CHAPTER XVI. HINTS FOR CAMPAIGNING--IN A REBEL’S HOUSE--SNUFF-DIPPING.
|After they had walked four or five miles the youths began to feelhungry, and at Jack’s suggestion they stopped for breakfast at the sideof a little brook, which could supply them with that very importantingredient of a traveler’s meal, water. Not only did they drink from thebrook while devouring the hard biscuit and boiled beef they had broughtalong, but they bathed their feet in the stream, and carefully driedthem before putting on their shoes and stockings.
Very early in their campaigning they had learned the lesson of caringfor their feet. An old soldier said to them before they left Booneville:
“Make it a rule to bathe your feet whenever you have a chance, andalways dry them carefully before covering them again. Of course therewill be times when you must put on wet shoes and stockings and travel inthem for miles and miles, but never do it if you can help it. Wet feetcause blisters, rheumatism and all sorts of trouble, and many a man hasbroken down on a march because his feet were not properly cared for.”
“I should think the officers would look out for their men’s feet,” saidJack, when the soldier made the above suggestion.
“So anybody would think, very naturally,” was the reply; “but the factis, a good many of the officers do nothing of the kind. They are eitherabove that sort of thing or else they give general directions to themen, and then let them take care of themselves. A good infantry captainwill see to it that his men take care of their feet, just as a goodcavalry captain looks out for the shoeing of his horses and tries everyway he can to keep them from getting sore backs.
“And remember another thing,” he continued; “at night always takeoff your boots or shoes, and sleep with your feet bare or only withstockings on. Your rest with your feet free does twice as much good asthe same amount of rest with them confined in the leather you have wornall day. This is the rule with all old travelers. Of course there aretimes, when you are close to the enemy and a surprise may be looked forat any moment, when you must make an exception to the rule; but don’tmake the exception if it can be avoided.”
Jack was skeptical on this point, and determined to try for himself.So he slept one night with his boots on and the next with them off, andfound it just as the old soldier had told him. He candidly admittedhis mistake, and said that for the future he should n’t be so confidentabout his own opinions when they did n’t coincide with those of personsolder and more experienced than himself.
“One thing more bear in mind,” said their informant, “and that is aboutsleeping around a campfire.”
“What is that?”
“When you sleep near a fire always lie with your feet to it if you can.If you turn your head toward it you will quite likely have a headache inthe morning, and, anyway, you won’t sleep well. The brain should bekept cool while we are sleeping, and the feet warm. We cover our feetat night when we sleep in beds, but leave our heads exposed. Follow thesame plan in camp, and if you have warmth anywhere have it at the feet.
“When you sleep in a tent have your head where you can get the greatestamount of pure air to breathe. The Indians understand this, and whenthey sleep in their circular wigwams or lodges they have their feettoward the center and their heads nearest the circumference.”
These simple directions were of great use to Jack and Harry in theirsubsequent campaigning, and should be remembered by any of the youngreaders of this story. Other hints came to them from time to time, whichwe may introduce hereafter.
After breakfast they continued their journey. Half a mile or so fartheron they came to a house, where they asked the way to the next village,to make sure that they were on the right road. A woman and twotow-headed children were the sole possessors of the establishment, andthey eyed the young travelers with an air of suspicion. After answeringthe question, the woman asked where they were from.
“We’ve come from the other side of the Missouri,” answered Jack, “andare going down to see some of our friends.”
“I know where you’re going,” said the woman. “You don’t look old enoughfor soldiers, but you’re going South. Did you see any Yanks at Rolla?”
“Yes, lots of’em,” said Harry; “and’t wasn’t easy to get away fromthere.”
“Yes, yes, that’s what they say,” responded the woman, fully convincedby Harry’s answer that her suspicions were correct. And then she added,“Wonder ‘f I could get to Rolla and get some snuff?”
The boys were non-committal on this point, but thought she would haveno trouble if she went straight to the provost-marsha’s office when sheentered the village, and told what she wanted.
“And I want a little tea and coffee, too,” she added; “and then somesalt and other things for the house.” Harry told her she might get apound or so of each, but he was sure the officers would n’t let anybodycome through the lines with more than that. “That’s what they told usat Rolla,” he added, “and so we did n’t try to bring anything along,”--astatement which was literally true.
