Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-04-09
PATRIOTISM.
The Instructive Story of an Humble Sol.
der Who Saved Washington's Life.

The Instructive Story of an Humble Sol
der Who Saved Washington's Life.
His was just that specimen of a
physique that is required to make a
shadow, about an hour before old Sol
begins to wrap about him the mysteri-
Gus drapcry of solemn twilight, that
would resemble an old-time four-story
French clock. He heard the boys
through with their tales of warfare and
soldiers life, as we sat in the public
room of the village hotel; then he
lcisurely rolled his quid back between
the wisdom teeth" of. his lantern
jaws, determinedly elected a stream of
amber at a glowing coal that had
strayed from its companions and then
lay just without the stove door, and
forever put out its light, and as it
w%himpered and wept, he remarked:
"Waal, boys, l amt no ole soljcr;
but l reckin L come as nigh on to being
one, not to be, as er Teller well Good.
Fur I'm a posterity of er reglar soljer
family, which fit like hornets in several
wars, and eff er wal shood come up I
CESS the family speerit wood rule, and
me be counted in. l knoW 'twould be
SIGH, Of 'twarnt for Jane and the chilli
un; it runs in our blood, or my name
amt Zeke Scruggs; but howsomever,
through some strange fertility it never
got into the books; yet, boys, l do say
that one Of my ancestring was the
prime cause of the 'Mericans whipping
the British"
Another coal of fire wept aloud, and
the stove-door sent up enough steam
to have rNn q steam mill, a little one
for a nickel, a day OF so. One of the
boys said:
"You don't say so, Zeke! Come,
tell us all about it; how became he the
means of such a great result.?"
"Waal, sir, | do say so. One Of my
%forefathers saved the life of Gineral
Washington hisself."
"Ah! indeed, history should have
told of it. Congress should have voted
him a medal. In what battle was it,
Zeke?"
"Y-a-a-s, but history don't git down
to talking about private soldiers. and
fur all Congress is consumed she'd no
jewrisdiction of the matter and didn't
meddle with it. Now, as to how it
came about, 'twarnt in no battle egg
zactly, but Is it were told by the old
wuns of the family, it commenced at
the battle Of Brandywine. You see
when the fight commenced my ancestor
war in front, but jest happening to look
back to whar the wagons was, he seed
that n of the head mules of the Gen
erals Vaughn war powerfully skeered,
and was about to make the team run
off; so he jist laid down his gun and
rushed back there spontaneously,
and kotch that mule, and hilt
him too! yes sir! hilt him till the fight
was over Oh! he was a mighty stout
man. Waal, you see, Generil Wash
ington seed my fore-pap. and in the
eggscitement of ther fight, he took a
wrong look at the matter, and con
Guided that my ancestry had run from
the British, had run cause he was
skeern! The Generil, you see, didn't
know the family, and he didn't
see the mule %a-cavortin. Now. a few
days after the fight, when the army
was gone into camp, Generil Washing
ton made the ole man 1--WE call him ole
man now, but he wa a younker them
tote a rail and lead a mule through
camp fur three hours each day fur four
days. This %proceedin' disguised the
ole man, made him ALFRED mad, and
fur a tiue actooly drew all the patrit-
ism right outen of him; and he so
entirely furgot hisself for the time
bein' that he loaded his gun up fur to
kill Generil Washington with it the
very next morning! Yes, sir! he done
that; but doorin' the night he thunk it
over, took in all the barrins. and he
seed that if he did kill the Generil
'twould ruinate the country; fur
what Good the army do without a chief
in-commander! SO he guy up his own
feelins fur the good of the country; and
didn't kill Generil Washington! Yes,
sir, pono bublico! an rite thar an then
the 'Merican eagle picked the she'll"
Noble man! Glorious sacrifice! and
YOU are a descendant of that man,
Zeke?"
"Yaas, sir! that very man wus my
wife's pap's grand-pap! Oil talk about
your patritism nowadays, they don't
know what it is; thar's patritism fur
you!'
And this noble man Of his (wife's)
noble sire took a fresh quid, and we all
laughed ut a story we were thinking
about, and one of the boys Immediately
narrated it that Zekc might be sure we
did laugh at our own thoughts.-Peck's
Sun.
A Shor%.Nacka Goddeee-