distributed at the prominent city clubs and hotels and among representative business men. They were used simply as a means of controlling in a measure the attendance and were entirely complimentary. The ticket read like this: RECEPTION AND PROMENADE CONCERT TENDERED THE LADIES OF NEW ORLEANS, BY THE Officers and Members of the Seventy-first New York ON BOARD STEAMER ROBERT E. LEF, Thursday Evening, March 3d, The Concert was a success in every way. The band took a position in the centre of the saloon and chairs were placed as close together as possible from one end of the boat to the other. The attendance was simply enormous and included the elite of those gathered to witness the Carnival festivities as well as residents of the Crescent City. There were scores of men and women present whose names were familiar at every Southern fire-side-distinguished in politics, literature, arts, professions and in society. It was a grand compliment to the Northern regiment--an unprecedented compliment to any organization and appreciated as such. After the concert the ladies took considerable pleasure in examining the quarters of the men. Each overcoat and knap sack was in place and the cabins in perfect order. When the Governors of Louisana and Kentucky and prominent Southern generals—and there were not a few of themarrived, the guard was turned out and all military honors paid. General Beauregard of course was a marked figure and when he entered the saloon and was ushered to the upper end, where Colonel Vose received the prominent guests, there was a perfect storm of applause. The men cheered and the ladies clapped their hands and waved their dainty handkerchiefs. Beauregard smiled and bowed again and again in response. Some one said something about Bull Run and an old veteran of the Seventy-first jumped to his feet and shouted across the room to the General: "I was there in sixty-one General." Beauregard smiled again and held out his hand, which the “vet" enthusiastically clasped. Some of the men induced the General to sit down at a table and write his name on cards and he worked patiently for half an hour. By that time everybody wanted one and he promised to send a number of autographs to New York later, which promise he faithfully kept. The This affair and the serenade to the ladies at the St. Charles Hotel were very great social successes and redounded to both the credit of the regiment and the band. The latter did particularly well at the serenade. front of the honse was brilliantly illuminated and the balconies thronged with ladies and gentlemen. The evening air was so balmy that no one thought of wraps. 94 The doors and windows were all open and one passed freely in and out. It was like an August night at home. "All is gentle; naught Stirs rudely; but, congenial with the night, Whatever walks is gliding like a spirit." This perfect weather came straight from Araby the Blest and did not vary during the Battalion's stay. No travellers were ever more fortunate in the matter of weather or in any other way for the matter of that. The evenings were so delightful that they were often spent sitting in some private garden, bareheaded and in the lightest possible clothing, the aroma of the cigars mingling with the perfumes of the flowers and shrubs, or, on the deck of the Robert E. Lee, watching the puffing monsters splashing their stern wheels in the silvery moon-tinted waters of the river. When the men were wandering about the city very many of them were seized upon by kind hearted citizens, made the heroes of home circles and sent back to quarters loaded with favors of all kinds. Many a quiet, unpretentious citizen opened his heart and house in honor of the blue uniform. "Therein, he them full fair did entertain, Not with such forged shows as fitter been CHAPTER XII. A TRIUMPHANT RETURN. "Farewell! a word that must be and hath been- -yet-farewell." "Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark Byron. On Friday morning early, the resounding rat tat of the drums aroused the dreaming soldier, and with first consciousness came the thought that in an hour or so the merry City was to be left behind—perhaps for ever. It was not a pleasant thought in some respects for many had learned to like the ways of the dolce far niente life they had been leading, and again, it was a pleasant thought, for were they not returning home to the frost and the snow, the crowded streets and the busy marts of the metropolis? To the loved ones they had almost forgotten amid the smiles and favors of the fair ones of the South? Many a heart beat anxiously as the moment of departure came and regretted that more letters had not been written and sent North. Epistolary efforts had been few and feeble; every one was "so busy you know" and they would be "so soon back." Telegrams like this took the place of letters : Thanks, will do as you suggest. Weather here very cold but city very gay indeed. Charming socials nightly. Telegraph sure when coming home or might be out. Too busy to write. Revoir. MRS. JOHN SMITH. 33 Collect. Au When the Battalion marched out of the boat and away towards the cars, it was with a joyousness tempered with a certain sadness at leaving so pleasant quarters. The |