The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1854-12-20

fdttOtA1 VI tHS CdiHp3 ftlu euOufee VII
pangs of absence, with the hope of ma:
king our country free. God grant thai
: those who come after US may faithfully
defend that Independence which is
bought at the price Of blood and tears
You know not yet Mike-none but thoss
who are wcdded can know-the rapture
of meeting after long absence nor
can you know ho;Y bitter it is to tnrH
away from the fair face Of 4 loving wife,
and undergo the agony of long seper-
alton, perhaps an everlasting one.
Thelast time visited my home, oh
how the memory of it clings to me noWl
The very sunlight SIS it came down from
heaven seemed to fall around my home
stead with softer light than elsewhere.
Ny life was like a dream of boy.hood
realized. But the summons came to
part, and more reluctantly than ever, I
tore myself away Sad and gloomy
presentiments filed the hearts Of both
of us. Alas VIC met no more on earth
Three months from that time having
solicited furlough, I sped homeward,
with joyful anticipatious I found my
house in ashes, my children motherless,
my fond my gentle wife slept the sleep
that knows no waking 3sriyen from
her burning house on a cold and rainy
night in winter, after having gwen
birth to my youngest child, she was
seized Wifh the fever that carried her TO
the grave. She died-died In calling
upon my name-died clinging to the
last to hope that would yet stand
beside her and hear her last prayer and
close her eyes in peace. / found my
chldren-too young to know their loss
houssless, dependant upon the charity of
strangers. Think you that can forgive
these wrongs-or that they can be
blotted from my brain, or cease TO burn
or rankle in my heart Think you that
| a wife so kind, so gentle, whose love was
]. the world in which l delighted to dwell
4 can SO soon be forgotten As God
hears me, I will not rest until my sword
is red with the blood of her destroyer ~
Never before had Allscott seen Con-
j yers so- completely mastered by fierce
and Yiadictfte passions His bosom
heayed with tumultuous emotions. and
his face became livid with rage, while
4 his dirk eye cleaned like diamond.
4 His voice grew hoaise and hollow, and
his ntterance was chopked by the eager
ness with which, he painted for vengca4ce.
Allscott looked upon him with senti-
ments approaching to awe while the
.rtorm of passion shook his frame and
fixed its impress upon his features.
Ordinarily as playful In ten pr as a
child, and of a gay and cheerful dispo-
ss5il.. TtIst II5r5xir11 10 1eVtsy; 0ue.
would scarcely have dreamed that be-
meath 80 quiet and gentle an exterior,
there slumbered deep and volcanic pass
ions. Usually, his features wore an al
most feminine seftness and geutlesess
;slI.sef expression Even IN the wild and
biooav aa5:ll ZEE, where the most inhuman
4 passions are called into exercise, his
features bore no trace of cruel or yiIaic-
s tiye feelings. His dark, bold, lustrous
eye. fringed by long sheltering lashes,
i. might indeed flash with somewhat in
tenser light in full view of the conflict
but his finely chiseied features were as
tihexpressive offerecity, and as unmcved
4 by angry emotions, as the calm marble
fresh from the hands of the sculptor
Captain James Conyers, to whose
company Of dragons Miehael Allscott
: was attached was one of that band of
4 partizan leaders By whose skill, energy,
1 and inEineible frmness, the country was
redeemed from the iron yoke of the IN
4 rader His generosity and kindness Of
8 heart with his reckless and almost des-
perate exfbitiens Of courage had rem
u dered him the daring of e Marion's Brig
\ 3rade Pa nsme which was applied to the
bold followers Of the willy partizan,
s whether there nn.1 bsrs aE1ennted te ten
or a thousand men. J. In those moments
Of gloom and despondeney, when the
!. sufferings aad destruction of their FAM
ssfilies, joined to their own priTations and
tolls, caused the stout hearts of the sol
diers to sink IN disnay, he stood forth
as the ministering angle of the camp,
|. and infused into their Respondent souls
the courage and tie inyinci1le fylnness
and spirit which shone on his own brow
: A bold and dashing soldier. shrinking
from ne danger or toll, confident and
sanguine yllaD others around him were
almost driven to despair, ever foremost
: n the feray and last in Che retreat, he
won the heart oe-exsrY IS soldier In the
. brigade, and was regarded dc the
;, right hand of the army. a dexterous and
, fearless horseman, scarcely equalled in
deed by the sanguinary Tarlton IN this
manly mplishment, his position as
1 captain of the Dragons gave him ample
opportunity to display to q tie hripade y
his qualities to the best advantage; and
and che battle ap peafed lost BEYOND res
demption, from some unexpected QUAR-
ter of the field he burst into view with
his troop following at his heels aud bore
J, down with his undaulted troopers like a
n /. - IL 4 I