, 1886-10-24

i'NH ''hAA " btnu lOu lllO IltIIlil e.
You'll never see another mornsbg., And
here you are-whistling!"
well, why not whistle as long as pos
sible, and cry when you ann laughY"
Hence, | may not be able to tell just
how n man feels who starcs death calmly
In the face, for maybe l did not compre
head my situation.
Cut | wGs sentenced to death, that l
fully coTaprehended when they marched
nc, handcuf1cd, between two guards
with arms at charge and bayonets
fixed, back to tho prison; and, instead of
my former Ieby IL cell, barred and bolted
me in IN underground, dark, dGnll I'M
geoa, . by 10, with q tub Occupying two
feet of That sparse space, significantly
suggestive that / was TO stay right there
until the day and hour.
The sentence was fully realized during
the sunless days and no darker nights of
the weeks that followed.
Daylight Good Cod, mani you 30 not
appreciate What n ray of glad, BRIGHT sum
Light is until shut in from all that makes
day beautiful.
Oh, yes; / comprehend, slightly, that
mine was no trifling sentence, Us |
crouchcd in that felt darkness, waiting
till dilated pupils enabled me TO see in-
perfectly what was the dampness that |
touched.
iiAlAAAN lADhtNtls 4 Nalo Pei llllllcu W
send out and buy u lamp, and to keep It
lighted. The walls had been repeatedly
whitewashed, but the humid filth oozing
through the bricks had pushed 1t OF in
discolorcd flakes. The floor was stone; q
solid or ccmcnted. mass that once mega
tivcd Il Inorganic idea of digging
out Away up yondcr, ten or twelve
feet Gway, was the nrchcd brick ceiling,
whose swcaty surface told it, too, was
under sod. Shiny snails and Thousand
legs drew clammy ways across the moist
wills and floor, vcr1nin found and fed
upon the noXious dirt damp; the d~isgustd
rats that crept in at the grated door,
dGrtcd back 10 find IA more yielding sub
stance for their burrowing teeth.
Dut the darpness and the darkness
md the dirt were but grains of dust com
pared to the unuttcrable loneliness that
grew upon me in that sepulchre. Not n
human suul-not even n brute, except
the s%campering rats-to break the still
ness of that murky tomb Out yondcr,
somewhere. | knew was n grim sentry,
for | heard the measured tread of the re
lief as they left him on his lonely post.
But | never saw or heard him.
Twice n day, grimly silent, came the
cooks detail with my barrack soup or
coffee. But he was mute, under strict
orders not to speak or signal to the pris-
oner, rs his baker like shovel reached in
my morsel Of tainted food.
Pcr1itioni To- | strove to make him
speak, If he only would curse me,
abuse me, anything; ever his profanity
would have sounded as melody In my
solitude.
never knew what music there was in
the human voice till in that dungeon
where it never sounded and where | soon
grew startled Mt my own.
The post chaplain's was the only hu-
man voice | heard for wecks-and his
only once, for my lcvity shocked him 50
that he gave me up as an irredeemable
rcprobate. lie offered n prayer for me,
however, | courteously knecling with him
on the stone door. But he never came
again.
lie told me-wh my occasionally al
lowed letters from my friends had too
plainly informed me--that there was no
hope of escape from the fate that seemed
to tlcm and the outside world to be star.
ing me in the face. Every possible effort
had been made, every available influence
pressed into service with the president,
and he had positively declined interfering
with the judgment of the court martial.
Tho worthy chaplain c%orroborated their
sad information. Said he:
Captain, you should prepare for
death, for your life ends In a few days"
Here was food for reflection, surely.
In the prime and vigor of early manhood,
my veins thrilling with the bounding
energy Of young blood, life just begun,
with its plans, schemes and purposes all
to work ont; n young wife and two chill
dren. with all the hopes OF joy existence
with them gave; ambitious walks all
wide before me awaiting to be trod; what
burning pages yet unread in the book of
lifci
In battle the hnlf-read paragraph of life
is suddenly left with n dish, an I'M
seen, unfclt bullet cuts OF without a
thought the might be.
But here alone. in silent darkness, the
heavy wonder you'd come, $50 strong
In health and hope OF life, is death so
near"
Lies retrospect, rs rN-mory was forced
to the review, presented so much to be
undonc, so much yet to be done, so much
just BEGUN that should be finished.
Is poSsible-is it truc-this hale,
heart. healthy body so soon to feed the
worms; Are these 1.-the limbs to walk ont
IN funeral pageant, my own f~uncrali
Quick, act We, firm rs the soldiers who
march with Inc. Am | to march out with
them end they back without mc'
To 60 forth from this living tomb, to
give my longing eyes one quaT Of sun-
light, end then shut them forever in the
eternal darkness Of deaths real crave?
Arr | 10 dic9 To quit To be no more,
Talked Of n day or week, and then for
Gottcn' Ia it | who en- to 'ool, at those
twelve soldiers in silent raDs twelve
PAGES ct my 'front.'? To hear the corn
rand, INSTRUMENTATION and hear tho
death message, feel deaths bullet, and
know death all IN one brief instant-and
then forever know no noroi
Inr tIn lfn ~ fao ca.11 ,..t .,-
ayes, 1t Is L. l he'd no such feeling,
and why | n tell.
knew tie law ra~ilitury-knew II | was
found guilty cs n spy. no power but that
OF the %Tcrconing rrcrogativc Of the chief
executive oould overt death.
knew al he'd been cone by ry friends
that could lie done, end without avail.
still. | could not think that | was to
die 60 coon.
Such reflections, rctrospcctions, self
nrguinga, came to Inc daily. ~ the time
drew neer appointed for ny execution.
Finally it anne Shall | ever forget
that November morning in 'C3?
They had told Ee | would be taken out
ut . o'clock in the morning, and would
be cllowel an officer room in the bar
racks, where my parents. sisters and
brothers would meet me and spend my
la5t few hours with nc.
When taken ont, they had to seat me
In the outer guard room n quarter Of nn
hour, until my eyes became accustomed
TO the piercing glare of sunshine.
Then they tool me to the room wheTs
found father, mother, sisters. brothers
and n minister. 1t was the quarters of
mn officer Of the post, and very comfort
ably furnished.
just outside-we could see them
through the window-stood n special do.
tail OF twelve men. selected ns the unwill-