The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-08-26

partment, and sat with the chief, and
took his orders. All, me! shall / soon
forget that damp winter morning, when
we all had such hope at the Officer One
or two of the army fellows looked in at
the window as they ran past, and we
knew that they felt well; and, though l
would not ask old Wick-as we nick
named the chie1-what was in the wind,
| knew the time had come, and that the
lion meant to break the net this time. 1
made an excuse to go home earlier than
usual; rode down to the house in the
majors ambulance, remember, and
hoped in to surprise Julia with the
good news, only to find that the whole
house was in quiet uproar, which shows
that something bad has happened of a
sudden.
"What is it, Chloep" said 1, as the
old wench rushed by me with bucket
of water.
"Poor Mr.. George, 'fraid he's dead,
sah."
And there he really was, dear, hand
some, bright George Schaff-the delight
of all the incest girls of Richmond; he
lay there on Aunt Eunice's bed on the
ground floor, where they had brought
him in. He was not dead, and he did
not die. He is making cotton in Texas
now. But he looked mighty near like
it then. The deep cut in his head was
the worst l had ever seen, and the blow
confused everything. When McGregor
got round be said it was not hopeless /;
but we were turned out of the room,
and, with one thing and another, he got
the boy out OF the swoon, and it proved
his head was not broken.
No, but poor George swears to this
day it was better it had been, if il could
only have been broken in the right way,
and on the right field. For that even
ing we heard that everything had gone
wrong in the surprise. There we had
been waiting for one of those early fogs,
and at last the fog had come. And Ju-
bal Early had tina morning pushed out
every man he had that could stand, and
they lay hid for three mortal hours,
within 1 don't know how near the
picket line at Fort Powhatan, only
waiting for the shot which John
Streight's party was to fire at Wilson's
wharf, as soon as somebody on our left
center advanced in force on the enemy's
line above Turkey island, stretching
across to Nansemond. | am not in the
war department, and l forget whether
he was to advance en- barbette or by
echelon of infantry. But he was to ad-
vance somehow, and he knew how and
when he advanced, as you see, that
other lnan lower down was to rush in,
and as soon as Early heard him he was
to surprise Powhatan, you see; and
then, If you have understood me, Grant
and Butler and the whole rig of them
would have been cut off from their ID
plies, would have had to fight q battle
W I,
their right made into new left, and
their old left unexpectedly advanced at
at oblique angle from their center; and
would not that have been the end of
themP
Well, that never happened. And the
reason it never happened was that poor
George Schatf, with the last fatal order
for this man, whose name l forgot (tne
same who was afterward killed the day
before at High Bridge, undertook to
save time by cutting across behind my
house, from Franklin to Green streets.
You know how much time he saved
they waited all day for that order.
George told me afterward that the last
thing he remembered was kissing his
hand to Julia, who sat at her bedroom
window. He said he thought she m ight
be the last woman he ever saw this side
OF heaven. just after that, it must have
been, his horse-that white Messenger
colt old Williams bred-went over like
a log, and poor George was pitched
fifteen feet headforemost against stake
there was in that lot. ia saw the
whole. She rushed out with all the
women. and had just brought him in
when | got home. And that was the
reason that the great promised combin-
alton of December, 1864, never came of
at all.
l walked out in the lot, after Nc.
Gregor turned me out of the chamber
to see what they had done with the
horse. There he lay, as dead as old
Messenger himself. His neck was
broken. And, do you think, l looked to
see what had tripped him. I supposed
it Was one of the boys handy holes. II
was no such thing. The poor wretch
had tangled his hind legs in one Of
those hoop wires that Chloe had thrown
out when l gave h.r new ones. Though
l did not know it then, those fatal traps
OF ruby steel had broken the neck that
day OF Robert Lees army.
That time l made row about it.
felt too badly to go into passion. But,
before the women went to bed-they
were all in the sitting-room together-l
talked TO them like father. | did moi
swear. l had got over that for while
in that six weeks on my back. But
did say the old wires were nuisances,
and that the house and premises must
be got rid of them. The aunts laughed
though was so serious-and tipped
a wink to the girls. The girls wanted
to laugh, but were afraid to. And then
it came out the aunts had sold their old
hoops, tied as tight as they could tic
them, in a great mass of rags. They
had made fortune by the sale-I an
sorry to say it was in other rags, but the
rags they got were new instead of ole
it was real Aladdin bargain. The
ragman had been in hurry and did not
know what made the things so heavy
j frowned at the swindle, but they sale
all was fair with peddler and / owr
/ was glad the things were well out O
Richmond. But when l said l though
it was a mean trick, Lizzie and Saral
looked demure, and asked what / woulC
have them to do with the old things
Did expect them to walk down to tht
bridge themselves with great parcels tC
throw into the river, as / had done b,
Julia'sP OF course it ended, as sucl
things always do, by my taxing th
work on my own shoulders. I tolC
them to tie up all they had in as small
parcel as they could and bring them tt
me.
Accordingly the next day 1 found
handsome brown-paper parcel-not s,
large, considering, and strangely square
considering-which the minxes had pu
together and laid on my Office table
nl,,z 1. i r