Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1880-08-26

y
house, so that Lafarge and Hepburn
could work there at night and commu-
nicate with me when | could not go out
but mornings l hobbled up to the de-
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 /
would not ask old Wick-as we nick
named the chief-what was in the wind,
/ knew the time had come, and that the
| lion meant to break the net this time.
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 I, 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
vi 1l1O ulCCcb SiIl6 Vi lie
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 had ever seen, and the blow
confused everything. When McGregor
got round he 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 J u
| hal Early had .Hs Hfslseq qrY'ii i;ng nnsbed out
every man he had that could stand, and I
they lay hid for three mortal hours.
within [ 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 / 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 8 sup-
plies, would have had to fight battle
for which they were not prepared, with
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
them?
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. forgot (tue
before at High Bridge(, undertook to
save time by cutting across behind NV
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 might
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 Julia 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 off
at all.
| walked out in the lot, after Nc
Gregor turned me out of the chamber.
to see what they had done with the
morse. There he lay, as dead as old
Messenger himself. His neck was
broken. And, do you think, looked to
see what had tripped him. / supposed
it was one of the boys handy holes. 1t
was no such thing. The poor wretch
had tangled his hind legs in one of
those hoop-wires that Chloe had thrown
out when | gave hIr new ones. Though
/ did not know it then, those fatal straps
of ruby steel had broken the neck that
day of Robert Lees army.
That time made row about it.
felt too badly to go into q passion. But,
before the women went to bed-they
were all in the sitting-room together-I
talked to them like father. did not
swear. l had got over that for a 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 I was so serious-.nd 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 tie
them, in great mass of rags. They
had made fortune by the sale-I am
sorry to say it was in other rags, but the
rags they got were new instead of old
it was real Aladdin bargain. The
ragman had been in hurry and did not
know what made the things SO heavy.
] frowned at the swindle, but they said
all was fair with peddler and I own
| was glad the things were well out of
Richmond. But when l said thought
it was mean trick, Lizzie and Sarah
looked demure, and asked what would
have them to do with the old things.
Did expect them to walk down to the
| bridge themselves with great parcels to
| throw into the river ac bod dono bu