The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-11-14
From The CAPITAL
a Love Story Of the Rebellion.

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We were sitting in our room at the Glade
Hotel, In Oakland. Nd, one day with n charming
lady who had dropped in on a visit. One OF oul
windows looked into that of another room 4
placed by the projection Of the main building thai
half Of ats interior could be seen. We were look.
Ing at and ~admiring a little chubby, blue-eyei
two yeaT-old, white as snow, who was pulling q
bouquet to pieces and tossing out the fragments,
or clapping Der little hands with delight as a train
went laundering by.
These rooms" said our fair visitor, % have
some very tender associations for me-.
Why SO " we asked.
Well" she answered. during the war the
greater part of the hotel was seized BY the gov
eminent as a hospital, and we were crowded into
a few rooms. My sister and l had this. In that
roon where that little beauty is were two Union
officers, one sick Of the fever and the other of a
wound. 1t was hard TO tell whether they were
slowly dying or slowly getting well. We were
'secesh, and not quiet about it either, but stall
our hearts nched for the poor young men, 50 IN.
perhaps dying, far from friends aud relatives
" 1t bothers one to know how this should be a
hospital, We said, it is so far removed from
active operations
1t was thought" she answered, 4. that the
mountain air OF the glades, would be more favor
able TO recovery than elsewhere so this was made
a hospital. One day one OF these officers dragged
himself to the window, and under the impulse of
the moment my sister asked if we could do any,
thing for them, and he answered, gaSping for
breath, that a little chicken soup would save their
lives. Chickens were rare in those days,-an
army Is hard on poultry. The men will work
all night, after marching during the day, to secure
a few chickens; so that while the hospital nurses
and physicians had an unlimited supply of actual
luxuries In the way of wines, potted meats and
canned vegetables, they were without anything
fresh. We knew where a few chickens were hid
IN a cellar, by a neighbor, and We cOaxed one out
of the owner, and after n deal OF vexatious trouble
for at every turn We were met by a fixed bayonet
and an insult-we got the soup ready, and as the
guard in the hall would not permit us TO approach
our patients, my sister attempted TO hand the
bowl to the officer in the window. Just as he
was feebly reaching for it, and she stretching her
self half out to give it to him, q harsh ugly voice
below oried out Look out there-poison. >
She nearly dropped herself, soup and all. Draw
ing back, she hesitated q second, and then she
took the spoon and began eating the broth. OH,
BOTHER cried the officer, don't waste il that way
I'm not afraid : and so she gave him the SCUM.
1t seemed to revive them, and they continue
steadily to improve, as day after day we supplied
them with chicken broth. until the cellar was
empty. During this time we sat at the window
talking, and we sang to them-sang My Mary
hand and all the southern songs we knew. until
they were well enough to leave the hospital and
return to duty. They both seemed sorry to 90.
and forced on US a quantity of hospital stores
and some coffee, which last we needed sadly
Then one gave n ring and the other q brooch as
tokens of their kind feelings"
And did they never return ?" we asked.
One did not, for, poor fellow, he was killed
in the very next battle in which he was engaged.
His companion wrote us about it, and the writer
insisted upon opening a correspondence with NV
sister and soon his letters grew to love letters.
and after a time they were engaged. Nearly a
year subsequent to this our patient got leave of
absence and came on to be married. He nut nm
at a hotel, and, will you believe it, our own
brother, who was in the Confederate service and
knew nothing of my sisters affair, led a band of
guerillas at night into town and captured his in
tended brother-i in law from his bed. This not
deferred the marriage, but deprived the
young West Pointer of his promotion, that had
been promised for gallant services in the field.
1t was really aggrayating, for exchanges had al
most ceased, and it looked as if the lovers would
have to wait until this cruel war was over be-
they could be united
lou should have appealed to Abraham
Lincoln to give q married brigadier for an un-
married lieutenant
d" We did better. Procuring passes, we went
through the lines and appealed to JEFF Davis.
jeff said he would nut my brothers rrieono. in
his SISTERS keeping. They have been happily
married these many years. He is a brevet briga-
iier-general now, and it all came of our nursing
the enemy in that ROOM"
Here is a foundation of a drama superior To
given by Boucicault in " Belle Lamar"