Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1848-02-24

1t came at ast--that dark cloud which for
months had hung like death shroud over the
bosom of great nation! 1t came at last, and
young faces grew pale and haggard us fear drove
them on TO premature age; young hearts grew
old and withered as the voice Of war CONCEALED
their pulses with dread of forebodingil. Still
on and on il came, sweeping over groves and
valleys, darkening the hearth stones of love,
and proslrating the peaceful temples of home,
ill at last it burst in all its fury, and beautiful
country was deIuged in brave bood The nigh
ty were stricken down in their power; the intel
lectua in their glory. Matter usurped the en-
pire of mind and strength Of soul became sub
servien 10 bodily fear. Sill on it came--that
fend of war, with its ocean Of living forms, ri.
sing wave after wave upon the hills, or retrea-
ting into the fowery thickets, till the echoes
caught the sound, and ran with their fearful t-
dngs to the distant hills. Il was a fearful time
for devoted wives, whose ewes we're dim with
watching for the return of those dear beloved
ones, whose hearls--alas, with all their yearn.
ing impulses, were stilIed forever. But there
was another pair Of eyes--deep, earnest lus-
trous eyes, which told of the Mexican origin,
that watched the enemy's forces all day long
through the smoke of battle, too happy but if TO
catch one glimpse Of a noble form that rode
fearlessIy at the head of an American regiment.
There was another pure warm heart, with its
buds of love just bursting into bloom, whose
yearnings followed the brave American through
she thickest of the fight, murmuring his dear
name the while as if she would protect him
amid the shower of bullets that were dealing
death around. Poor Lolah Montana! This Of
fcer whose form she singles out from the mass
of soldiers was tenant of her fathers cottage
for weeks while suffering from an almost fatal
wound. The pure springs Of her heart had
been unlocked by sympathy for his afllclion and
now its bright waters were to be embiuered in
their first gushings. She had sat by his couch
a., day, with her earnest eyes looking into his
own: she had knet by his side in the still hours
of night, with prayers upon her lips for his re.
eoyery. II. her heart had forgotten father, home,
friends, its Wild idoalry, and only remembered
she only one ,.1ear vision that had shone upon
her secluded ife.' Was it strange that the SOL.
dier's heart should return the devotlons OF one
who had scattered SO many blossoms around his
path, who, when the inists Of an early death
were gathering around--still bent her brilliant
eyes lovingly upon him, sill their glance seemed
10 charm him back to renewed sense of life?
And yet, while both fell they were beloved no
word of love had ever been uttered. Ihe SOL
dier had watched every movement oil that sweet
girl as she glided like sunbeam through the
apartment-had listened to the thrilling tones o.!
her low voice, and felt her beautiful hand au'-
tering like white dove upon his throbbing tenn-
Ples--and yet feared by word TO create hopes
which might never be realized
The morning came for his departure, when
Lolah was summoned TO bid him good bye. Her
haggard brow and swollen eyes told of night of
anguish and suffering. 'You will remember me
when ! am gone, Lolah,' said the soldier, taking
her passive hands in his own, and, for the first
lime, pressing them to his lips with an irresis-
Bile impulse. Slowly the beautiful raised her
eyes 10 his, as if only that moment comprehen-
ding how great you'd be her loss. and how little
her capablIity of sustaining ii. When he was
gonel--Where was her world now! She had
R4r'crod il for an empty yisioa, and nov that the