Joseph Orrick, Thief and Deserter of 33 Reg. Va. Vol., Makes Off With Ezekial’s Rifle and Rations
They’re fair game. Any Jack Ass knows eatables
and rifles are like fish afloat. What with no
provision stores or jew shops around, people
just make do with or without kindly appeals.
In two weeks, all I ate was a skillet of ham
and some pickles. A wonder more don’t follow
me into the trees where a man can bargain
eye to eye with Fate, that screech of a mistress.
Truth to tell, I got tired of seeing men
sneak off somewhere to cry. All them generals,
drunk on the blood of so many lives, talk all
night to each other about the hard picket
lines, how graceful the horses, and how lovely
were the eyes of their men, how scared, how sanguine.