The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1866-02-22

myself, said with aksent, "Tell me thou
swift of foot-thou modern Asahel-Oh tell
me where is thy chariot and steer? Where
dids't thou go when | did see thee dri-
wing like Juhu as we did fee for life"
"lll tell you all sed he, 81 want my
trends to know it. I'm now 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-yes, guns-weepns of deth
I've slept on my arms since seed you
night after night hav / slept on my arms,
with hundreds Of deadly weepings all
around me. All, Bill, Patriotism is big
thing. When you once breake the ice,
great sluices of glory as big as your arm
will just spring up like mushrooms in your
buzzum; and make you feel like throwing
your self clean away for your country Let
me set down and III tell you all | know,
Bill, but as the feller said in the theatcr,
"when you in your letters these unlucky
ing expatiate nor set down hot in malice" "
"Jest So" sed "exaktly-exaktly so.-
Prosed, my hero"
"Well you see the night after you passed
me, my steer got away. Hang the desec-
vim beast | hunted smartly for him the
next mornin, but | hunted more forreds
than backwards Leavin my wagin with
widder woman, took it afoot across the
country by a settlement road they called
the 'cut off" Devil Of cut off it was to
me. broke down in site of a little log
cabin, and never motcd a foot further tha
day. The old man had chunk of mar
that worked in u 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-hcuse. Every now and then he'd
look at the old oman, and she'd look at the
smoke. house and then at me- But that
sldin bisness were the most orfulest tMv
e!lin that ever hav had. Every time the
pony'd look back he'd stop, and when he d
start agin he give such jerk that my con-
tents were in danger My holt broke on
one okkasun, goin down hill full of
gullies. ro!ld some twenty feet into the
edge of the woods, and cotch up agin an
old pine stump that was full OF yaler jack.
cts Three OF the dingd things stung me
before could rise, but got through the
cut of and fell in with some empty wagins
that was stampcdin my way.
"Gittin on to Atlanty, fool Irishman
stopd ne right r; the edge of .hc Town and
demanded my papers. L dident hav no
papers. Nobody had ever axd me for pa
pers but he woudent hear an argument.
As Quarles would say, he woullcnt inc IS
stuc, but marched me to an offs, and |
dident stay there ten minutes. | wcr sent
off to Dekatur with some fifty conskripts
who were all in mournin, cXsepin their
clothes. | never seed sich u pitilul set in
my life. | talked with EN- all, and thar
was nary one but what had the dyspcpsy
or the swinny or the rumatics or the blind
staSSers or the hcaves or the humps or sum.
thin. Well, there want none Of us diSchar-
Sed, for there was bran new orders calm
Tor everybody for thirty days to 20 to the
bitches. As couldent walk that fur,
was ordered to Andcrsonyile to guard the
prisoners. At Makon | met an old ak
waintance, who was powerful big officer,
and he had me transferred TO his depart
mcnt and put me in charge of his ordnance
There's where handled guns, Ri |. and
slep on my arms. Whole boxes ofmuskets
was around me, and dident no more mind
taken a snooze on gun box than if it had
been a couch of fethcry down. Its all in
sittin used to it, Bill--all in the use
"Jest So" sed |, "thats the way see
il-exakty so, my friend Proseed.
dts bland lucky, Bill, that didcnt 20
to Andersonville. They would have had
me alongside of Wirz, either as principal
or witness or sumthin, and some lyin Yank
would hav had swear or two at me about
shootin him on the dead line. Before this
my carkass would have been eat up bv
worms or cut up by Doctors, and my piktcr
spred all over a whole side of IIarner's
Weekly as a monster of deth
DWELL, KEEP handlin guns and bayoncts
and dangerous weepins, until one day | got
iurlo to SO to Rome. Sherman was play
in base around about Atlanty, and SO | had
to circumiiencc around by way of Selma.
and the very day got there, overastir,
BLAST en-. the Wilson raiders got there too.
wasent no more lookin for them Yankees
IN Selma than | were for Bcelzebub and
both OF EN- was all the same to me. Bland
ii they wasent shootin at me before knowd
they was in the State. How in the dickens
they missed me don't know, for their min.
ny balls sung yanky doodle all around me
and over me and under me and betwiyt
me.