The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1884-03-20
ACROSS THE MERIDIAN.
How a PhilanthrOpic Young Physi'
clan Won his Pretty but
WiIIfuI Wife

How a Philanthropic Young Physi-
clan Won his Pretty but
WiIlful Wife.
Kortlandt drew his horse to halt as
he breasted the brow of the hill, and
lifted the cap from his head that he
might enjoy to the full the soft, deli
cious breeze. Perhaps only one who like
himself had newly come from the
crowded amphitheatre of the lecture
room of medical college, and from
daily witness of mental and physical
sufferings by the bedsides of its hospit
al wards, could have felt, as did he, in
tensitied by powerful contrast the still
ness, beauty, and peace of what he
looked on.
1t was the field of one of the great
battles of the late war, ground made
holy by heroic blood-heroic, whether
the hearts which throbbed it forth were
bursting with triumph or breaking with
defeat.
So thought the young physician as
his eyes wandered over the scene, dis
covering few marks to indicate that
once this valley had seethed with fire
and smoke and struggling human
forms, and the whole air had been q
shrek of agony and strife. Twenty
years had done their work, and nature,
which permits no desolation, had sown
the furrowed land with grass and
flowers which swayed and
swung in the spring air as if in unison
with the humming of the bees above
them. But as he dismounted and led
his horse down the hill he discovered
traces OF the battle which had escaped
his eye from above. Now and then
his horses hoof struck the rusty metal
of dismantled gun, buried beneath its
brambles, and further on he found
himself in a wilderness of little mounds
marked here and there with Il wooden
slab, it's Inscription effaced by the rains
of years.
As Kortlandt rose from a vain at
tempt to decipher one OF these, Il figure
from the woods near by, and,
after the momentary pause of the first
of seeing him, continued stead
lily to advance along the path which led
within a few yards of his side. The
figure was that of woman, poorly
clad, Sbut tall and graceful, and moving
with peculiar strength and freedom of
motion. Kortlandt waited until she
was near him and then said:
81 beg your pardon, but can you in
form me what graves are these?"
The woman stopped abruptly as the
tones of the clear northern voice reach
ed her. and suddenly turned upon him
her face, until then concealed beneath
Al I : al Io |, l,,t
which she wore. 1t was that of a girl,
brunette and brilliant, illuminated with
a pair of glowing eyes, which now fixed
themse!vt~ upon him.
You must have come from very far
away not to know whose are the graves
that you are standing on, she said in
a voice which did not owe its peculiar
intonation to the southern dialect in
which she spoke.
s'You are right" he replied, surpris-
ed at her beauty and manner; my
home is as far away as the SHOWS of
winter from these southern flowers.
A look of intense bitterness entered
the girls face, sYou are from the
NORTH" she said. \Her eyes flashed.
81 will tell you whose are the graves
uDOu YOU StAC btCStulh2. NY
are those of the rebels you defeated, "
proudly; "they are those of the mar
tyrs, the heroes, who starved and froze,
who gave up home, family, wealth,
and life in attempted protection OF their
rights and freedom, anu whom you of
the north in your overpoHering strength
of wealth and numbers conquered and
killed. Yonder upon the hill are those
of my father and mother-he killed by
your bullets and she by the agony OF
his death. And all these are. mine,
mine, since | own the sacred earth in
which they rest. O! that l possessed
the power to protect their resting-place
from the insult of Yankees pres
encer' .s.
Kortlandt looked into the girls flush
ed and flashing face in very maze OF
astonishment. But her concluding
words aroused his anger and he drew
himself up with the color mounting tC
his brows. Controlling himself with
an effort he lifted his cap, and, bow
ing, said with cold courtesy. in singular
contrast to her fire, THAT being the
case, Mademoiselle, / shall not linger
to bid adieu. But permit me to reas-
sure you; you possess power to protect
your heroes resting place-in a two
edged sword" and, with another bow
and straight look into her angry eyes,
he drew his horses bride over his arm
and led him back to the road.
As he mounted and rode on he found
to his surprise that his hand was shak-
inc with excitement. He was very an
CRY. He had never before been insult
ed by woman, and the feeling OF
helplessness with which it affected him
was irritating in the extreme. He felt
this to be Il weakness, and endeavored
to throw it of. But that evening al
supper he could not resist giving q
crisp little description of his late en-
counter on the old battlefield to his
neghbor at table, ending with an in
quiry if such violence of feeling and ex.
preston were usual. ,.
'.Hardly, now,' was the reply, ''ex-
cepting among the most ignorant and
preiudiced But this girls is peeu.
liar case. Her name is Ellen EVrestt.
Before the war her father was the rich.
est planter in the State. He put every
dollar he could command into the
cause, and finally was killed on the
field over there fighting for it. They
carried him to his house, which stood
on the hill above, where his wife, whe
had remained there despite everything
that could be deplored or commanded
received his body and tended it, While
she was doing SO the house was fired BY
shell and burned to the ground. Sht
had her husbands body carried to tht
quarters, and there that night her baby
was born and she died. Before she
died she gave the child to the OLE
house-steward, having made him sol
emnly swear never to desert it, y
Ibid he do so?'' s-.-
.'No; he stuck to it through every
thing, and when the other niggers lef
the plantation he and his old mapm,
staid and took care of it down in th'
quarters. lE, -
did none of the relatives claim th
child?" :. ..@
eThere were none who could Un
like most southerners, Evrestt had 'n'
connections, and his wife few. Thes
were so impoverished that they wer,