He is given to sudden fears and causeless panics.

Very innocent cedars have a fashion of assuming in his eyes the appearance of desperate Rebels armed with murderous guns, and there is no telling what moment a rock may take such a form as to freeze his young blood, and make each particular hair stand on end like quills upon the fretful porcupine.

One has to be particular about snapping caps in his neighborhood, and give to him careful warning before discharging a carbine to clean it.

His first impulse, when anything occurs to jar upon his delicate nerves, is to cut his wheel-mule loose and retire with the precipitation of a man having an appointment to keep and being behind time.

There is no man who can get as much speed out of a mule as a teamster falling back from the neighborhood of heavy firing.
This nervous tremor was not peculiar to the engineers of our transportation department.