The daily gazette., 1874-09-02
WHO IS RUSSELL I?
by GEORGE CARY EGaIEs sToN.

saw him for the first time in 1862
| was stationed with my battery on the
coast of South Carolina, and never was
there an idler set of soldiers than we.
We were in the midst of great war IL
is true, and mine fighting battery,
composed chiefly of stalwart mountain
GERS, but on the coast we had literally
nothing to do. Once in camp we knew
we were to stay there. There was no
marching to be done and no bivouaking
Our business was simply to meet any
force which should attempt TO reach
the railroad, andto keep it back il pos
sible. 81
Everybody, that is, except Russell
His coming was q mystery. He did not
come at all. He simply appeared one
evening as locker on at roll call. He
was total stranger, and there was no
way by which he could have come 10
the neighborhood except on the train,
and as we all regularly attended the in
coming of every train, and promptly
pumped all the news out of every ar
irving passenger, we knew perfectly
well that Russell had not come by rail.
He was comely young fellow, as he
stood there in the rear of the first ser
geant, and listened to the calling of the
roll. SO shapely were his limbs and SO
exact all the proportions OF his frame,
that no one looking at him would have
suspected him of possessing cXtraordl-
nary strength and activity. His head
was a study for sculptor, and in limb,
feature, complexion and bearing, he
stood there very model OF manly
| beauty.
When The roll-call was ended, he
came up to me, and, touching his hat
gracefully, introduced himself 1.
MY name is William Russell. ]
shall be glad if you will let me remain
with your men tonight. l shall pro-
badly wish to enlist in your battery to-
morrow. H-. f
Next day he expressed II wish to
enlist with us, and persisted in his
purpose in spite of our assurances
that our rude, uncultivated mountain
GERS were not fit companions for HIM
After his enlistment he carefully
avoided everything like presumption
upon our previous hospitality, or upon
his own evident gentility. He knew
and observed the distinction between
officers and men, and while l was glad
| to seek him out when-I wanted a COM
panion, he never once came to my quar-.
tiers unlimited, though | often urged
| him to do so. He was quiet always
and modest, and it was only by acci-
dent that we learned, little by little,
how many and how varied his accom-
plishments were. Not only did he
abstain from boasting-hc was shy
even of letting us learn for ourselves,
how many things he could do surpris'
lingly well. The men had built a
number of gymnastic structures, and
of afternoons their contests OF slrength
and skill were attended by everybody
in the neighborhood. For more than
a month Russell held aloof, merely
looking at the performances pf the
Others. One afternoon, however, some
of our best gymnasts were trying 70
accomplish u new and very difficult
feat, and when they were ready to
abandon the attempt as hopeless, Rus
sell quietly said to the most persistent
one among them $50
II think if yon will reverse tie posi-
tion of your hands, yon can be abie 10
do that"
The man reversed his hands, but
rather awkwardly. r :,
Not that way let me show you,
sa;d Russell. and roing to the bar he
quickly did the thing himself, with nc
tannorent exortion whatever. Then, al
LII tn mere wantonness of strength and
si;ii he went ranidly through d serie,
of rvmnastic feats of the most difficult
sort, ending the performance with
. number of somersaults which woul'
have dome honor to an acrobat. Whel
he had done, and we all clapped hand
and shouted our applause. Kussel
simply blushed as woman might, am
lwent to his hut. Inever knew hir
, to touch the bars again, so ayerse wa