Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1888-07-19

little grandson IN MS roundaDoul ironing
at thy heels As the General that was
and the General that was to be passed an
apple stand, the future nominee grabbed
a seductive-looking Baldwin, which lay
exposed with skin as smooth as Helen's
and the promise of a heart more true.
Just as he was making an incision into
his prize, the apple woman discovered the
roguery. She followed the innocent little
purloiner with loud and passionate out
cry.
Patience, good woman" said the
kind old chief. Heres a pistareen for
thee know an oil shall teach the little
rogue the difference 'twix meum ct tu,rm."
"Aye, give it to 'um with will Gineral,
and God bless your honor, and much
good may it do 'um. The sweet-faced
little thief he isl
The General walked on slowly until he
came to a little clump of birches. Taking
out the knife with which Tecumseh's
brother, the Prophet, used to cut up plug
tobacco, the General deity cut off two
stout saplings and stripped them of their
twigs and leaves.
Little Ben Harrison looked very
thoughtful. Slowly the old hero led the
way to their tavern. Slowly and with
sinking heart did little Ben trudge be-
hind his grandsire.
"Ben, my boy" said the old man to
the sobbing and smarting lad, a smile that
was half tear in his stern yet kindly
eye, "let this be lesson to you. Remem-
Der hereafter that one of the first duties
of good and prudent general is to pro-
tect his rear"
Gen. Harrison ascribes much of his
aptitude for war to an early apprehension
Of this principle. His first battle, he
sometimes jestingly says, was this Battle
of the Birches, and he adds that he was
badly defeated,
The Bloody Shirt.
At the Mama University, when Ben was
student there, was a tall, raw-boned
Irish youth named Pat Tone. Ben was
boasting one day, as boys will do in their
salad days, of his illustrious ancestry.
Among the glories of it he introduced
Pocahontas, that heroine of the pristine
forest, whose sweet face now CLEANS across
the centuries, the Indian maiden, the no.
ble English wife. "She was only cop
per-colored old squaw," said the irrev-
erent Pat Tone, "and Captain John Smith
was big English liar" When the class
in ethics was dismissed that afternoon
Pat Tone and Ben Harrison, who was as
brave as a lion, adjourned behind some
beech trees to the north Of the campus,
and fought as fercely as Powhatan's
braves and the jamestown colonists. Af-
ter the fight Ben Harrison walked sor-
rowfully to his room with black eye and
bloody shirt Never will Ben Harri-
son be ashamed of the CORY emblem Of a
race which is daily murdered, aye, MUIR
dered in cold blood, by the Democratic
planters of the solid South.
How Ben Harrison Tried to Sare Wound
ed Confederate Soldier.
After the battle of Peach Tree Creek
General Harrison saw a stalwart Confed-
crate soldier writhing on the sanguine-
stained field, his handsome face stained
with blood and dust, his eyes glazed with
thirst and suffering.
Drink, drink" murmured the wound
ed man. Gen. Harrison, who joins the
sensibility of a nervous woman to a cour-
age matchless and supereminent, at once
dismounted from his charger, and gave
though himself parched and thirsty with
the dust and heat of battle-his canteen
to his fallen foe. The Confederate raised
it eagerly to his lips with weak and fever
ish hands. In a moment he dashed it
from him with an awful imprecation.
"Watqr," he cried and me from Alabama
You id Yankee, would you insult a
dying man?'
"Young man," said the General severe
". at once grieved for the loss Of the wa
ter. and saddened by the impatience and
impenitence of the reckless young rebel
at such a solemn hour, rum has slain its
tens of thousands"
ooh, brother, replied the rebel, point
ing to his leg, which had been broken by
a cannon ball, "Rum did that didn't ii
Yankg l am prepared to die, but not to
sully the proud lips Of an Alabama gen
tleman with that cussed stuff"
Gen. Harrison often says he wonders II
E that Young man recovered. This anec
dote is vouched for by hundreds Of trust