The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers, Series 2Newell, R. H. (Robert Henry)
History
The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers, Series 2
Newell, R. H. (Robert Henry)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction
"_The Burns Affair Settled!--Full Particulars of the Gridiron!_--Mr.
Burns, the celebrated inventor of the famous Patent Gridiron, has been
honorably discharged by order of the Secretary of War. His inimitable
Gridiron is destined to have an immense sale.
"It cooks a beafsteak in such a manner that the appetite is fully
satisfied from merely looking at it, and the same steak will do for
breakfast next morning. This is a great saving. Persons having nothing
to eat find this Gridiron a great comfort, and hence the propriety of
introducing it in the army."
The Gridirons are having a great sale, my boy, and it is believed that
the business interests of the country are being rapidly improved by the
war.
Knowing that the Mackerel Brigade was making preparations to entrap the
Southern Confederacy at Molasses Junction, I ascended to the upper
gallery of my architectural steed, Pegasus, on Tuesday, in order that I
might not be unduly hurried on my journey. Taking Accomac on my way to
the battle-field, my boy, I called upon Colonel Wobert Wobinson, who is
superintending preparations for the draft there, and was witness to an
incident suitable to be recorded in profane history.
The draft in Accomac, my boy, is positively to take place on the 11th
of September; but it is not believed that the enrollment can be
finished before the 15th; in which case, the draft must inevitably take
place on the 20th. In fact, the Judge-Advocate of the Accomac states
positively that the conscription will commence on the 1st of October;
and volunteering is so brisk that no draft may be required. At least,
such is the report of those best acquainted with the more decisive
plans of the War Department, which thinks of joining the Temperance
Society.
The exempts were filing their papers of exemption with Colonel Wobert
Wobinson, my boy, and amongst them was one chap with a swelled eye, a
deranged neck-tie, and a hat that looked as though it might have been
used as an elephant's foot-bath. The chap came in with a heavy walk,
and says he:
"Being a married man, war has no terror for me; but I am obliged to
exempt myself from military affairs on account of the cataract in my
eyes."
Colonel Wobert Wobinson looked at him sympathizingly, and says he: "You
might possibly do for a major-general, my son, as it is blindness
principally that characterises a majority of our present major-generals
in the field; but fearing that your absence from home might cause a
prostration in the liquor business, I will accept your cataract as
valid."
The poor chap sighed until he reached the first hiccup, and then says
he: "I wish I could cure this here cataract, which causes my eyes to
weep in the absence of all woe."
"Do your orbs liquidate so freely?" says the Colonel, with the air of a
family physician.
"Yes," says the poor chap, gloomily, "they are like two continual mill
streams."
"Mill streams!" says Colonel Wobinson meditatively, "mill streams! Why,
then, you'd better dam your eyes."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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