Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1889-05-31

Jlls lhSJ cndnce must De SelIeu. Ouf sWlit
inventory hardly lasted longer than the
telling for every face and figure lay in the
clearest relief, and the brilliant eye that
looked down did the searching for us, cold
ly impartial to blue and gray. We turned
heavy of heart, yet glad that our uncanny
work was done, when the sergeant's agi-
tated whisper again startled us;
Look look yonder through those tree
trunks There's either a woman or a
ghost watching US"
We were held by the spell of vision
that no one Of us would ever forget. Be
yond the rim of unbroken moonshine that
glittered in such mockery over the horrors
of mans handiwork two gaunt trees lifted
their leafess and crooked limbs skeleton
images of death and decay The earth
and sod had shrunk from the great gnarled
roots Yet from one Of these some last i'm
pulse Of life had shot out a sturdy growth
of green wands topped with foliage. Set
like picture in frame amidst this minia
ture bower there was face watching us,
fearfully intent in its gaze, which might
have been threat or entreaty. 1t certain
ly gathered into its focus all that heart
could imagine of intense purpose. The
eyes, large and wide, shone with a lustre
beyond the measure of what ardent life
and leaping blood could give, and the feat
ures, white as the moonlight itself, flicker
ed and rippled with expression, as if min
gled emotions, each too impatient to wait
for the other, struggled to burst through
the clay prison house Our fellows were
all lads of proof, graduated from a score of
battle fields, but this apparition rising from
the dead was a thought too much for al
ready overwrought nerves. Retreat wait
ed for no order, and was only stopped from
becoming flight by the hoarse voice of the
lieutenant crying halt, as words fought
for breath against the CONSERVATION which
he shared with the rest.
"Damnation we're surely not towards
enough TO run from mere moonshine. Back,
and let's see what the thing is ~
Every man jack of the party obeyed as
reluctantly as he would march to his own
execution, in spite of the fact that a con-
siderable element Of curiosity began to
mingle with fright Crossing the moonlit
sward as well as we could thread our
way among the dead, we saw the spectacle
close at hand which had appalled, us mo-
ment before. A Confederate soldier had
been shot through the heart, and instead of
falling had been caught in the stout brush
which partly filed the space between the
two trees. Here the body was held in a
nearly erect posture, though concealed in
that deceptive light by the shrubs. Bush
lighting, which made up so much of the
late war, often left its victims in many
strange positions-sitting, upright, bent
double, as well as prone or the back or
face.
In this case the face alone was visible,
and over it passed the shadows of leaves
fluttering in the wan glimmer with the
breath of the wind that swept through
them The illusion was indescribably life
like and terrible, 50 much so that the eff
feet hardly vanished with knowledge of
the cause. Yet how quickly awe made
way for touch of deep pathos We had
not yet plucked the heart out of the mys-
terry. Iron faces which had grown rigid
with the passions of battle and the rude
contentious of the camp melted, as several
spoke with one breath-"God It's a wom-
an
Yes, it was a woman. Neither face nor
figure could deny this. There were some
remains of beauty in the countenance,
which was not that of very young wom-
an, nor of one who had known much hap
piness. Spiritual stress had scanned the
features with line and wrinkle, not less
than fatigue and hardship of the body
Even the close-cropped hair and the fixed
stare of the dark eyes, however, could not
altogether destroy the touch of loveliness
which death had breathed on her. One of
the men who lifted the body from its COW
ert felt underneath the worn and thread
bare gray something hard near where the
bullet had torn its passage. This was a
packet done in oil-skin. The shape proved
that it contained letters, probably too, a
photograph. Red spots stained its edge.
This was put back reverently again, un-
opened. We could not carry our missing
major back to camp, for he, we afterward
learned, was a prisoner with the enemy.
But we had charge no less sacred and
sick wife or sweetheart could not have
been borne more tenderly than we lifted
the dead woman on that mOonlit field of the
slain.
Reveille had hardly sounded next morn
ing before the story had been buzzed far
and wide through the camp. Fancy was
busy about the tragedy that lay under the
mystery of this woman's life. and what
had driven her to an end so unfeminine and
wretched. That the heart had been brok-
en- before the bullet pierced it, perhaps
with a wholesome release, all readily sur
missed. But no finger was rude enough to
break the seal of that packet resting on
her heart, which might have solved the Sc
cret.
Not an hour was safe from a fresh as
sault, though we knew not whether it
would be delivered from our side or the en-
emy's. Therefore such offices as could be
paid to the dead were not delayed A
grave was dug, and the nameless woman
buried with the honors of war, three vol
leys fired over that last resting place of her
mortal shell. On head board was rudely
cut this hic Jdcet'
AN UNKNOWN CONFEDERATE SOLDIER,
WOMAN IN DISGUISE.
She died a Soldiers Death aud iCdS buried
tcih Soldiers Honors august 10, 1864.
Before noon two of her bearers on that
memorable night and many who had stood
around her grave in the morning had join
ed her and the innumerable throng of
shades ON the Asphodel meadows s.-Hdr-
per'S Weekly