The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-03-22
ACROSS THE MERIDIAN.

AOfblt1uO QECW Ills uOISc W q ld4b q liz
breasted the brow of the hill, and lifted the cap
from his head that he might enjoy to the full the
soft, delicious breeze. Perhaps only one who,
like himself, had newly come from the crowded
amphitheater of the lecture-room of a medical
college, and from daily witness of mental and
physical sufferings by the bedsides of its hospi-
tai wards, could have felt, as he did, intensified
by powerful contrast, the stiffness, 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 that throbbed it
forth were bursting with triumph or breaking
with defeat.
So thought the young physician, as his eyes
wandered over the scene, discovering few marks
to indicate that once this valleyhad seethed with
fire and smoke and struggling human forms, and
the whole air had been a 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 blooming flow
ers, 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 a dismantled gun, buried beneath the
brambles, and further on he found himself in a
wilderness of little mounds, marked here and
there with wooden slab, it's inscription effaced
by the rains of years.
AS Kortlandt rose from a vain attempt to de-
cipher one of these, a figure appeared from the
woods near by, and, after the momentary pause
of the first surprise of seeing him, continued
steadily to advance along the path which led
within q few yards of his side. The figure was
that of a woman, poorly clad, but tall and grace
full, and moving with peculiar strength and free
dom of motion. Kortlandt waited until she was
near him and then said:
81 beg your pardon, but can you inform me
whose graves are theSeF"
The woman stopped abruptly as the tones of
the clear Northern voice reached her, and sud
denly turned upon him her face, until then con-
cealed beneath the broad brim of the coarse
straw hat that she wore. 1t was that Of a girl.
brunette, Illuminated with a pair of glowing
eyes, which now fixed themselves upon him.
"You must have come from very far away, not
to know whose are the graves that you are stand
ing on" she said, in a voice which did not owe
its peculiar intonation to the Southern dialect in
which she spoke.
'You are right" he replied, surprised 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. you are from the NorthE she said. Her
eyes flashed. Il will tell you whose are the
graves upon which you are treading. They are
those of the rebels you defeated" proudly;
they are those of the martyrs, the heroes. who
| starved ana LfOZe, WHO gave up nome, IdlnllNi
wealth and life in attempted pro ectiOn of their
rights and freedom, and whom you of the North,
in your overpowering 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
l own the sacred earth in which they rest. Oh!
that | possessed the power to protect their rest
ing place from the insult of a Yankees pres
ence!"
Kortlandt looked into the girls flushed and
flashing face in a very maze of establishment,
But her concluding words aroused his anger. and
he drew himself up with the color mounting his
brow. Controlling himself with an effort, he
lifted his cap, and, bowling, said, with cold court
eSy, in singular contrast to her fire: That be-
ing the case, Mademoiselle, / shall not linger to
bid you adieu. But permit me to reassure you
you possess the power to protect you heroes
resting- place-in "a two-edged sword and, with
another bow and a straight look into her angry
eyes, he drew his horses bride over bis arm
and led him back to the road. AS he mounted
and rode on he found to his surprise that his
hand was shaking with excitement. He was
very angry. He had never before been insulted
by a woman, and the feeling of helplessness with
which it affected him was irritating in the eX-
IRENE. He felt this to be a weakness, and en-
deavored to throw it off. But that evening at
supper he could not resist giving a crisp little
description of his late encounter on the old
battlefield to his n~eighbor at table, ending with
an inquiry if such violence of feeling and ex-
preston were usual.
Hardly, now was the reply, Except among
the most ignorant and prejudiced. But this
girls is a peculiar case. Her name is Ellen Ev-
restt. Before the war her father was the richest
| 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, who 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 a
shell and burned to the ground. she had her
husbands body carried to the quarters. and there
that night her baby was born and she died. Be-
fore she died she gave the child to the old house
steward, having solemnly made him solemnly
swear never to desert it."
"Did he do soG'
'rNo; he stuck to it through everything, and
when the other niggers left the plantation he
and his old nanny staid and took care of it
down in the quarters"
Did none of the relatives claim the child}"
There were none who could. Unlike most
SoutneIners, Evrestt had no connections. and
his wife few. Those were so impoverished that
they were glad to escape the burden of support
ing it"
"How did the negro do soF'
'Oh! by cultivating as much of the most fer
tile land on the place as he and his nanny could
manage. But here comes the most interesting
part of the story to you, as a physician. Three
years ago the old man. who is over seventy, be-
came so crippled by rheumatism that he could
not work, and what does Nell Evrestt do but
turn to and work the place herself"
DO you mean will her own handsl'
eyes, by Jove! and handsome ones they are,
too, though they are hard and brown as nuts"
why didn't she teachl'
'fShe has no education"
"Or sew"
"She might have done that, but she is proud
as Lucifer, and said that she was willing to work
for herself and her nanny, and Uncle Jake.
whom she adores, but would not consent to be a
servant to any one"
Tbie onaot1Of of tho CirtG htstDry afaa4aI
Kortlandt powerfully. He no longer wondered
at the intensity of the hatred with which she
regarded all those of Northern blood. How
could it be otherwise, when every day of her
r Tme those upplaated felds. and the cbarred
ruins among the cadar trees2 The anrer which