Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1866-06-15

"But perhaps the duNlCate gOttnrOugn!"
No, breathess reader, the duplicate did not
get through. The duplicate was taken by
Faucon in the Ino. | slw it last week in
DIR. Liebers hands, in Washington, Well,
all | know is. that if the duplicate had got
through, the Confederate government would
have had in March chince at eighty-three
thousand two hundred and eleven muskets,
which as il was, never left Belgium SO
much for treading into that blessed piece of
wire on the shelf of the cedar closet, up
stairs.
"What was the bit of wire P'
Well it was not telegraph wire fit had
been, it would have broken when il was not
wanted to. Don't you know what it was
Go up in your own cedar closet, and step
about in the dark, and see what brings up
round your ankles. Julia, poor child cried
her eyes out about it. When / got well
enough to sit up, and as soon as / could talk
and plan with her, she brought down seven
of these old things antiquatcd Belmontes
and Simplex Elliptics, and horrors without
a name, and she made pile of them in the
bedroom, and asked me in the most pen-
tent way what she should do with them.
"You can't burn Them said she, sire
won't touch them. If you bury them in the
garden, they come up at the second raking.
If you give them to the servants, they say,
'thank-c missus,' and throw hem in the
back passage. If you give then to the poor
they throw them into the street m front, and
do not say 'thank-e.' Susy sent seventeen
over to the sword factory, and the foreman
swore at the boy, and told him he would fog
him within an inch of his life if he brought
any more Of his sauce there and so-and
so' sobbed the poor child II just rolled up
these wretched things, and laid then in the
cedar closet, hoping, you know that some
day the government would want something
and would advertise for them. You know
what a good bargain | made out of the bot
tie corks."
In fact she had sold our bottle corks for
four thousand two hundred and sixteen dol
lars OF the first issue. We afterward bought
two umbrelars and corkscrew with the
money.
Well, did not scold Julia. 1t was GER
tainly no fault of hers thatI was walking on
the lower shelf of her cedhr closet / told
her to make Il parcel of tlr things, and the
first time we went to drivt hove the whole
shapeless heap into the river, without saying
mass for them.
! But let no man think, o. no woman, that
this was the end of trOtbles. As | look
back on that Winter. and on the Spring of
1865 ( do not mean th steel spring0 it
seems to me only the beginning. got out
on crutches at last-I hal the office trans
| fercd to my house so thatLafargc and Hep
burn could work there nights, and commu-
nicate with me when | puld not 90 out
but mornings L hobbledup to the Depart
mcnt, and sat with the Chief and took his
orders. All me shall | soon forget that
crisp Winter morning, when we all had such
hope at the Office. One ,r two of the army
| collOury 1onl-o1 tba xin1n,xr bnt NJ,
by, and we knew that tlev felt well and
though would not ask Old Wick, as we
nicknamed the Chief, whist was in the wind
| knew the time had COM, and that the lion
meant to break the net this time. | made
an excuse to 90 home earlier than usual
rode down to the house il the Majors am
bulance, | remember jnd hOpped in, to
surprise Julia with the good news. only tC
find the whole house was in that quiet up.
roar which shows that something bad ha,
happened of sudden
"What is it Chloc?' said l, as the old
wench rushed by me with bucket Of wa
ter.
Poor Mr. George, | 'fraid he's dead sah'
And there he really was-dear handsome
bright George Schair-the delight Of all the
incest girls of Richmond he lay there on
Aunt Eunicc's bed on .hc ground floor
|
not dead-and he did not die. He is ma
king cotton in Texas now. But he looked
mighty near it then. "Tlc deep cut in hi,
head was the worst then had ever seen
and the blow confused orcrything. Whel
McGregor got round, he said it was no
hopeless but we were al, turned out of tn,
room, and with one thing md another he go
the boy out of the swoon, and somehow il
proved his head was not broken.
No, but poor George swears to this da,
/, it were better it had been, if it could onl,
have been broken the right way and on tn,
right field. For that evening we heard tina
everything had gone wrong in the surprise
There we had been waiting for one of thos,
early fogs, and at last the fog had come
And Jubal Early had, that morning, pushet
out every man he had, that could stand
, and they lay hid for three mortal hours
= within ] don't know how near the picke
line at Fort Powhattan, only waiting for tn
shot which John Streigh's party were t
fire at Wilson's wharf, as soon as somebod
on our left centre advanced in force on tn
/ enemys line aboye Turkey Island stretchin,
across to Nansemond. am not in the Wa
Department and forget whether he was t
advance en- bdrbette or by echelOn of infant
l ry. But he was to advance somehow, an
; he knew how and when he advanced yo
? see that other man lower down was to rus
g in, and as soon as Early heard him he wa
= to surprise PoWhatan, You see and then,
3, you have understood me, Grant and Butle
| and the whole rig of them would have bee
{ cut OFF from their supplies, would have ha
= to fight battle for which they were nj
{ prepared, with their right made into Il ney
left. and their old lelt unexpectedly nc
= vanced at an oblique angle from their Gel
| tire, and would not that have been the en-
t of them
| Well, that never happened. And the res
c son it never happened was, that poor Gcur4
e Schatf. with the last fatal order for this ma
| whose name | forget (the same who was Il
It terward killed the day before High Bridge
e undertook to save time by cutting across b
n hind my house, from Franklin 10 Gree
c streets You know how much time
" savcd-they waited all day ior that orde
7. George told me afterward the last thing
e remembered was kissing his hand to JUL
II who sat at her bedroom window. He sa
l he thought she might be the last woman
l. ever saw this side of heaven. Just aft
that it must have been, his horse-thi
V white Messenger colt old Williams bred
e went over like log, and poor George WI
, pitched fifteen feet head-loremost against
stake there was in that lot. Julia saw Il
q whole. She rushed out with all the wome
1t and had Just brought him in when Q
D home. And that was the reason that d
great promised combination of DecembC
'e 1864, never came off at all.
N walked out in the lot after McGreg
turned me out of the chamber, to see VIII
" they had done with the horse. There he i
| as dead as old Messenger himself His ne,
It, was broken. And do you think, | looked
IN see what had trpped him. l supposed
of ,rna nnn of thn hnNs' hnnlv hnlns IL no