8

[[Camp McDonald]] June 30^th 1861

My Darling [[Mary Beall|Mary]],

Heigh-ho! I'm tired
and sad & lonely in the great crowd
and amid the din & bustle of the camp
my position is one of more responsi-
bility & heavier care then any one
not acquainted with it can understand
and, but for the consciousness that
I am engaged in a great and noble
purpose, I would shrink from
it. From my very soul I long
for repose, & the tender & loving
sympathies that are ony found at
home. I would be like one of those
so beautifully described in [[Thomas Gray|Grey]]'s
Elegy: "Far from the mad'ning crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learned to stray,
Along the cool sequestered vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way."

But you, my own dear [[Mary Beall|Mary]], already