A remark was made about my hair and eyes, and their risibles gave way; judgment was passed on my nose, and then came a ripple of laughter.

I got very red in the face, and uncomfortable generally.
Attention was called to the size of my feet and hands, and the usual chorus followed.

Those useful members of my body seemed to swell up as they do to a young man at his first party.
Then I saw that in the minds of these bucolic maidens I was scarcely, if at all, human; they did not understand that I belonged to the race; I was a "Yankee"-- a something of the non-human class, as the gorilla or the chimpanzee.

They felt as free to discuss my points before my face as they would to talk of a horse or a wild animal in a show.

My equanimity was partially restored by this reflection, but I was still too young to escape embarrassment and irritation at being thus dissected and giggled at by a party of girls, even if they were ignorant Virginia mountaineers.
I turned around to speak to the Sergeant, and in so doing showed my back to the ladies.