Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. [Vol. 3.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 23)

STUDIES - M. Thomas Inge: Sam Watkins and the Fictionality of Fact

the macabre story of the Rebel deserter and turncoat named Rowland who arrived at his place of execution to find his grave full of water and asked for a drink from it because "he had heard that water was very scarce in hell, and it would be the last he would ever drink" (W, 42). A more touching execution, and several are described in detail, is that of two Yankee spies who turn out to be young boys of sixteen and fourteen. When the younger begins to cry and plead for his life, "the older one kicked him and told him to stand up and show the Rebels how a Union man could die for his country." As they dangled from the ropes, Watkins noted, "I turned off sick at heart" (W, 83). Such stories could easily fit a fictional context, except Watkins tells us they actually happened. Perhaps the most engaging element in Watkins's book is his sense of humor and irony which becomes evident whether he is talking about a louse race among the gambling soldiers, eating rats in hungry desperation, jeering a deserting officer, or ridiculing a chaplain who exorts the men to die and "sup to-night in Paradise" but runs when the bombs begin to fall as the soldiers shout, "The parson isn't hungry, and never eats supper" (W, 91). He could also capture with a gentle sense of comic self-deprecation one of his own social faux pas at the dinner table of a Chattanooga family with two handsome daughters in attendance. The food is abundant and good, but then the mother tells a daughter to pass the butter to Watkins, which he refuses because his plate is full: Now, there is nothing that will offend a lady so quick as to refuse to take butter when handed to you. ... If you don't eat butter, it is an insult; if you eat too much, she will make your ears burn after you have left. It is a regulator of society; it is a civilizer; it is a luxury and a delicacy that must be touched and handled with care and courtesy on all occasions. Should you desire to get on the good side of a lady, just give a broad, sweeping, slathering compliment to her butter. It beats kissing the dirty-faced baby; it beats anything. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the butter, be it good, bad, or 56