The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-04-01

bandaged up my limb the best l might,
and started to crawl away, for our bat
teries had opened, and the grape and can
ister that came hurting down the slope
passed but q few feet over my head. 1t
was slow and painful work, as you can
imagine, but at last, by Gint of persever-
ance, had dragged myself away to the
left of the direct range of the batteries,
and creeping to the verge of the wood,
looked off over the green slope. under
stood by the crash and roar of the guns,
the wells and cheers of the men, and that
hoarse murmur which those who have
been in battle know, but which l cannot
describe in words, that there was hot work
going on out there but never had seen,
no, not in that three days desperate melee
at the Wilderness, nor at that terrific re-
pulse we had at Cold Harbor, such abso-
lute slaughter as I saw that afternoon on
the green slope of Malvern Hill The
| runs of the entire army were massed on
the crest, and thirty thousand of our in
fantry lay, musket in hand, in front. For
eight hundred yards the hill sank in easy
declensior to the wood, aud across this
smooth expsnse the Rebs must charge to
reach our line. 1t was nothing short of
downright insanity to order men TO charge
that hill and SO his Generals told Lee,
but he would not listen to reason that'day,
and so he sent regiment after regiment,
and brigade after brigade, and division
! after division, to certain death. Talk
about Grants disregard of human life, his
effort at Cold Harbor-and / ought to
know, for got mimic in my shoulder
that day-was hopeful and easy work to
what Lee laid on Hills and Magruder's
divisions at Malvern. 1t was at the close
of the second charge, when the yelling
mass reeled back from before the blaze Of
these sixty guns and thirty thousand rifles,
even as they began to break and fly back
ward toward the woods, that saw from
the spot where / lay Tiderless horse
break out of the confused and flying mass,
and, with name and tail erect and spread
ing nostril, come dashing obliquely down
the slope Over fallen steeds and heaps
of the dead she leaped with motion as
airy as that of the flying fox when, fresh
and unjaded, he leads away from the
hounds, whose sudden cry has broken him
off from hunting mice amid the bogs of
the meadow. So this riderless horse came
vaulting along. Now frem my earliest
boyhood I have had what horsemen call
weakness for horses Only give me a
colt Of wild, irregular temper and fierce
blood to tame, and am perfectly happy.
Never did lash of mine, singing with
cruel sound through the air. fall on such
send his hot blood from heart to head
deluging his sensitive brain with fiery cur
rents, driving him to frenzy or binding
him with fear but touches, soft and gen.
tie as woman's, caressing words. and
oats given from the open palm, and un-
failing kindness, were the means l used
to 'subjugate' him. Sweet subiugation,
both to him who subdues and to him who
yields! The wild, unmannerlv, and un-
manageable colt, the fear of horsemen
the country round, finding in you, not an
enemy but friend, receiving his daily
food from you, and all those little moth
ings which go as far with horse as q
woman, to win and retain affection, grows
to look upon you as a protector and
friend, and testifies in countless ways his
fOndness for you. So when l saw this
horse. with action so free and motion SO
graceful, amid that storm of bullets, my
heart invOluntarily went out to her, and
my feelings rose higher and higher at
every leap she took from amid the whirl
wind Of fire and lead. AS she plunged at
last over little hillock out of range and
came careering toward NE as only rider
less horse might come, her head flung
|
ly spread, her f1anks and shoulders flecked
with foam, her eye dilating, forgot my
wound and all the wild roar of battle, and,
lifting myself invOluntarily to sitting
posture as she swept grandly by, gave her
a ringing cheer.
"Perhaps in the sound of a human
voice of happy mood amid the awful din
she recognized 8 resemblance to the voice
of him whose blood moistened her shou,
ders and was even yet dripping from sad.
die and housings. Be that as it may, no
sooner had my voice sounded than she
flung her head with proud upward move.
ment into the air, swerved sharply to the
left, neighed as she might to q master at
morning from her stall. and came trOttine
directly up to where / lay, and, pausing
looked down upon me as it we're in com
passion. | spoke again, and stretched out
. my had caressingiy. She pricked her
ears, took step forward and lowered her
nose until it came in contact with my
palm. Never did fondle anything more
tenderly, never did see an animal which
L seemed to so court and appreciate human
tenderness as that beautiful mare. / say
beautiful No other word might de.
! scribe her. Never will her image fade
from my memory while memory lasts.
"ln weight she might have turned
when well conditioned, nine hundred and
+; fifty pounds. In color she was a dark
, chestnut, with velvety depth and soft
I look about the hair indescribablv rich and
, elegant. Many a time have heard Ia
dies dispute the shade and hue of her
plush like coat as they ran their white
jewelled fingers through her silken
hair. Her body was round in the
barrel, and perfectly symmetrical. She
: was wide in the launches, without proec.
ton of the hip bones, upon which the
shorter ribs seemed to Lap. High in the
: withers as she was, the line of her back
and neck perfectly curved, while
her deep. oblique shoulders and
long thick forearm, ridgy with
swelling sinews, suggesting the per.
fection of stride and power. Her knees
across the pan were wide, the,cannon bone
: below them short and thin the pasterns
long and sloping; her hoofs round, dark
| shiny, and well set on. Her name was q
shade darker than her coat, fine and thin
as athoroughbred's always is whose blood
| is without taint or cross Her ear was
: thin, sharply pointed. delicately curved
nearly black around the borders, and al
: tremulous as the leaves of an aspen. Hel
neck rose from the withers to the head in
perfect curvature, hard, devoid of fat, and
well cut under the chops. Her nostrill
were full, very full, and thin almost al
parchment. The eyes, from which tears
might fall or fire flash, were well brought
? ont, soft as gazelle's, almost human ir
T their intelligence, while over the small
bcny head. over ueck apd shoulders Yea