New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-07-02

morning. trying to adjust these rag wrap
pings 60 that they would stay in place, and
fastening them deliberately with their care
ful,y-saved bits Of string. He was IN hon
ored man who invented q new way. My
brother was one Of the shoeless: at the last,
too, it seemed that he had no blanket, only
thin counterpane. When night came on,
hungry and tired as he was he could only
wrap himself in that and lie down on the
ground to wait for morning. When we
heard all this afterward, we said, Blessed
be the bullet that put him out of his
misery for poor James was delicate boy,
and b ad been accustomed to loving, watch.
full care all bis life. Yet oh, if CO uld only
know that he was warm once, just once, be-
fore he died. They told US he said nothing
after he was shot, save How cold How
coldv
"They put bis poor, stiff body haetily
down under the sod, and then the brigade
moved on, no man knOweth his sepuichre
unto this day.
Next John went, my second brother
He said good-by and marched away north
ward, northward, north ward, always nor, b.
ward, to cold, cOrpse-strewed Virginia, who
In her blOOd-stained mantle cried aloud to
us continually, More, morer Her roads
are marked with death from her Peaks OF
Otter to the sea, and her great valley ran
red. We went to her from all over the
South, from Alabama, Florida Georgia,
and from our own Carolina. We died there
by the thousands and by the tens of thou
sands. o Virginia, Virginia, mother OF
Presidents, hast thou counted our dead who
lie thick in thy tidewater DlaIns, in thy
dark, tangled Wilderness, and along thy
river shores, with faces uptr:n9d, and thy
earth on their still hearts9
"JOhn came back to us once, and welded
the fair girl to whom he was betrothed. 1t
was q sad bridal, although we made it as
gay as We could; for We had come to the
times of determined gayety then. The
tone of society was like the determi1edly
gay quicksteps which the regimeutal bands
play when returning from funeral, as
much as to say, lie roi est mort, mdis rice
! lie rOiH So we turned our old silk dresses,
| and made brave appearance; if our shoes
! were shabby we hid them under our skirts
as well az we could and held our heads the
higher. Maum Sally made big wedding
cake, as of old, and we went without meat
| to pay for the spices IN it. Such luxuries
| We obtained from the blockade runners
now and then, but they were worth almost
their weight in gold. Then John, too, LETT
US. In four months he also was taken
killed by guerrillas, it is supposed, as he
rode through lonely mountain defile. He
| was not found for weeks; the snow fell and
! covered him, mercitully givings the burial
the frozen earth denied. After while the
| tidings came to ne, and poor Mabel slowly
wept herself into the grave. She was a
lOving-hearted little creature, and her life
was crushed. She looked at her baby once,
called his name John, and then died. The
child, that boy yOnder, seems to have in.
herited her grief; he sheds no teare how
ever, for his girl-mother shed them all. both
for him and for herselk before ever he saw
the light: Ny turn came next.
hnvy I'D
you love, too! l do not mean regard. or
even calm affection; do not mean sense of
duty, self-sacritice or religious motives. l.
mean lOve-love that absorbs the entire
being. Some women love 60; do not say
they are the happiest women. l do not say
they are the best. am one Of them. But
God made us all; he gave us our hearts; we
did not choose them. Let no woman take
credit to herself for her even life simply be-
cause it has been even. Doubtless if He
had put her ont in the breakers che would
have swayed, too. Perhaps she would have
drifted from her moorings also, as l have
drifted. l 60 to the church; can not pray.
But do not think / am defiant; no, l am
only dead. / seek not the old friends, few
and ruined. who remain still above ground;
l have no hopes, might almost say no
wish. Torpidly l draw my breath through
day and night, nor note if the rain falls or
would work; can not. Neither have the
ferceness to take the child and die. live
on as the palsied animal lives. and if some
day the spring fails, or the herbs within his
reach, he dies; nor do l think he would
grieve much about it; he only eats from
habit. So do 1. :,
1T was in the third year of the war that
net Ralph kinsolving. | was just eigh-
teen. Our courtship was short; indeed. l
hardly knew that l loved him, or under
stood what love was, when he spoke and
Judith he pleaded, ardently; marry me
before 60; let it be my wife leave be-
hind me, and not my sweetheart. For
sweetheart, dear, can not come to Us in
camp when We eend, as we shall surely
send soon. that you may see our last grand
review So spake Rafe, and with all his
heart he believed it. We all believed it,
SOutherDers doubt the final triumph of our |
arms. We were so sure We we're right"
"'Our last grand review, eaid Rafe; but |
ne did not dream of that last review at Ap.
p0matt0x, when 5000 fercely hungry, ex-
hausted men stacked their muskets in the |
presence of the enemy, whose glitterlng |
ranks, 80 900 strong, we're drawn up in line |
before them, while in the rear their we'll |
flied wagons stcOd-wagons whose gener. |
many poor fellow that day, thinking, even
while he eagerly ate, of his desolated coun-
try and his own empty fields at home.
II did marry my soldier, and, although it
was in haste, had my wedding dress, my
snowy veil; lace and gsuze were not needed
at the hospitals. But we went without the
wedding cake this time, and my satin slip.
pers were made at home, looking very like
, pair of white moccasins when finished.
In a mi IF fIo thor |
IN alarm; the slaves had risen at Latto's
Town the river, and were coming up the
village armed with knives and clubs, and,
worse still, Infatuated with the liquor they
lad found. Even our good rector paused.
There were but few white men at home
I seemed indeed time for pausing. But
2afe said, quietly, "GO on and, unsheath-
ng his word, he laid it ready On the chan
el.rail. "TO have and to hold, from this
lay forward, tor better for worse, for richer
or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love
md to cherish, till death US do part" re-
,eated RATE, holding my hand in his firm
lasp, and looking down into my frightened
ace 20 tenderly that forgot my alarm,
verifying, indeed, save his love. But
vhen the last word was spoken, and the
blessing pronounced over our bowed heads,
he shining sword seemed q silent witness
lafe left me like flash. The little church |
vas empty when rose from my knees, the |
70men had hurried home with blanched |
aces to bar their doors and barricade their
7indows, and the men had gone for their
Orses and guns. Only my old father
Iaited to give me his blessing, and then
70, too, fastened h0meward. Our little
and of defenders assembled in the main
treet and rode CALAMITY out to meet the
egroes, who were as fifty to their one. {
:afe was the leader. by virtue of his uni l
orm, and he waved his hand to me as he {
ode by. Cheer up, Judith he cried, 4
ill soon return IL
II never saw him again.
"They dispersed the negroes without
luch difficulty; LattO's slaves had been