Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-02-15
SUMMARY JUSTICE.
A LEAF FROM A WAR DIARY.

forth his grievances iu season and gu
Of season. Tho night boforc, Grant s
army, in his bloody thanking duel with
Lee, had reached Spottsylvauia to find
tho Same scrricd walls of Coafed o rat
bayonets blocking hi, way. Rations
wero scant. tho commissary wagons,
mites il tho rear, wcro stuck fast as
bricks in mortar, rain had poured all
night, and the picket detail went out
sourly to tho gamc of lodging load
without cup of cofTeo. Gray skies,
stoaming oarth, wet uniforms; IN OK
posed limo, wherc ovory man burrowed
httlo hole, or throw up heap Of
Garth, or grovollcd bchind trco stumn:
vigilant oncmy not two hun drod yards
away, across wido gully, scratching
gravel in similar fashion, and prompt
with bullet at sight of blue cloth-it
was too dismal for any language but
tho staccato. Tho rich and varied
quality of tho blasphomy Ewould have
taxed oven tho disciplined genius of
toamstor. By-and-by tho sun clam bcrcd
out OF tho fog banks, and shono with n
'ickly lustro ns tho air lightenod, but
with an intensity of hoat that sucked
tho brain dry. Crampsd limbs-for 10
one could vonturo to mako much stir
and the torture of thirst made evcry
man ache with tho curses that Pros pcro
tnid on Caliban. Wo could 500 tho
CLINT OF tho water in tho run, hey
which deadly tubos lay lovcllod, as it
swept on in glancing ripplos or broke
IN baby cataracts, and tho musical
inklo of it ravishcd us with delight
that swiftly swung back into sharper
pain. But if tho mon in gray woro for
Us the ficrco guardians Of that fountain
Of refreshment, wo woro tho like to
HON. So We painted and longod and
vented our spleen on any 1uttor of uni
form that made rock or stump or mound
animate.
Idon't remember ON which sido /,
began. A whitc rag was tossed upon
tho point of q bay onot. In tho twink
ling of an ego n hundrod of these jocund
'ignals waved on both sides. Chanti-
rloer crowed morrily from scores of
!hroats, and lusty responses from tho
other sido mado tho air nlivo with tho
notes of rustic matin chorus. Gao
touch of nature had removed our kin
nip, and discipline melted like tho
frost on q window panc. "Como and
havo drink"-that gonial challenge
which punctuatos so much OF tho bu,i-
ness OF peace was banded between tho
friendly encmiOs. but this timo it was
for tho quafliag of vintage moro spark
ling and delicious than any cham
pagne that ever beaded IN crystal.
What wero general orders,
tho starch of military rule,
tho romonstrances of authority, before
this great gu'h of kindness and sympa-
thy3 The officers tried to keop the
mon In thcir limos, but the impulse had
got such head that it beat own opposi-
ton, which was the moro fcebl, as
tho sword secretly thrilled with the
same sentiment that stirred tho bayonot.
a thousand mon along q half-milo front
'prang out of ambush aud street chod
their legs. Rifles wcro stacked, and
with unslung can tocns the Will ON foes.
who had boon hot for each other 8
blood, hastenod to meet on tho banks
81 tho run and grip honest brown paws.
GLOW dye, Yank7" "IIow d'yo,
Johunya" went tho scattered fusillad o
Of greeting, aud oil gave tongue to a
hubbub of chatter and laughter like
hat of pack of schoolboys just broke
loose from the throat of birch. What a
draught of paradise that water was as
we drank till overy man was fit to
burst his skiul How beautiful the shin
ing of it as it danced over tho shadows
or lay in the still pools CHASING messy
pebbles in the clear cool dopthsl How
svery heart glowed with good will that
'moothed tho "wrinkled front of war,
into smiles, and made the vision of
reeking shamblos and savage on slausht,
from which wo had emerged and into
which wo must soon again pass, like q
distempered dream How tho blue and
gray chaffcd in simple, homoly fashion,
Or interchanged shoopish condolences
about tho girls they had loft behind
them
The scenes of this idyl set in the
midst of great tragedy wore so full OF
rudo pathos that, though now noarly
quarter of century gono. thoy aro as
trosh as thing of yesterday. can
still pass from group to group aud hear
the quaint remarks poin ted with army
lang, and tho gruff haw-haw as JON
athan, Hans, and Patrick tossed tho
football of talk with their fro,h- found
lDrethren Of on hour. can still sec the