The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1855-04-18

IOi 0tosy OOhseCroteu' al tncbO uluLucfb W
my imagination. would carry a flag in
one Of those armies, / would mix in the
crimson throhg. Iaweuld myself bear q
sword amid those forests of flashing steel.
And Itold this to my Jennis.s | thought
she would certainly bless me as hero:
thought she would bind "a scarf about my
waist, and bid mel"Go where glory wants
thee," if still remembered her, But when
I said should leave her for a while, and
come back with honor and pride and the
memory of brave acts and the congratula-
ton of breast that never knew fear, she
became pale, and looked at me sorrowfully
and fell upon my neck, weeping most Bit
ter tears. / asked her why she should
grieve,l and saidsthe danger was one chance
among innumerable probabilities Of sue
cess. But she only sobBed and trembled,
an pressed me- to her bosom and pssyedsnot
to 60. .fuss 4aa / fs sIeiliia
bfIa reasoned with Jennie, l tried to per-
suade her Of the glory Of the war. I told
her how much more worthy of love she
would think me when l came adorned with
laurels. ooh, how green are the leaves
that bloom from slaughtefD said her i'm
age would be my companlon--her voice
would be my yespsr bell--her smile my star
Of the morning--her face. would be the Wis
liant Of my dreams--her love the mercy
that would shield me from every danger
She listened with suspended sobs and trem-
hled, and all the while her eyes were ap-
pealing tony owns and penetrating to my
heart to invoke, its faith, that l might not
tempt misfortune to blight the early bridal
Of our hearts. g.,. E--.g
When had done, her answer was if |
had not spoken, for still she only said that
must not 60. She gave no more reasons
now. And lid deserve her love, when
| tho't that explaining and persuading Were
answers to the pleading tears and swelling
bosom and quiverng frame and speaking
eyes Of that maiden Nobe, shaken by her
mournful fears! e-f s..ii .,n.,ft ,7sa-.
i'You will be- changed when you RETURN
she said. I'll A1tt" ,f5@2'y... '.tt+'F
| change! knew | could not change!--
Why should Jennie doubt my truth!.
would prove it. My mind was fixed. My
fancy was flushed by ambitious anticipa-
tiops. I resolved 10 leave. Jennie at
length, when her entreaties failed, reproach-
ed me, but so gently, that her very upbraid-
ing sounded like a benedction. And so it
was. 1t was not even the selishness of
affection. 1t was a pure, tender, earnest
solicitlde. She told me / was breaking
faith with her, in thus going away to en-
gage in war. Was it for this that she had
become the affianced Of my heart! Was ii
for this that should take my hand from the
pleasant cares of peace, to corrupt it in
the villanies of war! that should mix with
the worst of kind! that should ride over
the harest Of the poor, and carouse in the
glare of their burning home, and see sweet
babes made fatherless, and wives bereaved
and brides left desolate in the world! Oh,
no. 1t was that broke my pledge. I was
not true TO my early VOW. ! was not all
for her. had made o new idol for my
heart. Ihad declared would never cause
any sorrow to her by denying to her love
one of its earnest wishes. And now ] was
doing this Il was making her grieve.
was risking the leaving her desolate to the
end OF her days. For the sake Of what!--
For the sake Of a soldiers ambition. Am
bition! As though to wear the gray hairs
of good old manawere not nobler hope
than to die in a trench, or live, shuddering
with memory Of carnage and fire and blood,
and all the raneess horrors or war .,,,
I cannot tell all the sorrows of that part
ing.a An infatuation burned in my head and
blinded me. At length I went. Jennie's
last blessing upbraided me more deeply than
her first reproach. ID When she knew that
should go, she said not one more despond-
ing word; ard then did III feel how gentle
She was in sorrow, as she was serene in
her days Of joy. But confronted myself
I decided that Jennie, good as she vas
dear. loving. noble--could not comprehend
the idea of patriotism. " And once thought
Of falsehood crossed my mind. reflected
that ! had never tried her, she might not be
true to the absent; it would be good to test
her faith. .qar5aa.a & s.yesg
And SO | went. Let me forget the her
rors and crime Of that long adventure. In
stead OF two years, I was away seven: and
from, the first was said, sick, remorseful.
Nothing but memory recalled me. to the
thought of love. And then did Jennie's re-
proaches rise upsin Judgment against me-
/ was long lost to her during the confusion
ot, ot that terrible campaign, "A solid cont.
nent now lay between us, and now. an ocean.
I heard not Of her during fouryesFs. All,
she has forgotten, said + the fiery wilfuI
lsl one 70 whom, she gave her early love. a,s
,3 At length Ireturned; but was he to
whom shehad said TINT sweet and dear fare
well. I was naifHed, mutilated, disfgured
"a cripple--an object I came home with
. feet filled half with trophies, half.with The
limbless, sightless remnants of a glorious
war; Yes; III twenty years the earth had
been dyed with The blood Of six millions Of
men, What d miserable. thinlr--the relic,