The Worthington advance., 1876-06-29

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Lying on his back, his ~, ice ,b shilded ID;
from the sun by the body that had fall
en- upon him, the corporal passed sew.
eral hours of terrible suffering. He
knew that he had the stfe3Rth: to walk
or crawl out Of the range q the fire
from the works, but since he had lain
thus he had seen the wounded who
had tried to escape from the ground
shot dead. 1t was neither mercifu]
nor humane; but with. mems blood
raging at fever heat on the field :. OF
battle mercy and humanity are apt to
be sighted. His thirst was almost in.
tolerable =; his tongue and. mouth were
parched and dry; he was stiff and sore
from long continuing, In one. posture,
and from the dreadful weight of the
corpse that lay like lead upon him
but he dared not shake it off, lest the
movement should draw thexready bull
cts of the enemy to him. And it was
we'll for him that he did not! Once
during the day a volley of Confederate
bullets directed at some of our men
who were rallying in one of the hol-
lows. passed directly over him. One
of the balls cut his sleeve two, in
rapid succession, struck the dead body
above him with a dull thud. It was
death protecting life from death!
A piece of bark peeled from a stump
by bullet, lay near his head. BY
slow and cautious advances he moved
his hand to it., grasped it, and carried
it to his mouth. Tormented by thirst
as he was, his caution was necessarily
so great in this that it occupied half
an hour. II know it was as much as
half an hour" he said in relating his
story "but if I judged by my feel.
ings all that horrible time, I should
say half day." He chewed the bark
eagerly, and the excitement of the sal.
wary glands greatly mitigated his
acute thirst. A cup of cool water to
this poor sufferer, would have been a
boon more precious than anything else
in the whole world and he was but
one Of the hundreds who lay enduring
these indescribable agonies all over
that field. But such is war.
The long summer day ended at last,
and the shattered regiments of the as.
saulting columns were withdrawn be.
yond musket range. The Corporal
patiently waiting until darkness had
settled upon the scene of blood, and
then he ventured to relieve himself of
the dead weight that held him down.
He sat up and stretched his arms with
that feeling of relief which only the
man knows who is released from the
chains that have long bound him.
Still fearful that he might be observed,
he would not rise to his feet, but
crawled stealthily down toward the
hollow below. A figure holding a
musket suddenly appeared before him.
He knew it could not be any of our
men, for all who were able to move
had been withdrawn some hours.
Suspecting the character and employ.
ment of this man, he turned and eau.
tiously made off at right angles with
the line of his first movement. A few
yards in that direction brought him to
another picket-for such they were.
The Confederates had thrown out a
chain of soldiers to make certain that
the assault had been abandoned for
the day, and the Corporal was inside
their lines. Lying silent and motion.
less, he heard" another Confederate,
apparently non-commissioned officer,
come up with orders for the pickets to
return to the works. The soldier thus
relieved took three steps. and stumbled
over the prostrate body of the Corpo.
raj. As he fell, his hand passed over
the latter's face, and it's warmth in.
stantly told him that the man was
alive.
"Ho! Yank,''' he exclaimed. "Git
up here. Can you walk?''
The Corporal realized that this was
no time for artifice or stratagem, and
at once decided to surrender, for fear
OF worse consequences than capture,
should he be detected in any deceit.
"Yes,' he said, 81 surrender.
can walk; l amt much hurt; but I'm
mad with thirst. For Gods sake, give
me some water -
81 spoke from my heart, then, if
ever did in my life and the appeal
moved my captor at once. He unslune
his canteen from his shoulder as he
marched me over the dead bodies OF
my comrades and eagerly seizing il
from his hand, I drank Its blessed con
tents-more than a quart of pure, cold
water, without once stopping, to-, takf
BREATH. IT: seemed as though life
strength, hope, everything came bach
to me with that 'draught. 1 never
knew so happy a moment in my life. ,
Such were his words. =
Inside the Confederate works the
Corporal was allowed the liberty o1
certain bounds, on giving his patro
not to attempt to escape, and with the
exception of the novelty and incon
venience of mule-meat and dried peas
for subsistence, with scanty rations al
that, he met with no further adven
ture till the capitulation released him
as described.
Rust in Wheat.
When wheat is ripening there il
cause to fear, and this season more
than usual, that it may he destroyed
by rust, which comes when the grair
is in the dough and nearly ripe, and i.
caused by water lodging on the head:
of the wheat, either by rain or heay,
dew. followed by great heat which
causef the dough to sour, ferment, and