Holly Springs gazette., 1846-01-24

us SOOuIuer.
He. turned, and beheid the face of
ne ghbor.
Ii was neighbor's face, but there was
an awful agony Stamping those plain
features there was an awful agony flash>
ing from those dilating eyes there was
dark and terrible mystery sparkling from
those thin lips. that moved aud moved, but
made no sound
For q moment that farmer tried TO speak
that horror that con yuIsed his features.
Al last, forcing :he blacksmith along the
brown gravelled walk. now strewn with
cihDers. be pointed to the smoking embers.
There. there, amid that heap of black and
smoky ruins, the blacksmith beheld dark
mass of burnt flesh and blackened bones
Your loife ~ shrieked the farmer. as
his agony found words, "The British
they came in the night, they
then he spoke that outrage, which the lip
quivers 10 think on, which the heart grows
palsied to tell-that outrage too foul 10
name-"Y Y our wife" he shrieked. pointing
to that hideous thing. amid the smoky
| ruins 'the British, they murdered your
wife, flung her dead body in the flames
they dashed your child against the hearth>
! stone !
This was the farmers story.
/ And there, as the light of the breaking
of day fell around the spot. there stood the
husband, the father, gazing upon that mass
Of burned flesh and blackened bones all
tha, was once his wife.
Do you ask me for the words that trem-
bied from his white lips2 Do you ask me
! for the fire that bazed in his eye2
| cannot tell you. But | can tell you
that there was vow going up TO Heaven
from that blacksmith's heart; that there
was a elenched hand, upraised in the light
Of breaking day
Yes. yes. as the first CLEAN of the al
tumnal dawn broke around the spot as the
first long CLEAN Of sunlight streamed over
the peeled skull of that fair young wife
she was that last n;ght-;here was VOW
going up to Heaven. the vow of a madden
ed heart and anguished brain.
How was that VOW kept2 Go there TO
Brandysine, AMI where the carnage gath
I ers thckes,. where the fgh: is most bloody.
there you m see a s'out form striking
on, lifting huge hammer into light
Where the hammer falls, It kills-where
that hammer strikes, il crushes Ii is the
blacksmith form: And the war-cry that
he shou's2 Ii is mad cry of vengerce |;
half howl, half hurrah2 Is il but fierce
yell, barking up from his heaving ches,
Ah no All no
1t is the name of MARY /, is the
name of his young wife
Oh. Mary-sweetest name OF woman
name SO soft, So ripplng.so musical-name
of the Mother Of Jesus, made holy by poe
try and religion-how strangely did your
syllables Of music ring out from that black
smiths lips, as he went numbering on
MARY" he shouted as he drags that
, red coated trooper from his steed Ma.
: ry p he shrieks. as his hammer crashes
, down. laying that officer in the DUST
Lookl Another officer, with a gallant
face and form--ano,her officer, glitlerine
: in rinsal, clasps that acksmth by the
d knees, and begs mercy.
81 have a wife-mercy have wife
yondsr in Eng gland-spare me |"
= The blacksmith. crazed as he il, trem
/ bles-there is tear in his eye
. IL would spare you. but there is form
e before me-he form before me-lhe form
i of my dead wife That form has gone be
;. fore me--all day! She calls on me te
r strike q
y And the hammer fell. and then rang on
o that strange war-cry-"MARYi
AT last, when the battle was over. he wa
L found by waggoner, who had at leas
: shoudered a cart-whip in his country
> service--he was found sitting by the road
l. side, his head sunken, his leg broken-lh'
9 life blood yelling from his many wounds.
e The waggoner would have carried hin
e from the field, but the stout blacksmith
k refused.
sYou see neighbor," he said. In lha
e voice husky with death, Il never meddlet
# with the British Till they burned my home
$ tilllhey"-he could not speak the out
d rage, but his wife. his child. were there be
1t fore his dying eyes-"And nov I've ou
o Eve minutes life in me. Id like TO CIV
) shot at the British afore l die. Dy
e see that cherry treea Dye think yo'
is could drag man ofmy build up thar
Place me thar; give me powder>horl
three rifle balls an good rife, that's ali
a ask" :,
m The wagoner granted his request; b
D, lifted him 10 the cherry tree :; he place
> the rife. the balls. the powder-horn IN h'
grasp. :,
Then whipping his horses through 10
q narrow pass, from the summit of .neigoo'
e mo height, be looked down upon the las
n. -. ef ,ha hle~ ksmit n = life.