The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1870-01-18

We EtANhA AAE NAAtifh "a Att - 80
aaan and Fishers Htll. "wbiriugs the
enemy up the valley. for month sup-
posing tbe Lieutenant dead The al
tandaut ieit With hiin followed rs i'm
modiately BedeiI' himself thought II
be-t, aad IT Vas doubtless necessary. for
tie country ssarmed with guerillas,
aud the system Of bloody reprisais en-
gagged IN by Mosby and Custer reduced
the probable life or death Of the nurse
to a simple question Of time, bad here
manned
1t appears that the family who allow
ed our officer the use Of the naked room
as a place in which to die, were hardly
pleased With their guest 10 fact they
seem to have been utterly destitute Of
sympathy, add to have thought It best
for al concerned that be should leave
this world aud them as speedily as pos
sible-aud they left him at perfect lib
erty to do SO. The promises they bad
so solemuly made us to give the wound
ed fiocer care aud attention, were en-
tireIy neglected, and his chamber was
never entered Death, horrible in its
loneliness and pain, would inevitably
have come quickly had not Good Sa-
maritan appeared. A Rebel among
Rebels, there was a woman who most
nobly proved herself TO unite with a
tender heart the rarest courage aud
perseverance, beyond account.
Mrs. Bottre YanMetre was Virgin
ian, born in tie Luray Valley, scarcely
twenty at the tins in question, and OF
attractive personal appearance. She
had been educated in comfortable cir
cumstances, and before the war her
husband had been moderately wealthy,
but now his farm was as barren as a
desert, not a fence to be seen, and moth
llng to protect had any enclosure re-
mained there was a mill upon the
premises, but the miller had gone to
fight for his country as he belieged,
and there was now no grain left in the
country to be ground. Officers who
| bad called at her door, remarked the
brave attempt at cheerfulness which 50
manifestly struggled with her sorrow
aud treated her grief with Difference
For this delicately nurtured girl was
| living alone iu the midst Of war bat.
ties had ragged around her very dwell.
ing she was entirely at the mercy o.
those whom she had been taught to be-
lieye to be her deadly enemies, and who
! held her husband and brother prison
Iers in Fort Delaware, taken while fight
ing the Confederate army, the brother
being, until long. after this time, sup
posed to be dead. Her only compan,
ion was little girl, perhaps ten years
of age, her neice. There this young
woman and child were waiting in then
anxiety and desolation, waiting and
praying for peace.
We should hardly expect the prac
tice Of active, laborious, gratuitous be
neyoleuce under such circumstances
but we shall see.
1t is not known how Mrs. VanMetr,
learned that Union officer was dying
Of wounds and neglect in the house o
her neighbor, but no sooner had sh
made the discovery than all her wo
manly sympathy was aroused As sh
would have longed TO have her husban'
or her brother treated under simila
circumstances, so she at once resolye
to treat their foe. She would not b
moved by the sneers aud taunts whic
were sure to come, but she wonld hav
him at her own house and save him
she could.
The Lieutenant had now been en-
tirely neglected for day or two c
longer be had resigned himself {
death, when this good woman entere
his chamber and with kindly word
called back his spirit from the mouth {
the grave,
She mad been allowed to keep a
apology for horse, so old and broker
winded aud rheumatic that he was ne
worth stealing, and also iickety was
on. With the assistance OF u neighbC
whose color permitted him to be hy
name, she carried the sufferer to ht
: house, and at last he found himself j
: clean and comfortable bed, h
D wounds washed and his bandagt
Z cleansed and best Of all, bis wants al
ticipated by q gentle female tenderne'
that inspired him with sweet thought
Of bis home. his family, aud bis Ill
4 even yet perhaps to be regaired
TIE physician Of the neighborhos,
a kind old gentleman, was at once snu
moued from a distance Of several mile
aud uniting personal sympathy wit
: professional zeal, be promised bis dali
attendance upon the Invalid I'll
chance was still bat a slender one, {
T. much bad been endured aud SO lltt
yigor remained. yet those two goo
people determined 10 e1pcud the
most earnes; eudeayors ia the alni0i
r desperate attempt TO save the life Of 4