Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1868-05-29

now and then an unreliable runner from the
seat of war, brcozo from the bloody waves
of the Potomac, her poor lono hoart was bleed
ing in tho solitude of its sorrow A battle
had been Fought Hoods Texans were where
the blows fell thicl1cst and tho dead were
piled deepest on the field of strife Avictory
had been won. Hundreds had fallen And
this was all poor Kato knew Hope sang her
syrcn song Months passed, mightier battles
had been fought; immortal names had risen
on the roll of fame. No word of hope from
her husband camo drifting on the stormy cur
rents of tho day to cheer tho dreary monotone
OF hor almost hopeless life, or stir tho sinking
tide of her destiny.
! 1t came at last Her husbands name was
on the list of the killed. Hope went out,
and the blackncss of darkness shrouded her
heart. A widowed mothers tears we're ming
| led with hers, and tho sob of hor little broth
CT, and her two little sisters mingled with the
requiem of her earthly JOY. Tears arc the
jewels from the full fount of kindly sympa-
thy, and words of sweet coincidence came like
music from the heart of humanity But
there arc hours darkening down in woe upon
| the crushed soul there arc sorrows grinding
the heart to summer dust, and human sym
pathy seems hollow mocking aud wo fold
ourselves in the selfishness of our great agony,
and like Rachel weeping for hor children, re-
fuse to be comforted
ho oil loJ or ~. J
late home Of Kate Walker and her mother
The ghastlicst wound will hcal-the deepest
gulf OF sorrow may be bridgod. Katc had
great mental elasticity; she was no coward to
shrink from duty and noble toll The war
had swept from her grasp the old luxurics of
ailucnce and elegant reposo. It's fiery bllows
had drlftcd her from the Eden of earthly love,
and buried her hopes and her joys in the
tomb. Crushed by tho great burden of her
voc, she did not yield up her sense Of duty,
she felt more than ever the majesty of faith
III God, the deep necessity of courage and
strength.
The heart of parent and child ycarncd for
the green pastures Of their old home. And
poor Kate turned away from the grave of her
father and the church before whose altar she
gave her woman's holy pledge, her womau's
love and faith. 1t was the sun beam of the
beautiful past, the dawn of new life, ending
in tho wintry evening of despair. Sadly the
friends said farewell. The broken household
left tho beautiful region of Nayisota for the
old homestead in Kentucky.
Long and lonely months had passed since
Kate Walker had received the intelligence of
the death of her husband The laugh of her
glad Girlhood was hushod, and over her face
there shonc tho chastcncd look of sorrow, H.
lumlncd sometimes by gontlc amic, whose
quieS beauty camc swelling up from soul
that had learned the lesson of submission in
the school Of adversely, learned to say with
holy trust" 1hy will bo done" Tho past
was an eternal past. Timc had laid its heal.
ing hand upon her bleeding heart, and the
hope Of Heaven lit the present and the future
with it's holy peace.
James Walker was not dead. Long and
dreary months of suffering had passed over
him. The statement of his death, if correct.
Gu, had never reached bis friends in Texas
Iii, companions in ,.,,rms believed him dead,
aud many an eye grew misty WITH the warr-
ors tears, as around tho camp fires HocGs
legion told the daring deeds of poor James
Walker. Letter after letter had been writ
ten, and no word Of hope came to chccr the
heart of the wounded hnro
The tide of war swept to it's close. Hopes,
bright as Heaven, went down in darkness set
in blood. What could yalor do against num-
bcrs. The cpilogue of the sublime tragedy
was cry of disappointment, wall of despair
and anguish over tho ruins of the Lost Cause
Wearily did James Walker take his way to
ward the boundlcss West; sadly did his heart
yearn for the gulf breeze that kissed the prai.
rio flowers of his native State, but moro than
all, and before ALL his soul lcaped to meet the
wife, tho peerless wife of his bosom. lie
reached his naive village, and stood like ono
risen from tho dead, amid the friends of his
boyhood, there to hear that months before,
his wifo believing him to be dead, had with
her widowed mother returned to Kentucky.
Immediately he started across tho gulf, and
far up tho father Of waters he pressed onward
to the homo Of his wifc's mother. Apain tho