KISSING THE BABY.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 109, 10 March 1870, Page 7

KISSING THE BABY.

It was once the lot of the writer 'to dwell in the white tents of Camp Harrison, in Georgia — in that lower part of the State where families are always far between and much more so in war times. For long weeks we had not seen a woman or a child. At last the railroad through the camp was repaired, and in the first train there was a lady with a wide-awake, kicking baby. Some hundreds of rough soldiers were around the cars, and Capt. Story of the 57th Infantry Avas the biggest and roughest among them, if we judge the tree by its bark. The lady, with the baby in her arms, was looking from a window, and he took off his hat and said, "Madam, I will give you five dollars if you will let me kiss thac baby." One look at his bearded face told her that there was nothing bad in it, and saying, with a pleased laugh, " I do not charge anything for kissing my baby," it was handed over. The little one was not afraid, and the bushy whiskers, an eighth of an ell long, was just the playhouse it had been looking for. More than one kiss did the Captain get from the little red lips, and there was energy in the hug of the little arms. Then other voices said, " Pass her over here, Cap.," and before the train was ready to move, half a hundred men had kissed the baby. It was on its bestbehaviour, and kicked and crowed, and tugged at whiskers as only a happy baby can. It was an event of the campaign, and one giant of a mountaineer, as he strode past us with tread like a mammoth, but with tear-dimmed eyes and quivering lips, said, "By George, it makes me feel and act like a fool ; but I've got one just like it at home." — " Appleton's Journal."