Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1858-09-15

a.
All that frost and famine, lead and steel,
could inflict, was then endured; all the
crimes that reckless despair and ruthless
cruelty could prompt, were then perpe-
trated'' s-.' =. /
"And how" [ asked, 'tdid you escape,
when SO many doubtless strong and cour-
ageous, and more Injured to hardship, per-
ished SO miserably? 2" =4rzs-. -
"Under Providence, owed my prescrva-
ton to the trustest and most faithful servant
that e7er master had. Paul had been several
years in the hussars, was IN old soldier, in
fact, although still young man; and at
time when all discipline and subordination
was at an end, when soldiers needed not their
officers, officers avoided their generals, and
servants and masters were all alike and upon
level, Paul proved true as steel As if the
cold and the Cossacks were not enough. hun
ger was added to our suflerings; there was
no longer commissiriat distribution of
rations; rations, forsooth, dead horse was a
luxury | have seen men fight for till death
lean meat though it was, for the poor brntes
were starved as their riders. What little
there was to eat in the villages we passed
through fell to the share of the first comers
Empty larders-often smoking rulns-were
all that remained for those that remained be-
worst and provender the scarcest, Paul al
ways had something for me in his haversack.
One day i. would be piece of bread, en- the
morrow handful of gram, or some edible
roots, now and then a slice If hor5e-fesh-
and how delicious that seemed, grilled over
our smoky, scanty fires, There vas never
enough to satisfy my hunger, but there was
always a something-enough to keep body
ard soul together. Paul, as l afterwards
discovered, husbanded his stores, for be well
knew that if he gave me all at once, | should
save nothing, and then | must have starved
for days together and perhaps have fallen
from my horse from weakness. But think of
the courage and affection of the poor fellow,
himself half starved, to carry about him from
day to day, and to refrain from eating the
fooG set aside for me There were not many
mer in the army, even of generals rank, ca
| pable of such devotion to the dearest friend
| they had for extreme misery had induced a
! ferocious seifShness. that made us more Ike
! hyenas than Christians"
| should think the cold must have been
/ even worse to endure than the hunger" said
! L, scrcwlng up my extremltles, which the in
! terest Of the doctors conversation had almost
caused ME to forget
! at was, sir, harder and more fatal at
the truth, frost and famine worked hand in
hand, and with such unity Of action that it
was often hard to say which was the cause of
death. But it was shocking sight of a
morning to sec the poor fellows lying dead
round the bivouac fires Unable to resist
fatigue and the drowsy influence of the cold
they yielded to slunbcr, and passed from
sleep into the arms of death For there sleep
uds death"
But how then, asked, did any escape
from Russia, for all must have slept al
tinlcs?"
Il do not believe that any one who es
capped did sleep, at least not of night at the
bivouac. We used to rouse each other con
tinually to prevent our giving way, and ther
get up and walk as briskly as we could t.
quicken the sluggish circulation. We slep
upon the march in our saddles. and strange
, as IT may seem to you, even those on foo
!. slept wien marching. They marched il
, groups or clusters, aud those in the cenir,
slept, supported oy their companions, auc
moved their legs ms chanically. | do not sa,
that 1t was sound, deep sleep, but rather
, sort OF teverlsh dosing. Such as it was, how
ever. it was better than nothing, and save,
a some who would otherwise have sunk. Others
! who would have given way to weariness OF
from giving WY to utter despair and self
V abandonment by tnc repeated harrassing at
tacks of the Cossacks, The excitement
the skirmish warmed their blood and CAV
them, as it seemed, fresh hold upon life.
one of these skirmishes, or rather in shar
= combat, dear friend, captain in the sam
o regiment, had his left arm carried off by
| cannon shot, After the affair was over
i came suddenly upon him where he lay moan
o ing by the roadside, his face ashy pale, an
y his arm still hanging by the sinews. FL
q horse had either gallopped away or been caI
h tured by the fugitives.
e "'Ah, mon ami p he cried, when he sa
/ me: all is overt can go no further, I sh a
. never see France again.
9 saw, that like the majority of those wh
y received severe wounds in that retreat, b
d moral courage was subdued and had give
J, way to despair. [ was terribly shocked, ft
|, felt how slight was his chance of escape.
e need hardly tell you that there was very litt
a dressing wounds during the latter part of tn
IL retreat Most of the surgeons were dead
: the hospital wagons, with medicine and il
e struments, had been left on the road tran
u port for the sick was out of the question.
d assumed as cheerful q countenauce as | coul
= "Why, Previlie" [ cried "this will not dc
l. we must get you along somehow. Com
N courage, my friend; you shall see Fran
d again IN spite of all.
IT .Ah, DOCTOR replied he, its 40 use. He
Is | shall die. All you can do for me is to bic
J. my brains out. and save me from the Cossa
s. lances.' -aa E-.. .F -.,.
1T BY this time had dismounted and was
,e his side The intense cold had stopped t
y bleeding of his wound. saw tha. there W
ut no lack of vitality in him, and that, but
II this mshap, few would have got out OF t
t campaign in better plight. Even bis de>rpSc