statements were false, as we paid less than they asked; and the party from whom it was procured, was a devoted friend of the Union, and had voted for Mr. Lincoln for President.

In this respect, they were not alone, for there are plenty of men, who, when we were first stationed at Clarksburg, approached us with hypocritical smiles, and honied words, and did not favor us with their presence when they found they could not put their hands into our safe, and filch from the public treasury. Patriots! they were willing and anxious to make contracts, of some kind, by which they could make fortunes.

During the time we were stationed at Clarksburg, we never gave but one contract (and that was upon the day of our rejection by the Senate), which was for forty tons of hay at twelve dollars per ton, while at Wheeling it was commanding thirteen dollars and fifty cents, at which point we had been obliged to purchase much of what we used.

Semi-occasionally, a great change in the opinions of the people as to us, took place. At times they thought we were liberal, because we never refused to contribute to any charitable enterprise, a thing very many of the wealthier citizens were never suspected of being guilty of. Then we were denounced, because we would pay no account unless it was in proper form. They could not understand, why such a receipt as they gave a country merchant, was not sufficient for the Quartermaster.

One wiseacre announced very triumphantly that he had caught us cheating the Government. We purchased a small amount of oats from him, and took duplicate receipts for the money, when he declared he had been obliged to give two receipts for the same thing; that Captain Leib had told him he must have two, and he knew Captain Leib was "cheating the Government, doing that way."

Thus it will be seen that it is time the common school system was introduced in Western Virginia.

CHAPTER IV.

CLARKSBURG AND ITS NOTABLES.

THIS "Ancient Metropolis of Western Virginia," as its people delight in calling it, lies in a little valley, on one side of which runs Elk Creek, and on the other the West fork of Monongahela river. On all sides loom up wild, desolate-looking hills, covered to their summits with the "forest primeval."

The town itself is only approached by dilapidated-looking bridges across the streams before mentioned, and is laid out irregularly, with little regard to artistic taste or beauty. It is a motley collection of rickety frame houses, dirty-looking brick dwellings, and old stone buildings, some of which are propped up by large pieces of scantling-shattered monuments of the first families of Virginia.

For the most part, the grounds around the dwellings are alike destitute of good taste or comfort.

The town boasts a Court House (a most extraordinary specimen of architecture), which is used for every purpose besides its legitimate one: for