Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-07-10


his words were caught:
@Draw those wagon-coversl am
your friend; do as / tell you'll"
The sails of the @prairie schooner
were at once furled and tucked away
in its bottom. When the man came
up he explained that some Pin Indian
scouts in the employ Of the United
States were on the lookout for the
party. and that the wagon-covers, II
up, would serve to betray them. He
knew of safe retreat to which he
would conduct them, where they might
remain until this particular danger
was past. The place was a patch of
woodland springing from the broad ex-
panse of prairie like an island from
the ocean; and, indeed, the similarity
is SO striking that such patches, wher
mentioned, are characterized as islands.
After this escape the desperate jour
ney was renewed, slowly and in the
face of almost inevitable stranding and
starvation. As autumn drew on they
suffered much inconvenience from the
heavy rains; sleepy riyulets and dry
branches" were transformed into
foaming torrents too formidable to
warrant an attempt at fording; bridges
were washed away or had been de-
Nroyed; the red-clay soil took on the
properties of putty, and altogether the
progress seemed but creeping toward
sure death.
The country WAS so level that the
water often stood several inches deep
in the road, and the track was almost
unnavigable for either land OF water
craft. Often the poor, starved, worn
out mufes refused to pull the load
could not pull it; at such times the
brave mother would take. the children
in her arms, one by one, and carry
them to some slightly elevated spot,
then return to the wagon, and by al
ternate pushings and coaxings succeed
in getting the jaded animals to pull
out before the wagon became hope
lessly mired.
When near their journeys end they
lost one of their mules. In crossing a
swollen stream he missed his footing
and was too exhausted from hunger
| and fatigue to make even the slightest
struggle to save himself. Just then,
when it seemed as though all hope
must be abandoned, some Confederate
scouts came in sight. They were
hailed, and worked 'manfully to assist
the shipwrecked party, leading them
to little place known as Monticello.
There they were placed in some c.. s..
A. wagons and forwarded to Camden,
where by chance the father came upon
them. His surprise at seeing his
loved ones there and in such terrible
condition may be imagined, for he had
not received the slightest hint of their
coming, nor would he have believed
for one instant that any woman, least
of all his wife, ever before considered
as unusually timid, could have under
taken and completed such task.
He took his family to Ell Dorado
and settled them in comfortable
home, where they had enough to eat
and were free from fear of molestation
from scouts, Indians, and guerrillas. 1t
took them all long time, though, to
divest themselves of the thought that
they might yet awake some morning
and find that they were only dream.
ing; but in the following spring Gen.
eral Lee surrendered and the grand
Grant said "Let us have peace"
Is it any wonder that the now old
soldier, who put away his hate with
his gray uniform, often says, as his eyes
linger lovingly on the mother of his
children, the wife he adores in her age,
more, if possible, than. he did in he1
days of youth and beauty-is it any
wonder that he often exclaims in a
burst of admiration and wonder he car
never suppress: "What a general
the Confederacy lost by her being a
woman"
And what true man can help but
honor this brave lady? = Chicago
Ledger.
| Erdiuo fI,o VVa, ..