Since that day, I have ever feared to stop a moment at a street corner, no matter how tired I might be, lest some other unpardonable fool should chance to be near, and bring a burning flush of crimson to my face. The idea of being suspected of soliciting pecuniary assistance, simply because I stood resting at a corner with a crutch in my hand! It is so revolting to me that I can not look back on that little—extremely little—incident without a shudder. Another reward for serving my country. O, John Smith! John Smith! I saw Mr. M * * * * * * *, who, remembering me at once, gave me a letter to Colonel C * * * * * *, a blunt, but good-hearted old soldier, who at once procured me a situation in the United States Arsenal. I remained in my situation eight months, during which I saw a great many queer things, and got a pretty fair idea of the purity, (?) probity (?) and integrity (?) that prevail among the men who have charge of such public institutions. CHAPTER VIII. JOHN THOUGHT HE WOULD LIKE TO TRAVEL. I HAD always been of a literary turn; so, while employed in the Arsenal, I concluded to write a book, and give to the world, therein, an account of soldier life, as I had experienced it; and I had very little doubt that eighty or ninety thousand dollars might be made out of it. I carried out my determination, writing in the evenings, after my daily labors; and when I left the Arsenal, I had completed the manuscript of my work, which, when published, a few months after, constituted a duodecimo volume of over four hundred pages.[1] Footnote 1: OUR BOYS. Comprising the personal experiences of the author while in the army, and embracing some of the richest and raciest scenes of army and camp life ever published. By A. F. Hill, of the Eighth Pa. Reserves. With portrait of the author on steel, and several characteristic illustrations on wood. 12mo. Cloth, price $1.75. I did not make “eighty or ninety thousand” out of the work, as my sanguine nature had led me to anticipate; but I made a “few thousand,” and I concluded to travel a little and see some of that portion of the world lying within the boundaries of the United States: and it was while thus traveling, chiefly in our own country, that I met with a great many funny adventures which I shall relate in this book. The first time I visited New York, I went to remain a few weeks as correspondent of a Pennsylvania newspaper. I think any stranger’s first impression of Gotham is, that it is a busy sort of a place; and the longer he stays there the more he “keeps on thinking so.” The bustle of Broadway has been so frequently dilated upon, that I will not attempt to enter upon a regular description of it. It must be seen to be appreciated; and I concluded to see it the first thing. So I hailed an omnibus that came thundering along, and somewhat astonished the driver by climbing nimbly to the _top_ of it, instead of taking a seat within.