"'Your devoted friend and comrade,
"'MRS. FANNY A. BEERS,
"'Late of the Confederate Army.'
"To this sentiment came the response of three cheers and a regular
rebel yell, repeated and repeated for the space of twenty minutes.
"But the most touching feature followed. A number of old Confederate
soldiers, who had in wounds and sickness received gentle and healing
ministrations from the hands of Mrs. Beers, and learned just then that
she was present, in defiance of all order, rushed to the stand and
gathered about her. Each and every one bore the mark of some wound
received in the war, and wore about their person some fragment of
Confederate uniform--a hat, a coat, or other article--as souvenirs of
the days of trials and glory.
"Like old children they gathered around her, grasping her hand and
blessing her and testifying to all the world what a blessing she had
been to them.
"It was, indeed and truly, the most touching and striking incident of
the late reunion of Confederate veterans at Dallas."
CHAPTER III.
CAMP NICHOLS.
The Louisiana Soldiers' Home.
I must begin with a digression, for, as thought concentrates itself
upon this pleasant subject, one is irresistibly impelled to remember
the delightful ride thitherward, and to wonder if any other city in
the United States can boast of street-car routes so beautiful.
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