She promised to follow their directions, and then grew confidential. Shetold them her husband was down on the St. Francis river, where GeneralHardee was getting up an army to drive the Yanks out of Rolla and allthat part of the state. “He’s in Colonel Jones’s regiment,” said she;“and if you see him, tell him we’re getting on all right and hope they‘ll be along soon, as we’re getting mighty short of things to eat.”
Jack gravely made a mental note of the name of the man by pronouncingit several times, and promised to hunt him up as soon as they got whereColonel Jones’s regiment was. The woman then invited the youths to stayand have something to eat. As they had just breakfasted they declinedthe invitation, but accepted the offer of some milk. One of the childrenbrought it from the springhouse, and the young adventurers drank freelyand with a good relish. They had a conscientious twinge in so doing,but swallowed the twinge along with the milk, and after thanking thekind-hearted woman for her hospitality continued on their way.
“Funny she should want snuff before anything else,” said Jack, as soonas they were out of earshot of the house.
“Nothing so very funny about that,” replied Harry. “Don’t you know howthey use it?”
“I’ve heard something about it, but don’t know exactly.”
“I picked it up the other day,” Harry explained, “and this is how itis: They call it ‘snuff-dipping’ in the South,” he continued, “and itis very much the fashion among the middle and lower-class whites down inthe cotton states, but not much in Missouri as yet. They take a littlestick and chew the end until it’s soft like a brush; then they dipthis moist brush in snuff and rub it on the gums and around the mouthgenerally, and in this way they use up a good deal of snuff in thecourse of a year. It is said to produce a pleasant sort of mildintoxication, and after using it a little while a woman gets as muchaddicted to snuff-dipping as a man does to chewing tobacco or smoking.It’s the same sort of vice, and I can’t say I blame the women much, whenall the men around them are chewing or smoking tobacco.”
“Do they all use it?” queried Jack; “I mean do the young women dip snuffthe same as the older ones?”
“I did n’t think to ask that question,” Harry responded; “but the manwho told me said the women who dipped snuff mostly did it ‘on the sly,’at any rate in the beginning of it. Probably they get bolder about it intime, just as boys do when they learn to smoke. After a while they getaccustomed to snuff, and don’t get the excitement out of it that theywant, and then they take to smoking pipes just like men.”
Later observation convinced Jack that Harry had been correctly informed.The further they went in the South the more they found the use oftobacco prevailing among the women, and in several instances they foundlittle concealment practiced in the custom of snuff-dipping. At onehouse where they called a middle-aged woman held her snuff-stick in hermouth all the time she was talking with them, just as a man might hold acigar there, and an older woman sat by the fireplace smoking a corn-
cobpipe with the utmost indifference to the presence of the young visitors.
They did not stop again until early in the afternoon, when they calledat a house and asked if they could have dinner. There was a man aboutthe premises, in addition to the woman and the usual complement oftow-headed children. He promptly said they hadn’t much to offer, butthe boys should be welcome. He had nothing but hog and hominy, and hereckoned that was all they would find anywhere on the road.
Jack took the lead as spokesman, and assured him that hog and hominy wasgood enough for anybody, and was all they wanted; and he further saidthat cold hog was just as good for them as hot, and if there was anycold in the house it would make them a first-rate dinner.
This avowal of democratic principles smoothed the way at once, and in alittle while dinner was ready. Fried bacon and cornbread constituted therepast, which was washed down with milk, the boys intimating that theypreferred it to any other beverage, partly for the reason that it wasnutritious and partly because of the general scarcity of tea and coffeethrough all the war-stricken region. The host was not inclined to betalkative on the topics that were just then the most absorbing, probablyfor the reason that he did n’t know exactly who and what his visitorsmight be, and preferred to remain neutral. Many men in Missouri tried toadopt this course, but sooner or later most of them were drawn into thewar on one side or the other; neutrality was next to impossible where aman was able to bear arms or contribute in any way to the contest whichinvolved the existence or the destruction of the nation.
When the meal was over Jack asked how much they owed for it. The mansaid he did n’t want anything, but if they had fifty cents to spare forthe children it might come handy. Accordingly Jack gave twenty-fivecents to one of the children, Harry gave the same amount to another, andeverything was satisfactory.
Just as they arose from the table there was the sound of hoofs outside,which drew everybody to the door. The hearts of the youths beat a littlefaster than usual when they saw eight or ten horsemen riding up to thehouse and ranging themselves in front of it.