The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-11-06

UNFAIRLY to old Caesar, who simply
turned his head with his less deaf ear
towards her, and asked:
Did yer speaks ter me, Miss
Ethel?"
Yes, stop the horsesl" and old
Caesar drew in the reius.
Ethel sprang out of the carriage, and
in a moment was beside the wounded
soldier, forgetful of everything except
that here was a human being wounded
and in distress.
"Can do anything for your" she
asked, as she bent over him.
He looked into her beautiful, sympa-
thetic face and family smiled, replying
in whisper, Acknowledgements
water"
Calling to Cesar, she directed him to
hitch the horses and bring some water
from a spring near by. Then taking
his empty cauteen she filed it with cool
water and placed it to his parched lips.
He drank eagerly and seemed revived.
"Thank you; it is the sweetest
draught | ever drank" he whispered.
CT have suffered more from thirst
since being wounded than from my
wound"
"Where are you wounded?" Ethel
asked anXiously, as she saw little
rivulet of blood trickling on the ground
where he was lying.
" In my left arm" he replied, "and
I am weak from the loss of blood, that
is continually flowing from the wound.
If YOU will please take my handker-
chief from the inside pocket of my coat
and bind above the wound. think it
may staunch the blood in measure"
Ethel unbuttoned his coat and took a
handkerchief from the pocket desig-
mated, and bound it above the wound,
then refilled his canteen with water and
left him, after telling him that she had
come to take her wounded brother
home. She was Just about to enter the
carriage, when the thought occurred
Poor fellow! He is lying there in the
hot sun without anything to protect his
face, and it may be an hour or two be-
fore he will be found and carried to the
house for the woundedW Turning
back, she took her handkerchief from
her pocket and, approaching him, said:
Please let me spread my handker-
chief over your face to protect it from
the sun, it is nearly blistered!'
"Thank you," he replied, "you are
very kind"
Then she laid it over his face in such
manner as not to obstruct the fresh
air from his nostrils, and she and old
Caesar went on their way for Wilmot.
They found him at the improvised
hospital, with deep flesh wound, from
which he was weak with the loss of
blood, but no danger apprehended.
He was placed in the carriage, tenderly
wrapped and bolstered by Ethel and
old Caesar, and the trio started for
home, Wilmot with thankful heart that
he had a home so near to which he
could be taken, and Ethel with glad
tears in her eyes, to find that her brother
was not seriously injured. In passing
the spot where the Union soldier had
lain, they found him gone, and nothing
but the red blood-stain there to indi-
cate where he had lain, while the foot
prints in the fine, clayey soil about the
place showed that he had evidently
been removed to the hospital.
On the following day, General Steed-
man arrived with about 1000 troops,
thus relieving the Union forces who
were in the fort near the town, and the
confederates were obliged to retreat.
Wilmot Merwin, under the loving
care of his mother and sister, rapidly
recovered from his injury and in six
weeks was again with his comrades in
arms.
y
Years went by and brought many
changes. They hushed the booming of
cannon and rattle of musketry and I'M
furled the banner of peace all over our
beloved country, while the grass grew
green over the graves of loved ones
sacrificed upon her altar, procaiming
in silent language at how great price
peace had been obtained.
Change had also come TO the Merwin
household. OF the three who had
gone forth under the confederate flag,
only the youngest, Wilmot, lived to re-
turn, Colonel Merwin and Clarence
both having fallen in the same battle =
the battle at AppomattoX. Ethel was
twenty-five years of age, the dignity of
womanhood rendering her even more
beautiful than her girlhood, with all of
its fresh rose tints of cheek and sparkle
of eye had promised; while with heI
self-poise and queenly bearing that
now characterized her there was an in.
definabe something, wrought from eX-
perience and sorrow, that seemed to
permeate her whole character and dis.
played itself in her gentle sympathy and
ready aid for the sorrowing and afflicted
OF course suitors sought her hand
but she "said them nay"
81 am sure you cannot expect to
find the whole world over a more de.
sirable husband than Major Prince, y
Wilmot had said to her one day, after
she had confded to him the fact of hei
rejection of that wealthy gentleman
whom the maideus and young widows
of that section all looked upon as such
" catch"
do not think shall ever marry
was Ethel's calm but positive reply.
Did the remembrance of young sol
der in blue, lying wounded on the bat
tlefeld, have anything to do with he
decision? If so, she kept her secret t
herself, and, perhaps, almost uncon
sciously from herself.
A few weeks later Wilmot Mervin
81 a.