The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1857-01-28

ramrod rising and falling in her slend'
fingers ~
Now look down on the wall agar
The refugees are climbing over it's sun
nit; again horrible cry, and anoths
wounded man toppling down upon b
dead and dying COIN, AIDES
But now look A smoke rises there
"a fire blazing up around the walls the
have fred the gate. A moment, aud th
bolt aud lock will be burnt from il
sockets-the passage will be free No,
is the fiery moment of the old. man
trial. While his brave daughter loads
be continued to fire, with that deadl
aim, but now-oh, horror he falls, wit
musket ball driven into his breast
The daughters outstretched arms re
ceived the father, as with the bloo'
spouting from his wound. he topple
back from the window.
Ah, i, is sad and terrible picture.
That old man writhing there on tn
oaken floor, the young daughter bend
ing over him, the light from the windov
streaming over her fathers gray hair
while the ancient furniture of the small
chamber affords dim back ground t.
the scene. { a4G
Now harkl The sound Of axes at tht
hall Observation-Disclosures
/" We have the old rebel at last +"
- The old man raises his head at thai
'sound-makes an effort to rise clutches
for a rife, and then falls again, his eyes
glaring as the fierce pain of that wound
'quivered through his heart.
Now watch, the movements of that
daughter. Silently she loads a rife;
silently she rests the barrel against the
head of that powder keg, aud then,
placing her finger on the trigger, stands
over her fathers form, while the shouts
Of the enraged soldiers came laundering
from the stairs. Yes, they have broken
the hah door to fragments; they are in
possession of the old block-house; they
are rus ring towards the old chamber
With murder in their hearts. and in their
eiaring eyes. Had the old man had a
lives, they we're not farthing s
purchase now.
Still that girl, grown suddenly white
as the 'kerchief around her neck, stands
there, trembling from head to foot, the
rifle in he, hand, its dark tube laid
against the powder-keg.
The door is burs. open-look there
Stout forms are in the doorway, with
muskets in their hands; grim faces STAIN
ed with blood, glare into the chamber.
Now, as if her very soul was coined
into tbe words. that yourg girl, with her
face pale as ashes, her hazel eye gleam-
ing With dea,hly light, utters this short
yet meaning speech:
Advance one step into the room,
aud will fire this rifle into the powder
therei"
No oath quivers from the lips of that
girl, to confirm her resolution, but there
she stands, alone with her wounded faith
er, and yet not a soldier dare cross the
the threshold Imbued as they are in
deeds of blood, there is something terri
BILE to those men in the simple words of
that young girl, who stands there: with
the rife laid against the keg of powder.
They stood as if spellbound, on the
threshold OF that old chamber.
At last one bolder than the rest, a
b avo, whose face is half concealed in a
thick beard, grasps his musket, and lev
els it at the young girls brest:
''Stand back, or by, viii FIRE :"
Still the girl is firm. The bravo ad-
vances q step and then starts back. The
sharp clrck of the rife falls with an un.
pleasant emphasis upon bis ear.
"Bess, 1 am dying" gasps the old
man, family extending his arms. "Ha,
ha, we foiled the Britishers. Come
kneel; kneel and say prayer
for me, and let ne feel your warm
breath upon my face, for I am cold
Oh dark and cold.''
Look-As those trembling accents
fall from the old mans tongue, those
fiDgers unloose their hold of the rifle !;
already the troopers are secure of one
victim, at least. a young and beautiful
girl; for affection for the father is mas
teriDg the heroism of the moment. Look,
she is about to spring into his arms.
But now she sees her danger. Again
she clutches the rife; again, although
her fathers accents are in her ears,
stands there, prepared to scatter. the
house in ruins, if a single rough hand
assail that form. va
There are few brief, terrible mo-
ments of suspense. Then a hurried
sound far down the mansion; then con-
test on the stairs; then the echos of a
rife shot, and the light of rife blaze,
then these ruffians in the door fall crush
ed before the strong arms of the Cont
mental soldiers. Then a wild shrek
quivers through the. room, and that
young girl-that " Hero Woman -
will, one bound springs forward into her
brothers arms, and nestles there. while