it, saying, “There, gentlemen!  If that is not the crowning evidence of our host’s sporting tastes.  He even has his favourite game-cock stamped on his butter!” The dinner, of course, began with great laughter, in which Jackson joined, with as much enjoyment as any.”

Visitors, too, from Europe, attracted by the fame of the army and its leaders, had made their way into the Confederate lines, and were received with all the hospitality that the camps afforded.  An English officer has recorded his experiences at Moss Neck:—­

“I brought from Nassau a box of goods (a present from England) for General Stonewall Jackson, and he asked me when I was at Richmond to come to his camp and see him.  He left the city one morning about seven o’clock, and about ten landed at a station distant some eight or nine miles from Jackson’s (or, as his men called him, Old Jack’s) camp.  A heavy fall of snow had covered the country for some time before to the depth of a foot, and formed a crust over the Virginian mud, which is quite as villainous as that of Balaclava.  The day before had been mild and wet, and my journey was made in a drenching shower, which soon cleared away the white mantle of snow.  You cannot imagine the slough of despond I had to pass through.  Wet to the skin, I stumbled through mud, I waded through creeks, I passed through pine-woods, and at last got into camp about two o’clock.  I then made my way to a small house occupied by the general as his headquarters.  I wrote down my name, and gave it to the orderly, and I was immediately told to walk in.

“The general rose and greeted me warmly.  I expected to see an old, untidy man, and was most agreeably surprised and pleased with his appearance.  He is tall, handsome, and powerfully built, but thin.  He has brown hair and a brown beard.  His mouth expresses great determination.  The lips are thin and compressed firmly together; his eyes are blue and dark, with keen and searching expression.  I was told that his age was thirty-eight, and he looks forty.  The general, who is indescribably simple and unaffected in all his ways, took off my wet overcoat with his own hands, made up the fire, brought wood for me to put my feet on to keep them warm while my boots were drying, and then began to ask me questions on various subjects.  At the dinner hour we went out and joined the members of his staff.  At this meal the general said grace in a fervent, quiet manner, which struck me very much.  After dinner I returned to his room, and he again talked for a long time.  The servant came in and took his mattress out of a cupboard and laid it on the floor.