Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1868-11-19
Across the Plains.
Correspondence OF the Belmont Chronicle
D,rhrr1 Nnli1.a Ea Oct 10 ISIS

of romance with its strange history,
with its groves and orchards, its broad
streets and running rivulets, is poor
place for Gentle. The visitor to the
sanity city, will, in three days, tire OF
the situation; in four he will yawn and
lounge disconsolately about his hotel ;
and, L doubt not, were he compelled to
remain a week he would be ready to die
of Frenchified eailta. The first day OF
his visit he will naturally devote to the
inspection of the town, the haremS and
public buildiRgs-the evening 10 the
theatre the second day to the suburbs,
factory and country villas; the third to
tie briny lake and intermediate country
and then, unless he wants to write d
book, or join the Saints and start q .har-
EN- on his own account, he is through
with Mormondom. Having neither OF
these objects in view we had no excuse
for prolonged stay. With a farewell
glance at the walls surrounding the
Prophets house, and the habitations OF
q dozen fayorite wives, We swept across
the valley, beyond the eastern suburbs OF
the city known to the faithful as their
new Jerusalem. Tarrying a few days at
Green River until the tracklayers reach
ed that place, We embarked for Benton,
Laramie, Cheyenne and Omaha. Win
ter had set in, and the country from
Cheyenne to Benton was covered with
mantle of the purest white, From the
rocky precipices of the Black Hills huge
ieicles hung pendant in the frosty air,
glistening in the sunlight like fantastic
shapes in purest silver. Visions of a
warmer cline and less frosty atmos-
phere lured US on to the banks of the
broad Missouri; and We hastened to a
short respite from the rigors of u North
ern winter. t,isa
To-day and tonight the city is all
aglow. Both Republicans and Demo
Gratis held meetings to-day; both. are
having a grand torchlight professions
tonight. Thestreetsare literally ablaze.
why the parties hold their meetings SIM
ultaneously, shall. never guess. In a
place like Omaha where lager beer runs
like water, it will be strange if the expert
ment does not result in score of broken
heads. AS early as ten O'Clock there is a
tumult raging; by midnight bad blood
will show, unless indeed, the roughs on
either side are too drunk to inaugurate a
respectable fight. Lay them low! o,
King Alcohol!
Apropos TO public meetings | have. a
yarn to spin-a story about Phil. Sheri-
dan, whose name and presence all good
men love to honor The romance-for
romance it is-has gone the rounds of the
far western press, but, doubt not, it Is
new to the readers of THE CHRONICLE.
The reader will remember that General
Sheridan was out in this country some
weeks ago, and that he returned east
ward via Omaha, in company with
Grant and Sherman. The fact of his
having passed through Omaha, accounts,
in a great measure, for the discovery of
the facts which am about to relate.
Let US go back to the peaceful times
before the blood and carnage of the four
years cival war. In the city OF New
York was living handsome young wild
ow, possessed of numerous accomplish
menIs and of considerable wealth. Be
ing a woman ofcultivated mind and rare
personal beauty, coupled with family re-
Iations of first-ciass respectability, she
was, of course, splendid food for hungry
hearts. And it would seem that General
Sheridan, great and famous as he has
now become, was not wholly stranger to
the tender passion, "a plant we have
all nurtured more or less in our bosoms.
He met the widow, he courted her, then
loved her, and finally became infatuated
with what seemed the purest idol of his
young and yalorous heart. She recipro-
Gated, in measure the affection he so
lavishly bestowed upon her; and yet
there was another, a young man OF hum
bic birth, whom she loved in better faith
than him whose deeds of bravery and
heroism are known throughout the
country, whose fame has spread across
the ocean and from pole to pole, whose
praise is sung in every household. To
IL -I,,N pf. St..r
idan's Ride" she gave her heart and
hand, and, coming with him to the Far
West, settled down in Omaha. 1t is said
that one of her principal reasons for
coming West was TO avoid contact with
the disconsolate young Lieutenant, who
the while seemed indefatigable in the
pursuit of his choice. The young bride
left positive instructions with her moth
er, who remained behind, that all
knowledge of her whereabouts should he
concealed from her former lover. :
The tocsin of war was sounded through
out the land, Sheridan was called to help
mould the history of nation struggling
for its life, and for the time the old pas
sion was simply thing of the past
Several times during the years of the
rebellion Sheridan made it convenient,
while in New York, to call and make
inquiry OF the old lady as to the where
abOuts of the married daughter, whom
he always spoke of as having been in
tended by heaven for him.
The war closed, years have passed
away, and few weeks ago brave Sheri-
dan was welcomed in a public reception
by the loyal people of Omaha; but l
dare say he did not for moment dream
that among the thousands of upturned
faces that greeted him was one of the
tender mould he had known and loved
so well in years gone by. Yet such was
the case. In the absence of her husband
in the mountains, she had accepted an
invitation to ride in the procession, in
charge of one of Nebraska's s noblest sons,
who seemed as eager to effect an inter-
view between herself and the General as
she WIS nervous at the sight of him.
She was desirous of speaking to him,
knowing that the joy would be equally
his, but she was 10th to present herself,
to- be noticed by accident;
and with that purpose in view her con-
iuctor tried in every possible way to at
tract the attention of the peoples guest.
But the eyes of the two never met, the
TWO hearts were saved the excited pulsa-
ions that must have followed a recogni-
ion; the procession dispersed, the recep-
tioD was over, and the two parted, per
haps neverto be seen one bv the other
again. So ends the chapter, which prop
.rly belongs to the romance OF the war.
Men of war seem to love and WOO as do
more peaceful mort ais; but soldiers
wooing, like O civiliaLt's is sometimes all
IN vain.
AT this point our little p arty disorganized.
The artist goes hence to Frederick's gal
cry in New York, the geologist to his
'ossils in Washington, my anonymous
friend to st. Louis, and my humble self
% the prettiest little village in Central
Iowa. When the snow falls and sleigh
Jells Jingle, some of US have trip laid
off to the pineries of Minnesota. '.t 81
G. Eff.
Tn is very well known that in MANY