Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1886-09-02

! And there vs. plzsgv iii. | vii
live a few days inaa / remenbe
, reading ia the - Holo1r of Com
mon Life" thai ID can live 70
more thar . seek hsut food, .,
condition that u has fantz 10 drink
There is even ! mentsa IL Che hool
ofaman who waited y asanit suicid'
by starving himself teAsaih. He tool
, long time to die. beasza be drank
Wouldn't ii BE- betef il die righI
now. see = ride xisg beside m,
ueighbOr-an excelld Raglish rifle
| have only 70 p. NJ baud /,
get II; one annie fzses, II would B,
all over ! Cartridges? there is Who'll,
pile on the ground. He id not hav.
time to fire them all away.
Shall | end the affair this way Of
wait? Wait for what Delirerance
Death ? Wait till the Turks come t.
tear the skin of my wounded feet
Better myself.
No A msn must neverg give up
III struggle on to the very end. /
they find me, | am saved. Perhaps
the bones have not been broken. III
get we'll. | will see the country again
and my mother and Macha
The sun has risen. His enormous
disk, with the black branches of the
bushes cutting across it, is red like
blood. | think the day will be very
hot. Neighbor. what is going to be:
come Of you? You are hideous enough
now.
/ To be lying SO near him is absolute
ly uncomfortable. | must drag myself
somewhere else, whatever it costs.
Will | be able to do it? | can just
lift my hand, open the gourd and drink,
but how shall | ever be able to move
this heavy and immobile body of mine?
must try all the same; l. can move
little by little-even if | only make
half yard an hour.
All the morning is spent in this ef-
fort. The pain is terrible; but what
does pain matter now? | can't re-
member any more; can't imagine
any more how. an able bodied, healthy
man feeis. Seem as If if-r1ss-rscour.r,.
quite habituated to pain. ZD6ring the
morning, however, ! have been able
to drag myself the distance of two sa-
jenes, and now ] am in my old place
again. But | have not been able to
enjoy the fresh air long-if | can call
this fresh air-with a decomposing
corpse only six PAGES away.
Suddenly, at the river crossing, l
see eCossacks-Cossacks blue uniforms
with red facings and lances--a whole
half sotnia (half hundred) and in front,
on splendid horse, an officer with a
black beard. As soon as the half sot-
MIA had crossed the river, he turns his
whole body round in the saddle, and
shouts
"At tfot FORWARD |"
Halt halt! for mercy's sake Help
help, my little brothers "
scream but the trampling of hoofs,
the clinking of sabers. the noisy chat
ter OF the Cassacks, drown my voice
nobody hears me!
oh, malediction Extenuated. |
fall on my face and groan aloud, and
the hot tears stream from my eyes.
From the gourd, which | have upset,
the water is poured out-the water,
nv life, my salvation, the reprieve
from my fate And | did not notice il
until there was only half wine glass
full left. All the rest has been drunk
up by the greedy. arid ground.
+ How can | remember the torpoi
which fell on me after the terrible ac'
cident? l was lying motiOnless, my
ewes half closed. The wind was veer.
ing in all directions-now blowing q
fresh, pure air to me, then again watt
ing to me great waves of stencil. Thai
day my neighbOr had become too
frightful to describe. Only once die
| venture to open my eyes to look a
him: | was seized with terror at tn,
sight. His face was all gone-hil
flesh had fallen away from the bones
That hideous. bony smile-ths eter
nal smile-flled me with unspeaka
BILE horror, although ] had often hac
human skulls in nv hands. But skel
eton in uniform, with its buttons o
bright metal Ii made me shiyer
l That is War, ] thought to myself
that is hisvipage
But death won't come-won't tax
me. And | must lie under this terri
bic sun, without one mouthful of wa
ter to cool my bu rning throat-and
oh, that pestilential cOrpsel It's ab
sclutely meltingl Myriads Of worm
..u g. "a on