The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-08-09
BY.HORsLEY BR ROs. & FIGUERS

final triumph of right and reasOn-
that meant the Confederacy, OF course !;
and we had understood the sinking
heart which beat in the editors bosom,
under all his brave show of confident
fortitude. 1--WE all knew him well,
poor little man! I see him now, iIr
bis worn-out suit or homespun and
homemade jeans. He had ten chill
dren aud siekly wife; and, should
think, would have found a hard
enough struggle of life, leaving Sher-
man out of the question) Well, the
news, magnified by flying scouts to
excuse their avn terror, Informed us
that Sherman's advance was within
ten miles of the town; stated further
that the general himself had intended
passing it, leaving it uDmolested: hut
that the unappeasable wrath of his
men against it and its inhabitants
there was a Confederate prison within
its linnits-had turned him nom his
Icourse direct to GOldsborOugh, deter
mining him to come hither to wreak
his reddest vengeance upon the people;
and, of the town, to leave not one stone
standing upon another! This was
false, Of course. The town Wus taken,
and IN pait burned. But not by Bher.
man.. fa
Here was the realization Of all our
terrors indeed! And knowing no bet,
ter-haviug no possible means OF
Knowing better-we believed It.
I sAt first as. / said, there was un-
broken, heavy-hearted ef!enre around
the table. Untouched the coffee
made of parrhed. potatoes
the corn read and homiDy. But the
miserable, unspOken heurt-slckness
was broken by sudden dicturii from
my dear godmuiher, q small, nervous
woman, with keen eye of the color,
! aud a true heart Of the temper, of
Damascus steel. She turned with her
accustomed decision to Mrs. P,
a:Whatever happens, Carulihe;b. she
said, these girls nitist not stay here.
There is not a man about the place 10
even attempt their defence if It should
be necessary. They must go, and you
| must -t1ke them, and. you must take
them at Once-nOw. 1 am an old
yemanspnd have not much to fear;
shall Say where am, and do what
can totake care of my home"
Mrs. P-answered quietly, but she
was very pale:
zone place is as safe as another, my
friend. We will remain together
"We will do nothing of the sort,n
said my godmother, rising. "The
Western Railroad is open YET. Every
one who can go, is leaving town, and
YOU >nught TO be among them. If you
can reach S-Zn Ia village some thirty
| miles distant) "you will be compare
| lively SAFE; 1t is poor, place, and
hidden among the hills. There is 4
nothing there to tempt the soldiers,
and no cause for vengeance. Go there,
if you can get there. Make the at
tempt, at any rate. You cannot be,
wore off than here, aud you may be
! better. And may the L'rd sl'eed
4 yeav =
= There was NJ wiihstanding my god
mothe,'s de:srDk nation. There rarely
4 was. indeed. God bless her, and send
her length OF hapPy days! She is to
day, as she long has been, one OF the
nOblest of serene-sOuled, high-heartcd
women. God bless her. from my
heart, 1 pray-thc heart that she has
comfOrted in sore affiiction many a
! time, and that has seldom known
deeper sorrow than in its long exile
from her
So well did her resolution work,
that in ten minutes more we were as
busy with our hasty preparations for
| fight, as if we had looked forward to
it for q week. We were excited to the |
point Of absolute quietude.4 But, in
spite CT steady nerves, our packing
was of curious specimen of that diff |
cult art. We simplified it exceeding.
ly, tossing our treasures in piles into
trunks and then tottering on the |
peIilous apex, standing on them, and |
stamping on them, until they consoli. |
dated themselves sufficiently to allow |
the lid to fit in its place, and the key /
to turn i'm the lock. It was next to |
impossible to get any thing 10 wear in |
those -tiays--black particularly; the
demand Tor it far, exceeding any posi-
bic supply. In spite of difficulties,
however, II was in deep mourning
had lately succeeded i'm procuring two |
new dresses, and, oh, how dearly
precious they were in my eyes !-one
being a sort of browni<h-black serge,
quite course enough to shoot straws
through without iDjuring the texture,
which l had thought deIiciously cheap |
at. three hundred dollars q yard; the I
other an alpaca, almcst decent, at the
very moderate charge of three thou
sand two hundred for the pattern. The
vendor had taken care TO let me know
il was sold thus cheaply because one
end was not perfect, having been wet
with saltwater during its passage
Though the underground railroad.
Even these invaluable toilets shared
the upiversal fate. But France and
Carrie, and j, had each some valuable
jewels, souvenirs of other days, and we
wasted some precious minutes con-
sidering what to do with them. Should
We divide the chances, and leave them?
No, said my godmOther, emphatically.
Her house was the handsOmest in the
town, and in case of a general pillage
it would go among the first. Should
we secure them i'm "pads," and wear
them ourselves? BY no means! If we
fell into the hands of any of the rowing
bands belonging to the main army,
the most trivial cause for suspicion
would result in the insult of a personal
search. Alas! with many prophetic
sigh, we put them into our trunks
with the rest.
The trunks themselves were present
ly tossed into the baggage-cart, and
we and they We're at the nearest
station, within an hour from the time
that the council of war had hastily
approved q retreat.
There somebody in authority inform
Ell us that the last train had left ten
minutes before. -.....'.-...-.-.
I can see Mrs. P---'s pale, noble
face at this moment. The mere fact
of deciding to leave had Impressed us
all with its absolute necessity. We
three girls looked each at the other,
and, then, dismayed, at our conduc-
tress. Mrs. P wrung her hands.
"My Godw she cried; "what shall
we do,?" .-.-.@ ''.-.
lit amt no sort of use your trying
to get away, ma'am," said the station
master, kindly. He was weIlfrighten-
ed himself, by-the-way. "If there
was fifty trains leaving, you couldn't
get far. Listen to that!" =
All! we heard it at last! The sound
we had imagined and dreamed of so
long fell upon our ears at last, verified
i'm an instant-the distant, dull rear
that seemed to rise from some un-
imagined depth beneath our very feet.
1t was the cannoDading at last. Every
cheek, blanched, though three Of us
had been under fire before.
"Where is it?" Mrs. P-asked,
almost whispering. ~
"There's no telling, ma'am. It