The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-08-09

10 X and burnt as this world is at tn,
day of Judgment. They'll take til,
town, too, 1 know that. But it'll b,
better for you-you are four women
all alone, amt you2' he interrupted
himself rs this appalling fact .thrus
itself upon his observation.
"Yes, we are,n said Mrs P, al
most laughing even at that minute
the man looked go ludicrOusly dismay.
ed. "I3ut what of that"
"What of that? Good Godl Foul
women rushing out to meet an army,
and asking me, what of that" But
they'll do what they've a mind, in
spite of the devil himself"
At this he seemed to despair of the
i power of argument. He shock bis
head with slow dependency, and
walked of, intlttering.
In perhaps ten minutes after this we
found ourselves placed oddly enough.
The train was freight-train, rs Isa:d.
There were no more passenger-cars,
every one having been called Into re-
QUESTION hotirs befDfe. Into freight
car 1t was impossible we could bestow
! ourselves, unless we could do without
ar as well as light. Accordingly, We
were placed in nondescript, attached
for our especial behoOf, whose ordinary
purpose was carrying nve-stock-but
not of oir sort, as a rule-and which
luoked a good deal like a square
chicken-coop on wheels. We seated
ourselves OH some CANVASS bags that
the courtesy of the engineer had fished
up from some unimagined storehouse
Of bags, and spread upon the dirty
floor for our convenience, the boards
in the said floor being SO far apart, by
the way, that we had to use a great
deal of diplomacy to prevent our feet
being caught in the creviccs. Thus,
on the floor, our knees drawn up under
our chins, and our arms around them
the better to support ourselves, We sat
and stared at each other. Then, being
neither heroines, nor angels, but only
girls, with the Inherent weaknesses
thereof, the righteousness of our posi-
ton set us giggling.
Upon my word, this is funny"
cried France. 'I wonder if l look
most like duck or a turkey?"
"You behave much more like q
goose" said Carrie, reproachfully. "To
be saying such thugs, with sounds
like that in your ears! !"
For all this time the voice of the
cannon pursued us; and, rs the cars
ran very much at their leisure-rOtten
ties and Federal bayOnets presenting a
d6licately- y-balanced alternatiye-t the
noise of the train did little to mitigate
the slong, slow, thunderous sound,
which, in spite of our Increasing dis
tance, seemed to grow more and more
distinct every inmate.
''Giris, pray don't laugh SO !" said
Mrs. p directly. "YOu know
nothing of the danger i'm which we
may be going-we cannot tell-and
such levity disfresses me. Oh, thank
Heaven! we are away in time"
She uttered this ejaculation fervent-
ly, as loud report, followed imme-
diately by a sharp yo'ley from small
arms, ar estcd our foolish ling.
For one moment longer W thought
the firing WAS at the town we had just
left, only heard with wonderful dis
tinctness. Our exclamations were
hardly uttered when the train, which
hal been running with constantly de.
creasing speed, came to sudden
stand-still. instantly our hearts were
in our mouths; we turned simultane-
Ously to look out between the loosely
boarded side. of the cage that held us.
In low, marshy green field lying
below the high embankment-itw WAS
hiliy country, and there were many
such--werel lr, astworks, hastily thrown
up; two or three small field-pieces.
unlimbercd and ready for action; and
a hundred or two men in Confederate
gray. What they were put there for
remains rs much a mystery to the
present hour as it was at that minute.
Somebody in a lieutenant's uniform
came forward and spoke to the en-
gineer. Listening with eyes and
heart and ears, We heard, alas!
"DOn't go any farther" said the
lieutenant. "Yanks are ahead-ten
thousand strong"
"Goin' back, them" calmly said the
engineer, who practiced at least one
Spartan virtue-brevity.
Better stay where you are" said
the lieutenant, argumentatively.
'"Fhey are III front and rear-Stone-
mans raid from Tennessee ~
That was it, you see. We had fled
from Sherman, who was not coming
at all, and bad thrown ourselves into
StOneman's arms!
Well, am glad to remember that,
when the moment finally came which
we had so long anticipated with such
bitter dread, it found us very quiet and
sensible. After a few moments of
helpless expectancy on our part, some
body came to the door, or rather to
the open space at the end of the dr-
81. A,f.
us that we must descend the embank-
ment, our position being one of peril in
case of sudden firing, adding that an
attack was mOmently expected, and
that there had been desultory firing all
the morning.
Whoever he was, this man was a
gentleman by nature. shall never
forget his kindness. 1t was not much,
indeed, that he could do; but that he
did.
"I'm sorry for the chance that brings
you here ladies'" said he, helping us
down from the car. "YOu see we can't
make much of a fight, our men can't;
there amt enough of us. l fear you
will be prisoners before long. But take
things quietly, and you'll get through
all right, no doubt"
"What are the men here for,-if they
c mt make much of fight?" Frauce
asked, periinently, and impertinently
too, 1 fear. 'If they defend them
selves, they will protect u.s."
"They'n hardly do either, miss"
said the man, quietly touching his
cap. 1--WE are just put here rs q sort
Of sop for half-hour or so. The gen.
eral hopes to get off with the ammuni-
If we eau stop the adj
vance of the Yankees long enough.
Most Of us are standing on our own
graves TODAY. Miss"
Then we began the descent. We did
not talk much. There was an ache in
our threats, I think, that would have
made crying easier than talking, after
that simple phrase of the man who
was helping US. ..s.
That embankment was three hun.
dre,i feet high, at least, 1 was firmly
persuaded that it was red clay on the
surface -Oh, the dear old Carolina clay!
how my eyes and my heart have ached
for q sight of you :-and, as it had been
raining for three days, and was still
it was now red mud through
to level ground. For once in my life,
/ was orthodox in regard to the ma
terial of which was made. By the
time we reached the bottom of the
hill, 1t was patent to every sense that
we were but "children of clay"
Once there, our kind conductor
found some tolerably Clean stones for
A. a. 4