Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-06-01
Il WASHINGTON HERO.
Dr.; Porter's Part in Reno's Route.

Inc supJect OF the 1OloWlng sketch from the
Medical Department of Georgetown Univer
SHY, and subsequently was resident physician
at The Washington Hospital:
our readers are, at least partially. familiar
with the brave part taken by DR.. II. r. Porter
(son Of DIR. Porter, of New York Mils,) in the
eXPeditl"n under Major Reno against the In
from the disasters of The day on the Little b 2
Horn. But there is much in the thrilling rem
inlscences OF the events in which he took part
furnished by Bismarck correspondent of the
MLnneapoI,S Pioneer Press OF a recent date,
whlch Will be read with interest by the many
friends OF DR.. Porter in central New York
who WAS nS Spa on in he o. ae
PoftS, ana alter speaking OF the eagerneSS of
Or. Porter to accompany the command, and
describing the scattering OF Rtno'S forces,
Porter was by the side of dying soldier.
HIS orderly and supplies were gone, and the
command was off several hundred yards. He
terrlhc yell was sounding the alarm of uni
veTSal death. Porter left his last patient and
lea ied his horse to the embankment that protected
the woods. He was startled by Indians dash
ing by him within ten feet. They were rush,
Ing along the foot of the little bluff. Their aim
was SO direct in the line of the flying bat alton
unarmed. and his powerful black horse reared
and plunged as if he was mad. Porter saw the
tate that was in the immediate future il that
morse escaped before he was on his back. He
could hold him, but that was all. To gain the
S sag seemed forlorn hope Leap after leap
with the horse quicker than he. 1t was brief
ordeal, but in the face of death it was terri
PIE one: One supreme effort, and half in the
saddle the dusky charger bore away his mas
Ter IKE ,t the wind He gained the full seat, and
ming a gauntlet where the chances of death
was thousand to one. The Indi ms were quick
TO see the lone rider. and a storm of leaden ed
hail fell around him. He had no control of nj )
horse. a h3 mi q Ia Init y.S
a wild one. The horse was frenzied. He
reached the river in minute and rushed up
the bluff, where Reno had gone and was then
recovering himself. The horse and rider were
safe. 1t was destiny. Porter's first remark to
the officers: Pretty badly demOralized' No,
answered Reno; 1T was charge Porter
from any he had ever seen or read of. \
POrters associate was killed ami he was a One
The afternoon of the 18th, all night, through
out the 26th, the night of that date until the
forenoon of the q h, Porter worked as few
men are ever called upon to work. He had no
idea that he would get out alive and believed
every, man around him was doom d. S ill he
was the same COO and >kiilfu; surgeon tnat he
IS to-day He had duty to perform that sell
dom falls to man of twenty-six, a I'D yet h.
performed il nobiv. He was surrounded by the
for water, for help, for r,ef, for life The sun
was blazing hot, the dead horses were Sicken-
ing the air heavy with a Hundred SIN lis, the
bullets thick, the men falling, and the bluffs
work OF the others was no like Porter's. He
must Know no fear, no trembling, and NJ rest
ne had every agoniZing sight before his eyes
The afternoon of the Doth, when the Indians
ceased their firing and began to move off,
there We're around P,rec on the ground fftv
dead and fifty wounded. Ole il every three
hospital his Dry, but | doubt if there is mich
that OverSiadOwS POrter'S experience uD)n
the bluff overl, oking the Little Big Horn If
| had the genius of Buchanan Reid, | would
"a. a INF I, i, 4,
dams Ride.
OF the doctors service during the passage
OF The steamer Far West down the river with
wounded, the writer says: There were
wounds OF every character, and men m Dre
dead than alive. The suffering was not termi-
mated with the removal from the field to the
icl Ell deck. 1t continued aud ended in death
more than once before Fort Lincoln was
"ailtd. Here again the son of n. Y. Mills, Of
c Empire state, was tested. Porter watched
OF hityfo hours. He stood tn test
Colors and Sound.
When We speak of cO;ors or sounl, we seem
or all practical purposes to move en- irty
within tue fillIe: This is red, this is gretn
hat can apparently be more finite more fl
nite? But 1T us look more closely. Let Us
Ike the seven cnlorS of the rainb)W; and
where is the edge of an eye sharp enough t."
* itself on the point where blue ends and
'reen begins, or where green ends and yell V
''egns? We might as We'll attempt t. pu- ou
iumSy fingers on The point where 0 IL mii;i-
metre ends and another begins. We divip
olor by seven rough degrees. Even those
-eHen deg eeSarr Of LAT date in the evuluiibI
+ our SeHsunuS knowledge. Ia com non "A
ic, as Palgrave tells us, the names for gre"n
lack, aud brown are constantly cOufOund-4d
In the EG6d the rainbow is called 4 three-co
red bridge. NenOphaneS says that what peO
lie cal i, is cloud, puHpe, red, and yell wv
sven Aristotle Sill speaks of the tri colOrcd
anbow, red, yellow, and green. B,ue, which
Gems to us SO def lite color. was worked ont
u h, i unity OF coOrS at a comparatively IL e
inc. There is hardly book nov in s.hlth we
10 not read Of the blue Skv. Blu in the alcien-
hymns of the Tedo, So full of the dawn, the
5un, and The sky, the blue sky is never men
Toned in the Ze,tddre>td the blue sky is never
n entioned; in the Old, and even in the New
estament, the blue sky is never mentioned
IN the 1eutGnic language b'ue comes from a
Gul verbs for blue in Latin, and Dor
roWed their word from German. Il has been
asked Whether we should recognize in this
only gradual increase of words capable of
expressing finer distinctions of light. No one
is likely to contend that the irri,ations of our
organs OF sense, which produce sensation, as
distinguished fl ON pei ceptiOn, were different
thousands of. years ago from what they are
now. The! are the same for all men, the same
Even for certain animals. for we know tn 1t
here are insects which react very strongly
against differences of color. No, we only learn
hele again, in very clear manner that CON
rciOus perception is Impossible without Ian
gusge. Who would contend that savages who
dsWe are told, cannot count beyond three
hat is to say, who have no numerals beyond
1hlee-dO not receive the sensuOuS impression
of four Whet Is in cart? Now in this evulu
ion Of consciousness of co,Or we see most
,leaIly how perception, as different from SEN
-aticn, gees hand in hand with the evOlu iol
of language, and how slowly every definite
-oncept is gai!ied out of an infni ude of indis-
met perceptions. DemOkritos knew of four
,OlOrs, viz, black and white, (Which he re-
garded as cOlors), red and yellow. Are we to
a! that be did no. See the blue of the sky be-
cause he never called it blue, but only d ,rk or
bright? In China the number of colOrS was
originally five. That number was increased
with the Increase of their power of diStin-
gushing and Of expressing their distinctions
in words but though we distinguish more and
more, the variety of cOlors always stands he
lore US real infinite, to be measured it may
ce, by millions of ethereal vibrations in one
second, but immeasura BILE and inhivisible even
to the keenest eye.-[ Mdr Miller, in Cbntena-
pOrdru kerter.
THE MARRIAGE OF A WOMAN TO A WOMAN
MaIancy Hughes was married in Sep embrr
.ast 10 a person who was known as Samuel nj
Polla'd Her relatives opposed the match and
she elOped and was married without their
knowledge, and a short time after their mar
RHO p..ln ord nnr,fn To hnr ,tcIo