Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1881-01-26
on PICKET.

reserve and the camp, where 10000
are slumbering, is half mile OF
woods, fields and broken ground.
Between the reserve and the enc
my is thin line of pickets-a man
stationed here and there to give
advance warning of and move
ment.
Follow the relief and you will
notice how cautiously the men
tread. The dark line winds around
through the trees, fits across open
spaces, and halts here and there
for a moment to relieve the old
picket. Musket-shot away are
the pickets of the enemy, and a
loud word may bring deadly vol
ley of bullets. The line might pass
you twenty feet away and would
hardly catch a sound.
Sit you here on this bank where
you can look down upon the pick
et--aye, almost touch him. A lit
tie creek runs between you. There
is an open space of thirty feet, and
all around it are trees, stumps, logs
and brush. II would be q lonely
place in which to pass two long
hours even in times of peace
There is warning in the mid
night breeze as it rustles the
branches, and the waters of the
creek have more than once been
colored with blood.
The lone picket takes his station
under tree. In the dark shadow
you can hardly make him out. AS
he finds himself alone his eyes are
constantly searching the darkness
in front, and his ears catch every
sound. They tell of men found
asleep on picket. 1t must be a
strange man who could close his
eyes in sleep with the night wind
whispering in his ears: Beware
beware In the bushes to the
left is foe !" and the waters of
the creek plainly saying: keep
watch to the right right right
right"
That man has been in dozen
battles, and has been wounded three
times. Don't call him a coward,
and yet he trembles and turns pale
before he has been fifteen minutes
alone. The skirmish line with it's
deliberate murder is not as bad
place as this. II that man is dead
when the relief comes again it will
be worse than murder. Call that
babbling creek company Hark f!
hear what it is saying to him, every
word as plainly spoken as if
their language was the same:
"Look out! look out! There is
a ferce-faced guerrilla crawling
through the bushes toward you
He has knife in his teeth, and he
is coming to assassinate your
If the creek did not say so, and
If the picket did not understand,
why did he give that sudden start
aud change his position Why
does he kneel to get a clearer look
about hint Why does he keep
his eyes fastened upon that stump
until the intensity of his gaze
brings out every knot and splinter?
II fifty men were asleep in that
space and one other were awake,
he would feel the loneliness and
danger. BY daylight schoolgirl
might weave romance from the
babbls of the waters. Hank Is
there any romance in this:
beware ! bewarel That man
with tangled hair, fierce eyes and
savage face is still advancing |!
Be on your standardization I"
Coward Count the scars on
his body-look up his record
No, not coward, and yet his pale
face comes to you from the dark
ness almost like candles light.
III it was fear, he would crouch
down. If it was cowardice, he
would hide or desert his post. No,
il is not fear, and yet he thinks it
a feeling unworthy of him, and he
braces against it. He turns . deaf
ear to the whispers Of the creek.
He refuses to hear the warnings of
the breeze. You can almost sec
him rs he shuts his teeth hard to-
gsthsr and tries to force his thoughts
into other channels.
"Look out look outl" whispers
the creek, but he refuses 10 hear.