Star of the Kanawha Valley. [volume] (Buffalo, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1856, 1855-11-14

1.-THE shocks Of three hundred wears =
Right beyond that oak was the black.
smiths home. With this thought
warmed his heart, he hurried on-he
/ hurried onthinking ofthe calm young
face and mild blue eyes of his wife
who, the, night before, had stood IN
the door waving him out Of sight.
with a beconed good bye-thinking of
that baby who lay smiling, as it slept.
upon her bosom. He hurried on-he
turned the bend of the wood, he look
ed uponhis home. All! what a sight
was there! Where. the night before,
he had left a peaceful cottage, smiling
under q green Chestnut tree, in the
light ofthe setting sun, now was only
a heap of black and smoking embers,
and burnt and blasted tree. This
was his homel And there stood the
blacksmith, gazing upon the wreck of
his hearthstone-there he stood with
folded arms and moody brow; but in
/ a moment a smile broke over his face.
He saw it all; In the night his home
had taken fire, and been burned to
Icinders> but his wife and child had
escaped-for that he thanked Cod
with the toll of his stout arm, plying
there on the anvil, he would build a
tfairer home for his wife and child.
fresh flowers should bloom over the
walks, and more lively vines trail
over the easement. With this resolve
kindling over his face, the blacksmith
stood there, with a cheerful light
beaming upon his large grey eyes,
when a hand was laidupon his shold-
er. =,
He turned, and beheld the face of a
neighbor. 1t was a neighbours face
but there was an awful agony flashing
from those dilating eyes-there was
dark and terrible mystery speak
ing from those thin lips thst moved
and moved, but made no sound
For a moment the farmer tried to
speak the horror that: convulsed his
features, AT last, forcing the black
smith down the gravelled walk, now
strown with ,einders, he pointed to the
smoking embers. These, these "a
mid that heap Of black and smoking
ruins, the blacksmith beheld a dark
mass of burnt flesh blackened, bones.
"Your Wife," shreaked> the farmer,
as his agony found words "The Brit
ish4 they came in the night, they
and then he spoke that courage which
the lip quivered to think on. which
the heart grows paralized to tell-that
outrage: too foul: to name-"Your
Wife" he shrieked, pointing to that
hideous mass amid the smoking ru-
| ms. ''The Britirh, they murdered
your wife; they flung her dead body
in the flames; they dashed your child
against the hearthstone." This was
the farmers story. A nd there as the
light Of the breaking day fell around
the spot. there stood the husband, the
father gazing upon that mass of flesh
and blackened bones, all that was once
his wife! Do You ask me for the fire
that blazed from his eyesl / cannot
tell you; but I can tell you that there
was a VOW going up to heaven from
that blacksmith's heart! that there
was a cIinched hand appraised in the
llightof the breaking day. Yes, as
the first CLEAN ofautumnal dawn broke
around that spot, as the, first long
stream of sunlight streamed over the
peeled skull of that young wite-she
was that last night-there was a vow.
going up to heaven, the vow ola mad
dened heart and anguished BRAIN
How was that vow kepts Goto Bran
DIVINE, and where the carnage gath
ers thickest, where the fighting is
most bloody. and there you may see a
stout form striding on, lifting a ham;
mer into the light-where that ham
mer falls it kills-where that ham
lmer strikes itcrushes. It's the black
smiths form, and the war cry that he
shouts It is mad cry Of vengeance
half howl, half hurrah! It is but
fierce yell breaking up from his heav-
| ing chest! All mol All mol 1t is
the name ofMary!. 1t is the name of
his young wife,! Oh Mary. sweetest
name of woman-name SO soft, scrip
ping, so musical-name ofthe moth
er Of Jesus, made-holy by poetry and
religion. How strangely did the svl-
tables Of music ring out from that
blacksmith's lips, as he went murder
| ing on. "Mary," he shouts, as he
drags that relocated trooper from
his steed. "Mary," he shouts as his
hammer brushes down, laying that
officer in the dust, '.Look! another
officer with q gallant face and form
another officer glittering with tinsels
clasps the blacksmith by the knee
and begs for mercy. have wife
| | have q wife in yonder England,
spare me.'' The blacksmith, crazed
as he is, trembles, thereis g tear in
his eye. 81 would spare You, but
there is form before me-the form
of nv dear dead wife. That form is
gone before me- all day, she calls up
IN me TO strike" the hammer fell,