He had mounted the Palmetto
badge, and was all for war. My mind was no longer wavering, since my
grandfather's death. I was going up North, and, after a short visit to
my mother's sister--the wife of a very influential and patriotic man
in Boston--I would offer myself to my government. Now, you will know
my sorrow.
"I had expected to meet opposition, entreaties, reproaches, and
everything of that sort. So, preparing myself as well as I could, I
rode over to bid my idol good-by.
"I met Harry first, and telling him I was going North, to leave
fortune, friends and everything for my country.
"'What, Paul, desert your State in her hour of need? Never! You, a
Southern man? Your interests, your honor, are with us.'
"Much passed between us; when he, laughingly, said:
"'Go in and see sister; she will talk you out of this whim.'
"I cannot tell you how she first coaxed, then argued, then chided me
with not loving her, and then came--oh, such contempt! You have no
idea of the trial to me. She talked as only a Southern girl talks--so
proud, so unyielding. And when I said:
"'Let us part at least friends. Say God bless me, for the sake of the
past!'
"'No,' she said, 'no friend.
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