General Meade to General Lee — 496
The following lines were found in a Confederate soldier’s note-book, on the camping-ground near Breckenridge’s head-quarters, before Washington, July 17, 1864:—
Quoth Meade to Lee—
Can you tell me,
In the shortest style of writing,
When people will
Get their fill
Of this big job of fighting?
Quoth Lee to Meade—
Why, yes, indeed,
I’ll tell you in a minute:
When legislators
And speculators
Are made to enter in it.