The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-10-12

A Soldiers wife's Heroism.

The good ship Quart Castle has Just
brough home to Portsmouth very re-
markable woman, who is q fit and proper
candidate for the enewly-appointed order
of st. Catharine, SO highly esteemed by
nursing sisters who bear an English
name. From the same vessel was re-,
Gently disembarked Major McGregor, of
the Royal Engineers, who advanced up
the Majuba hill that fatal day with 120
men, but only brought back three to tell
the story of the disastrous engagement;
but of all those on board there was no
more notable person than Mrs. Smith,
the widow of the band-master of the
Ninety-fourth Regiment of foot, who
has so acted as richly 70 deserve the title
of heroine, even in days when chivalry
is, comparatively speaking, dead let
ter. Details have yet to be supplied in
order to account for the, presence of
Mrs. Smith at the battle Of .Brunker's
Spruit. A soldiers wife is, seldom at
the front. Her heart, indeed, is there,
but her loving eyes are spared the hor-
rors of the actual conflict. She is at
home, tortured with an intolerable long
Ing, or creeping ss far as she dare to
the din and turmoil of battle; but as
rule she has to wait till the rest of US
hear the upshot by word of mouth ten
derly conveyed, or by the curt uncer-
tainty contained in q telegraph dispatch.
The wife of the band-master in one of
our line regiments appears to have been
an exception to this Inevitable rule, for
she was not only here when the fighting
took place, but was accompanied by her
little daughter, three years old. At the
battle of Brunker's Spruit the husband
of this marvelously brave woman was
shot dead at her side. Such q shock
would be enough to paralyze a woman
of ordinary nerve and render her for q
moment helpless. To leave so attached
a friend, and, as the ancients used to
say, $50 dear a head" !" amid the agoniz-
ing horrors of the blood-stained battle
field, is not what many women
could or would have done, no
matter how strong their inclina-
ton or sense Of duty. But
brave Mrs. Smith, the band-master's
wife, did far more than this to entitle
her to the Just name of heroine. Her
husband was shot dead; she was her
self wounded In the head, and so was
her little daughter. No matter how
serious her own wound was, it Is quite
certain that her child's injury was not
very severe, or she would not have left
1t even for an instant. There were,
however, cries so poignant, so search
ing, so full of exquisite anguish, that this
good woman was irresisibly reused to
the grand duty of humanity. Thinking
little of her own wound, leaving the
body of her dead husband, and COM
forting her injured child, this soldiers
wife became for the moment saint. In
what she did she was dead to the world
and all its selfishness, and she became
transcendent, If the story told be true.
Her child had been wounded; but there
were others who would have died had it
not been for the heroic devotion of this
noble creature. Her call was not to the
dead but to the dying. A nurse was
wanted, and she could not turn deaf
ear to so many sad appeals. While the
fight lasted the wife of the dead band
master busted herself with her hus-
bands dying comrades. She brought
them water when they were parched
with thirst; she stanched their gaping
wounds; while men were crying for
help around her., she tore, up her own
clothing and bound it around the bleed
ing limbs; she, neglectful of her own
sorrow, appeared where she was most
needed, comforting others, while her
heart was dead within her breast; and
it was not until the din of battle, like
some terrible thundercloud, had rolled
away that the reaction came, and with
it the horror of her forlorn condition.