The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1864-04-15


TO your dauntlcss, desperate courage on that
wc-rcmcmbcrcd day,
When the earth was crimson ruin and the sky
was rent in twain.
And the cannons poured destruction and the ri
fcs deadly rain,
When hecatombs Of noble hearts, as votve offer
ings given
Upon their country's altar, were accepted cen in
When human life was trampled out upon the
CORY path,
And the God that watches battle seemed to turn
away in wrath;
Yes, when the snowy dove of peace the olive
branch shall bring,
Whom the sword is turned to ploughshare and
holy angels sing
OF earth redeemed from boodshed, IL every land
and cline,
Thy name shall be a wonder and glory for all
Time"
The company to which Walter FL
mer belonged had been foremost and
in the thickest of the charge upon a
masked battery Few, except their
captain, Edward Barber, had escaped
Though wanting in many Of the at
tributes that go to make up a good
man he was no coward A kind Prov
idence seemed to have held shield
4 between him and death, for whore the
shot ratified and 81 y Kissed where
the pistol bulletsA fstlea and the
Minie balls sang. he Dfaveu fate and
escaped unframed. But it was not so
with the noble-hearted lover of Jessie
Avery. Struck down among the first
faint from the loss Of blood, and dy-
ing with thirst, he had been literally
tramped into the bloody ground by
those that came after, and by those
who retreated, in tho causeless panic
that put an end to the strife And
during Il e terrible night that followed
he lay there If all of human agony
can be condensed into a few brief
hours, it was endured then and there
by those who had fallen. List We the
story as 1t falls from the lips of some
one you love, who was there, and learn,
if We have never learned before, how
much those who have battled for your
hresides and your homes, have endur-
ed, to keep them from the foot of the
invader and the rule of the oppressor
The retreat checked--a brief armis-
tice established, Captain Barber gath
cred the scattered remnants of his com
pany, and returned to the CORY field to
succor such as might live-to bury
those whose spirit lips were answering
the roll call in a camp beyond the
river that washes the shores both of
time and eternity.
Captain, here is Walt Elmer, said
one of the little squad of men, as he
came suddenly upon him.
Walter Elmer | knew he was in
the foremost rank. saw him fighting
like a tiger. Gro on with your search
men, / will attend to him. and the
Captain knelt by the side ofthe almost
corpse.
water for Gods sake water /"
came in a husky, curdlng whisper
from the lips of the poor soldier,
eyes, in moment. The men are
bringing some now. Where are you
wounded? Let me see, Waite" and he
unbuttoned the uniform to search for
the mark Of the fatal bullet
"Don't-don't," and the hands of
Walter Elmer were raised tremblingly,
and folded over his breast as if to for
bid further investigation.
"Pshaw Walt, you are as delicate
as woman. But l am not going to
let you die so, and he removed the
hands and. laid the fair breast open
I'VE were boys together, you know,
Walt, and-my God what is this ?"
and from over the feebly beating heart
he tore miniature and gazed upon it
as with the eyes of demon.
by Heaven !" he continued, after a
brief pause, in which all the evil pas
sions of his nature surged and boiled
lava-like, by Heaven 1t is Jess Ave
ry And it was for this poor, name
less, lily-faced boy that she spurned
my love" and he threw the little min
iature at his feet, and ground all sem
blance OF female beauty from it beneath
his heavily armed heel.
Water O,GodI viii no one give
me water? I am parching, dying"
was still the pitiful, pleading cry wrung
by fearful agony rom the lips of the
wounded man. ~, 49,
Water Yes, yoa,shall have water
when it rainsl Parcil, roast, die,
fool! The sooner the better, and Jess
Avery shall be mine. "es ra
water wat--"T s's5
But the plea fell upon ears that lis
tened not, and thecaPtain turned away.
Red-handed revenge had full posses
sion of his soul, and had he not been
sure that death would soon free him of
his fortunate rival, it might have been
that murder would have prompted his
hand to accelerate the end.
what, Walt Elmer, and dying !" ex-
claimed bluff old sergeant, as he near
ly stumbled over him. "By thunder
this wont do. His mothers darling,
and her only child" af4ki
water wateri' 81
Eyes, boy, yes y Here it is, if the
whiskey hasn't got the best of it, but it
cant hurt you, anyhow and he held
his flask to his comrades lips.
George Tompkans, sergeant, am
dying" Asa.ie i.qF
"No you amt, and you shan't !"
Tell mother that IL
The old soldier, who had seen death |
in every form, on the wild falds of bat
tie in Mexico, brushed tear from off
his weather bronzed cheek, and cut the
sentence short by lifting Elmer as if he
had been a child and hearing him AWAY.