Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-06-03
'ors jostled. sergeants, and generals

jostled privates, and away they rushe,
: helter<skelter, without even as much a
a solitary 'Erin-go-B ragh 1t was ,
miniature Bull Run. Fleetest among thu
fleet was an officer in bran-new uni
form, with a ferce-looking plume o
green feathers in his shake He mus
have been at Bull Run. He bounded an
telope-like over fences, kangaroo-liks
over stumps, and on open ground he was
equally unapproachable. Of him may
: it truly be said, in the words of Mark
Twain, none ran that day with more
vigor, yet there was much running and
great deal of vigor. About one hun
bred and fifty yards from the American
side the runners halted and pretended
to rally, but the sight of the Rifle Brigade,
followed closely by the Independents,
was overpowering, and once more they
went on their way. The scene after the
skirmish was strange one. 1t might
have been thought, without any great
stretch of imagination, that the contents
of every pawnbroker's shop in Montreal
had been sown broadcast on the field.
Long-tailed blue coats with United States
army buttons, powder horns, tobacco
boxes, and clothing of every fashion, cut
and description, were strewed wholesale
over a two-acre field. As the Rifle Brigade
were returning leisurely from the chase
they fell upon Fenian acting the corpse !
by the side of fallen log A loud moan |
betrayed his presence, and when it was
ascertained that he was not dead but
scheming, he was lifted up tenderly by
the collar and questioned as to his inten-
tons. He bitterly protested that he was
no Faynian, but dacent, well-raised
boy, wild no harm in me at all, at all.
Cross-examination revealed the fact that
his veracity was not spotless, and he
was placed under arrest with the COM
forting assurance that he would be
blown from the lannon's mouth immedi-
ately after dinner" The whole country
in now in roar of laughter at the result
of pack Of Quixotes forcing men
OK TO CANADA
in the most reckless disorder. The Rad
cal press teens with all kinds of para
loes and doggerel verses on the so-called
aid. One thus corrupts the lines of
Campbell:
Neil O'Neill! beware of the day
y hen 10 Canucks, all in battle array,
shall pepper thy troops with fierce fusilade
from forninst yOnder fatal ambuscadel
FOR couple of Sherifs rush red OR my sight,
Ind the clans of O'Neill are scattered in fight.
ANOTHER tries his talents thus:
At the battle of Trout river,
/ was there all the while,
was there all the WHILE
At the battle of Trout river,
fought with 0'Neill,
fought with 0'Neill
At the battle of Trout river,
ran with 0'Neill, @
ran with 0'Neill.
md another changes Shakespeare so as
} make ONeill exclaim:
% A hack! hack My republic for hack
Tell fight at least with harness ON our heels"
md still another gives us a parody on
ack and Gill: I
Jack O'Neill went up the hill
The bloody Canucks to slaughter,
But Jack came back in a U. s. hack
Much sooner than he oughtef.
'e know the sensible Irishmen of Mem
his see the absurdity Of squads of I'M
sciplined and unorganized men rush
g wildly to take a place they could not =
Did ten minutes Human life is not SO
reap as to be sacrificed in this way by
few demagogues who have set them
Ives up against their people and their
lurch. All good men desire the free
I'm of ireland, but it cannot be achieved
7 mad-caps or mountebanks. When
e proper time comes for action, the
oper kind of men TO lead will rise in
and they viii not lack large
lmbers to follow them to victory and
DRY. The day is not far distant when thu
i'm may boast of religious as well as GU
'litical liberty from one end to the -,
her of her sea-beaten shore. 1t is bet :.
r to wait until the Lord sends us the W.
eets of life than TO fly furiously into ex'
e jaws of destruction-to win fame nu
Their than derision - and to become
eat by unity of sentiment rather than
Iall by bitterness and pickering. =