as full of worms as ever the dry sap-wood of a white ash
pole was; consequently, it required a deal of circumspection in eating it;—however, it was better than snow balls. The other men in my room, likewise, used to avail themselves of the opportunity to procure some, after I had told them where it might be obtained.
Several funny, and some serious accidents occurred while I remained here, but as they would be tedious to narrate, and, perhaps, uninteresting to the reader, I shall pass them by unnoticed.
We staid here, starving, until the first of May, when we received orders to march to camp and join our regiments. The troops belonging to New-Hampshire marched sometime before we did. While on our march, we halted in a village; here I went into a house, with several other soldiers, which happened to be a deacon's;—while there some of the men chanced to swear, (a circumstance extremely uncommon with the soldiers,) upon which the good woman of the house checked them. "Is there any harm in it?" said one of them. "Yes," said she. "Well," said he, "may I not say swamp it." "No," said she, "nor maple log roll over me, neither." She then turned to me and said, "I do not like you soldiers." I asked her why? "Because," said she, "there came some along here the other day and they stole every morsel of my dinner from the pot, while it was boiling over the fire, pudding bag and all." I told her that her case was, upon the whole, rather a calamitous one, but, said I, "I suppose the soldiers thought your pot could be easier replenished than their kettles." She made me no answer, whatever she thought.
We went on to New-Haven where we arrived upon a Sabbath eve and staid till Wednesday; on the Tuesday following there was to be a muster of the Militia. On Monday we washed our clothes, and as we understood we were to remain here during the next day, we put ourselves into as decent a condition as we possibly could, to witness the Militia exhibition the next day. Early next morning there was a general stir in the town, a regiment of foot and a troop of horse were paraded on the green, and they made a very good appearance, (considering the times,) to speak the truth; but they seemed to be rather shy of displaying their knowledge of military tactics be-
