The Shreveport weekly news. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1861-1861, 1861-06-24
Ssasessd Ezpsssly for .he Dsily Ners.
TAe Dealh Of Alice Bland.
\ PATHETIC rALE.

4 PATHETIC TALE.
AustiA I en- domiciisd once NOR
'andss ysar roof-I have my .appoin
ted chair 1t your hospitable board--
and I walk At cventide in the shad
cf Tho ancestral trees that enbowe,
your mansion. Your Laura, matrou
Used In her beauty. halls ME ever
morning with her benignant smiles
and your two fair children daily dis
port In innocent gaiSty around m,
Knees. You ask me What has becoln
Il that sister Of whom used to speal
% often. when we were scjourn-rs i,
ths ADszicaa wilderness-her WHOM
was wont to regard Nv the only
star that beckone<l me back to IN,
native country. The subject is q sac
.,ne but to you. faithfullest Of friends
! can refuse nothing. Pardon me
ifyon find my pen dwell too long OF
\ tsw simple incidents. Some allow,
snce may surely be made tor thu
prolixity Of chnstened grief.
Alice was my only sister-,h.
sole survivor of all my kindred; and
it was therefrrc no marvel that felt
deeply distressed when Intelligence
Of her iftness reached me in dis
tant land. Nearly ten years had
elapsed since our separation. She
vas then = fair-haired. bright-eyc,l
child. in her seventh year,, heed
less. aud perhaps semewha. head
strong youth. fifteen years her
senior-amd feverisl,ly eager to ex-
change my quiet home for the tented
fold. l soon forgot. amid the tur-
MOL Of war, the solemn farewell Of
our widowed mother but l never
lost remembrance Of the fearful eyes
aud last gentle embrace OF the dar-
ling Of our household hearth.
Five years afterwards my brother
followed mo To the army. You may
remember, Austin, that il was soon
after We had driven the French be-
yond the Ebro, that he joined our
banner--as brave and generous hear
ted . youth as Britain ever sent
firth 70 6gh, her battles. Before
the expiration at a month, you saw
hisu stricken down lif.less ut my
side. Green. forever green b. tn.
Navarrese valley in which his bones
,noalder! A brothers hand wiped
the last drops Of agony from his
blood-dewed brow-a brother's glance
alone could now discover his stone
less grave.
The Spanish war terminated tri-
u1nphantly for our country. Thin
~ reeds, and dusky as Moors, from
FIVE years exposure to burning sun
-honored, too, with some memorials
to our services We looked for
ward, Austin. with pride and joy to
the day that should restore Tug to OUR
kindred. In the very midst Of these
snticipations-at the very moment
when We heard the shouts of thou
sands Of our home-rcturniny soldiers.
sweeping over the blue-wav, d Garon-
ne. the vision Of peace departed.
Our regiment was ordered to Ameri-
ca; and at such junc,urc we could
not with honour forsakc its standard.
We saw blood shed in the vest
AZ the shores Of the Potomac and
Mississippi testified and there W.
buried many Of the bravest Of our
bard--men who had survived no less
thanfive victorious campaigns ayains,
the chivalry Of France. and who de-
served . prouder fate than to be
struck down in the wilderness BY
Yankee bullets. Dreams of home
again took possession of US when
that war ended but for me they
were ~ short lived as before. Will.
their corps sailed homewards. the
vessel in which mine had embarked,
but to which you. Austin, Fortunate
~ no longer belonged, stood away
for the waters Of st. Lawrence /: aud
tor three years 1 was condemned tn
vegetate in remote fortress in the
forests Of Canada. There l received
intelligence that I was motherless-
that Alice, just rising into woman
ly beauty. and despoiled of her little
patrimony by legal chicane, stood
alone in the wide world-aud, sad
dest Of all, that merciless consump-
sion-the disease that had bent down
the parent stem-,hreatened also to
lop away the tender scion that had
honrished it's SHADE. l could bear
exPatiation no longer In less than
. month after the receipt ofthis intor-
nation, l was on my way across the
Atlantic to give her succor.
Alice had dated her last letter
from the Isle of Wight. whittier she
had been carried, after her mothers
death. by an amiablc lady, who,
commiserating her forlorn situation,
snd Won upon by her many rnre and
endearing qualities had generously
resolved, that creature so formed to
DO loved should not be left TO die,
without nm effort being made to save
her. Need l say. therefore. that to
my homewartl-turned eyes the white
hesdlands Of that island We're objects