Gone with the Wind / Унесённые ветром

Their clever remarks sent her into merry laughter. It was a memorable day in the life of the twins. Now they were both in love with her. It was a situation which interested the neighbors and annoyed their mother, who had no liking for Scarlett.

The troop of cavalry had been organized three months before, the very day that Georgia seceded from the Union, and since then the recruits had been waiting for war. Everyone had his own idea on its name, just as everyone had ideas about the color and cut of the uniforms.

But to the end of this organization they were known simply as “The Troop.”

The officers were elected by the members, for no one in the County had had any military experience except a few veterans of the Mexican and Seminole wars and, besides, the Troop would have rejected a veteran as a leader if they had not personally liked him and trusted him. Ashley Wilkes was elected captain, because he was the best rider in the County and because he had a cool head and could keep order. Abel Wynder, a small farmer, was elected a lieutenant.

He was a grave giant, illiterate, kindhearted, older than the other boys. There was little snobbery in the Troop. Too many of their fathers and grandfathers had come up to wealth from the small farmer class. Moreover, Abel was the best shot in the Troop, a real sharpshooter who could pick out the eye of a squirrel at seventy-five yards, and, too, he knew all about living outdoors, building fires in the rain, tracking animals and finding water. The Troop valued real worth and moreover, because they liked him, they made him an officer.

In the beginning, the Troop had been recruited exclusively from the sons of planters, each man supplying his own horse, arms, equipment, uniform and body servant. But rich planters were few in the young county of Clayton[7 - Округ Клейтон, штат Джорджия], and it had been necessary to raise more recruits among the sons of small farmers, hunters, trappers, and even poor whites.

These young men were as anxious to fight the Yankees, as were their richer neighbors; but the delicate question of money arose. Few small farmers owned horses. They carried on their farm operations with mules. As for the poor whites, they considered themselves well off if they owned one mule. They lived entirely off the produce of their lands and the game in the swamp, seldom seeing five dollars in cash a year, and horses and uniforms were out of their reach.