The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-02-11

grave, end the naboorln farms from
lnundatlon. When safely landed I
found him wedged in SO tight that he
couldent rise, SO I relieved him by d
prize with the eend of the. paddle.
AS his foot touchd the sakred soil he
gently separated his countenanee and
sung with feelin melody,
Home again-home again-from a furrin
The Ysnks .nay cum and the devil too but
I'll not run any more"
Recollektin some skraps of blank
verse myself, I said with much absent,
''TeH me thou swift of foot-thou
modern Asahel- Oh tell me where is
thy chariot and steer? Where didst
thou go when / did see thee driving
like Jehu as we did flee for ife.''
'I'n tell you ALL" sed he, ssI want
my trends to know it. I'm now q
man of war, Bill, and I'm glad of it.
I've done the state some servis and
she knows it. I've handled guns
Jes, guns-weepins of deth. I've
slept on my arms since I seed you
night after night hav I slept on my
arms, with hundreds of deadly weep
ins all around me. All Bill, Patriot
ism is big thing. When you once
breake the ice, great sluices of glory
as big as your arm will jest spring up
like mushrooms in your buzzum; and
make you feel like THROWN yourself
clean away for your country. Let
me set down and I'll tell you all I
know, Bill, but as the feller said in
the theater, "when you in your
letters these unlucky deeds relate,
speak of me as I am-nothing expa-
tiate nor set down hot in malice. ,"
''Jest so," sed I, ssexaaktly-e
aaktly so. Proseed, my hero
"Well, you see, the night after you
passed me, my steer got away. Hang
the deseevin beast! I hunted smartly
for him the next mornin, but L hunt
ed more forrerds than backwards.
Leavln my wagin with widder wo-
man, I took it afoot across the coun-
try by settlement road they called
the cut off, Devil of a cut off it
was to me. I broke down in sight of
little log cabin, and never moved
foot further that day. The old man
had chunk of q nag that worked in
q slide. [ persuaded him to haul me
to the eend of the cut off, and /
know he done it for fear I'd eat up
his smoke-house. Every now and
then he'd look at the old oman, and
she'd look at the smoke-house and
then look at me. But that slidin
bisness were the most orfullest travel
lin that ever hav had. Every time
the pony'd look back he'd stop, and
when he'd start agin he Civ such
jerk that my contents were in danger.
My holt broke on one okkashun, a
goin down a hill full of gullies. T
rolld some twenty feet into the edge
of the woods, and cotch up agin an
old pine stump that was full of WALLER
jakets. Three of the dingd things
stung me before I could rise, but I
got through the cut off and fell in
with some empty wagins that was
stampedin my way.
@'Gittin on to Atlanty, fool Irish
man stopd me right at the edge of
the town and demanded my papers.
l dident hav no papers. Nobody had
ever axd me for papers, but he
wouldent hear an argument. AS
Quarles would say, he woudent jine
isshue, but marched me to an offs,
and I dident stay there ten minets.
[ wer sent off to Dekatur with some
fifty conskripts who were all in
mournin, exsepin their clothes.
never seed sich pitiful set in my life.
[ talkd with EN- all, and thar was nary
one but what had the dyspepsy or
the swinny or the rumatics or the
blind staggers or the heaves or the
humps or sumthin. Well, there
want none of us discharged, for there
was bran new orders callin for every
body for thirty days to go to the
bitches. AS I couldent walk that fur,
was ordered to Andersonville to
guard the prisoners. At Makon
met IN old akwaintance, who was a
powerful big officer, and he had me
transferred to his department and put
in charge of his ordnance. There's
where I handled guns, Bill, and slep
on my arms. Whole boxes of mus
kets was around me, and I dident no
more mind taken snooze on a gun
box than if it had been a couch of
fethery down: Its all in gittin used
to it, Bill-all in the use."
"Jest so, sed 1, "that's the way
see -exaktly so, my friend. Pro
seed.''
.It's bland lucky, Bill, that I
dldent go to Andersonville. They