Navy Yard De^c 9^th 62

 

Dear Mother

                        I am now siting by my self in the room where we eat, beside a hot egg stove, and writeing on the very table that I eat my dinner off of. Since I speak of dinner I guess you would like to know what I had for it in the first place we had soop made out of I do not know what, but there was a little of every thing in it, we had allso cold meet and dry bread, salt, pepper, and vineger. That was our dinner to day. we get that four or five times a week and for the remainder of the week we get been soop and pork. For supper we get dry bread and coffee, for breakfast bread coffee and potatoes, peper and salt. After breakfast we have to take our knives out with us and peal the potatoes for the next morning but that does not / take long. I have had a first rate time since I came here, for I have nothing to do atall you may say only about an hour or so in the morning. I do not know mutch about the duties only what I see here, and that is not mutch, they have to stand guard sometimes every other day, some times every third day, they stand from nine Oclock one morning untill nine the next morning two hours on and four off. At six oclock they drum us up and at half past six they call us out in line to answer our names At half past seven we have breakfast at one dinner and at half past five about five super. At seven oclock we are called out again to answer our names and then in a few minutes the drum taps three times for the light to go out, and then you can go to bed as soon as you like or you can sit up all night if you want, but they are allways prety ready to go to bed, for / standing on guard the night before they are prety sleepy. I guess you would like to know how we sleep here. in the firs place any time after super you can go up in guard room and bring down any tick you want and when you want to go to bed you can streach your tick out on any part of the room you want and cover your self up in your blanket. Last night I slept not three feet from the fire in the grate you may know then I was not very cold. when you are on gard duty a day they give you a day of liberty to go around town and after you come from a cruise they give you as mutch money as you want and a week or two to go where ever you please and when the time is up you can report where ever you please either here or New York or Boston or where ever you take a fancie you will be treated the best /

 

I do not know which I will like best the ship or barrick some of the old fellows here and there is a good many of them say they like the ship and other say the do not, but I want to get on the ship to try it a while at any rate. We have a great many fellows that has been in the service for two and three termes and still more of them comeing in. We have one fellow here that was in the reble service and was taken prisoner at Corinth and releised. I am better used than I thought I would be here so far it is near super time now and I must stop you must not think it was for any thing I don or was not treated well enough because I left but because I want to go and if you are satisfied I am so do not think any thing of it so good buy one and all.

                                                                                               

Charley.

 

I have now eaten my super and I forgot to tell you I will not be here long so you need not write untill I go to washington I was did not write all I wanted to for I had not [faded] to write. Good night

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