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Amusements, too, are getting scarce.
At first there was high fun arising from the guileless, unsuspicious nature of the cows and pigs which frequent this section. Then a squad of grunters or a bevy of cattle would stroll innocently into camp, their motions watched with intense, eager interest by half a hundred loungers, till they reached the center of the camp, and then —hurrah boys ! Lucky for each cow was it if she escaped, leaving the rich contents of her udders in the tin-cups of the thirsty crowd, her horns held by a half dozen, and her tail ignominiously drawn taut by as many more, as they distrained her treasures; and lucky was it for each' pig if he was able to pass the lines with enough breath loft in his poor body to give a single grunt of commiseration over the depravity of human nature.
But now the Colonel has stopped the milking and ordered the sentries to keep all cows outside of the lines; and as for pigs, if one but does stroll within sight of the white tents of his enemies, he turns tail instantly, and with a grunt of suspicious dislike, scampers industriously to a safer point.
Thus it happened that the most fruitful source of amusement to the men has been stopped, and now, with the exception of an occasional game of base ball, a quadrille at night to the music of a melancholy fiddle, or the singing of the "Star Spangled Banner," our men are, so far as amusement is concerned, reduced to a state bordering on famine.
The Iowa First - Wilkie
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