Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1855-05-31

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A column of white smoke rushing p into the.
air expands into concentric rings-then follows
the heavy, dull report, like the beat of some
giant drum, and then comes the shrill scream Of
the shell as it describes its fatal curve, and de-
scends with prodigions velocity, increasing rap
idly every instant till it explodes with the pecu-
liar noise of " blast" just as it reaches tho
ground. At least it ought to do so--but to-day
watched the shells one after another, and only
two out of three hnsst properly, though the
range and fight was beautifully accurate. The
Russian fusees are bad, but their artillerymen
are..not to be excelled when their practice is un-
disturbed. 1t was nteresting-just as the nan
Of pleasure in Lucretius liked to see the sea rage
when he was not on board the ship--to look at
the shell dropping and to see our active little
Allies scampering away to their cover, and ad-
justing themselves in the closest possible eonnec-
tion with mother earth till the hurtlng masses
had gone by them. Any man with moderate
confidence and experience may despse round shot
at long ranges, if he only sees the gun from
which they come discharged Well, we won't
say despise exactly, but at all events ' evade."
But shell is diabolieal invention, which no
one can regard as it approaches withouta certain
degree of misgiving that a triangular piece Of
jaggard iron may be whizzing through its inter
nal economy at the shortest possible notice after
wards. If it is sent from a gun it fzzes and
roars through the air, and sends its fragments
before it, the cone of dispersion, which is the
neat phrase used by the learned militant to imr
ply the direction of the bits of shells (or its
contents, when it is filed with bullets, etc.,
being in the direction the shell has taken from
the gun, and the fragments being propelled with
a portion of the velocity Of the shell at the mo-
ment of explosion. IF it is discharged from
mortar it whistles gently and deicately, giving
a squeak and a roar now and then as it rises to
its greatest elivation, and then rushing down.
ward with shriler whistle towards the point
aimed at If it explodes on arriving at that
point its fragments are projected all around ra
daily, and are propelled merely by the force of
the bursting charge. A man behind bomb,
or at the side Of it, is just as likely to be hit as
a man before it, when it bursts in that way
whereas the pieces from shell from a gun in,
nearly every instance fly forward, so that per-
son behind it, or outside the limits of the cone
of dispersion, is safe. Unless the she'll or bomb
bursts in front of body of men in the air, q
,Joyahla oF kn 4
tanned by the men throwing themselves fat on
the ground, inasmuch as the pieces of shell
which burst on the earth fly upward from the
point where they encounter the narinnmn of re-
sistence OF course, if bomb buists over a
man on the ground, or if a shell explodes iu"the
air in front of a man, there is no great safety
gained by his throwing himself down beyond the
consequent reduction of the amount of vertical
exposure, This little digression is all apropos
of the conduct of our Allies which | have just
mentioned, and is made in order to explain the
rationale of their proceedings. 1t is rather an
unpleasant reflection whenever one is discussing
the range of missile, and is perhaps in the act
of sxclaiming, g There's splendid shot," tina,
it may have carried misery and sorrow into some
happy household. The smoke clears away--the
men get up--they gather around one who moves
not, or who is rscked with mortal agony-they
bear him away-a mere black speck-and few
shoyelsful of mud mark forfa little time the
; resting-place of poor soldier. whose wife, on
mother, or children, or sisters are left destitute
| of all solace save memory and the sympathy Of
: their country. One such little spsck | watched
to-day and saw quietly deposited on the ground
inside the trench. Who will let the inmates Of
, that desolated cottage in Picardy, or Gascony,
: or Anjou know of their bereavementi However,
{ there goes another shell, and it does nothing but
knock up cloud Of snow snd dust,