[fragment]

 

[note: Part of a letter to "Edith" written perhaps 1861]

 

...with nought but the tread of the watchful sentinel to break the stillness I too was taking my watch and tried to hold converse with friends at home. I thought of the day I left my Dear Wife and child and of the feelings then in my breast that I could not express. I thought also of the manner in which I did say what I did. I thought that I spoke harshly, but I see that if I had given way to my feelings, I should have been like [torn] there or the last to report myself for...

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