The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1870-05-19

remained motionless in our chamber, while
the firing appeared to increase in violence.
The windows ratified like skeIeton-bones,
and the very foundation of the house
trembled and shook at every discharge.
| was fast becoming calm again-de>
spairinely calm-when heard somebody
rapidly walking up stairs, and then well
known voice shouting our names. 1t was
old Robin, our negro servant, whom had
sent the day before in the country, to seek
for provisions. My fathers slave, and
my grandfather's Robin, now seventy
years of age, but more athletic than many
young man, had clung with pathetic
devotion to the poor remnants Of the famio
ly as he called us. My heart leaped up
! when l saw his honest black face, and
the notion that we might be saved, after
! all, brought back my strength of will and
| courage.
Saved but how People in times
of desperate danger think quickly, and are
/ apt 10 resort 10 singular expedicnts =
! CHANGING about the room, my eye fell
upon large, but exceedingly light straw
chair, which had procured for my moth
| er's convenience when she was strong
enough to sit up.
All, a lucky conception We wonld
wrap the invalid carefully in a double set
of blankets, strap her gently 10 the chair,
and if she could endure the pain of remov-
| al, Robin would take her on his back (she
/ was scarcely as heavy as a child), and
leave the city for the first place of security
that offered.
Huniedly proposed this plan TO my
mother, who, 10 my ineXpressible relief,
accepted it eagerly. Her pale face flush
ed little, and she actually looked better
a; that moment than | had seen her looI;
| for years. Tenderly, as if she had been
Il baby, Robin placed her in the chair, Sc
cured her frail person by passing several
cords and broad strap across her chest
and knees, and lastly, taking the burden
with no apparent effort upon his back, he
went down stairs, bidding me follow him
But oh that walk Of three miles, first
/ through the burning streets of Fredricks-
burg, with the roofs crashing above our
/ heads. jets of fire darling between doors
/ and windows, the hiss OF balls, and pc
culiar singing of tine great shells as they
/ passed in curves Of flame through the
! thicGening smoke ard then these great
dangers avoided, our plodding along the
( country roads, choked up by overthrown
/ rriages, and scattered goods of every
description, with horses escaped from their
owners, galloping madly along the debris
! of many a ruined homcstead-can | ever
/ forget it all-ever erase from memory the
! frightful pictures of that time?
| AT last we reached farTn>house, the
/ people Of which were our friends. My
mother, with exclamations of amazement
/ from the whole family, was taken at once
| to bed, but strange TO say, she did not
seem at all fatigued.
This delicate woman, who had not left
! her chamber, scarcely her couch, for years,
/ had braved the horrors Of bombardment
/ in the open streets-ridden on a neg ro S
/ back for three or four miles, and yet had
not succumbed. And what is more, from
/ that night my mothers health improved.
1 until now, five years after, | have the sat
/ isfaction of seeing her seated comfortably
near me, and engaged upon some delicate
/ sewing work, upon the very chair which
( formed so important part of the rescue
! of December, 1862.
/ Her comparative recovery has puzzled
the faculty, excepting one physician, an
acknowledged genius, who declares it was
the most natural thing in the world.
"Did you ever read Little Dorrit,'
Miss Martha ?" he asked me yesterday.
l replied that had ''Well, then, recall
that scene which represents Arthur Glenn
ent's mother, under the influence of a great
mental shock, throwing off the paralysis
of twenty years, and rushing through the
town to find little Dorrit, and entreat her
mercy.
Ignorant critics laughed at Dickens
for introducing what they called tour de
| force, but Dickens, as usual knew what
he was about. Such shocks, especially in
nervous diseases, act often with the subtle
force of ''galvanism, and the cases are
numerous where what you have sworn
must kill the patient outright, results in
a temporary, and in some cases (look at
your mother) permanent cure"
What; meanwhile, of old Robin He
still lives with the family, and in his hale
old age delights to repeat to his cronies
the minutest particulars of the event of
which hs was the unquestionable hero.
Every week he gets more garrulous
concerning it, so that, in doe time, the
flight from Fredericksburg promises, un-
der his creative fancy, to develop into
quite an ''Illiad'' of adventures. -Apple>
tons Journal
GLYcERINE-Comrar raratively few years
have elapsed since glycerine was thrown