Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1891-12-29
A WAR SIORY.

,er-.tlon, some alluslon was made TO
.war times" ani b. and NV brother,
who had lolh seen some "soldicring, ~
one. launched iuto rrmini.ccncr. 10
camp aud Held life.
"Nou ,lon't Ike VAR tsle.f' ssh ~.
Dcctor after wh le, turning 10 me, With
= smile wrinkllng his face n the cor
ner. 10 W.. l..n. hui klnd. gray eyes.
I honestly admitted that ! dii not.
"weli." .ah h~. "With your p"tml'.
.lon, I will relate 60 you little lncl'enl
In nav osn experience, aui hope YOU
wont di.likr H."
II viii li.,,n patiently Tor Ja., thl.
oncr," aid.
"it VA. Al the hattie of i',a Ridge,
Arl. :" l-gan he. 'Our fellow. AMI the
.Yank.,' a. wc called thru, were keep
Ing up pretty lively hhng At csch
other. whsn ten. PIlc- callci ne to him
l-isa. Que - hl. ail.-,ni ssi; 'lIere,
I want YOU to deliver this me.ssgr io Col.
M-shol. commanding over there on
the right
TO deliver the message st onc-, !
must 90 straight through h"iscen the
opposing llnc., but, " time Va. allowed
me, I rould make a d~,our and keep out
~ harms way.
"Do YOU want ihl, message delivered
lmm~ilitelyf' I a.lri.
'Imm-.ilatsly,' answered the .cner'
al. hI. eagle eye lpoking .. though u
wouIi plrtc- th'ough me.
"Nsll, therv was noihing for " hut io
ride through under th~ hrr of th" ~"
ARMIES, anl I prpcsfsic i0 do 80, not
without .on. trrpldatipn. fsticD.d
NV elf upon NV hor.e'. slie ani set out
uIpon NV perllous errand, apd, slthough
.s,-ral hall. whl.ii-,i thrr ,trningly neir
me, I sucvr.iei In making INV way
through aud delivered the mr.ssgr With
out mi.hsp. ~. rvtumlng bl morr
clrrulioa. ruui, vhsn on catering Vide
r.,In-, I met squad of hors.mcn ~
blue emerging FROM ". I wss s'"ut to
wheel M, horse, which was q fc-i ani
powerful frllos. and attempt To- out
ride th.m, When .,w Que ~ thru riis"
hl. sabre to aim blow at me. ~ one
will notl,- trir~. Il .uprrmc mom"n,.,
/ I observed that hi. zap cont ,iD.d letter
II on the font. In another Instant, "r
rather Ia the .iine instant, f'fi IN"
~.spon de.c-ui on mN head, sni then
sank into unconsciousn~.s.
"whsn nv sense. rturnrl. fonnd
my..lf lying at the ~. ~ the rs,ine,
viih an ugly g,.h IN my head, from
which the blool had lowed until u hsd
tur,te,i INV hair, sni va. .till lowing.
You can sre the .,ar her-."
IN. Doctor parted HI. thick, black
hair and .how.,l . brotd white scar
sbo,r aud little Ia the right Of hi. left
temple.
"wrII." pfos,-,Ie,i h-, 9TH. f~lersls
had dI.app~ar..I, having .Nii-utly left
IN. for dad. I arose, feeling very weak
frum Io.. ot hlool, sni toitst-i down Ia
the t..i ~ the r,Vins, where ] found
.om. water and washed the blood from
my head aud face thea, booking about,
| .,w nv horse quietly graging near nv,
the hlu-co,l. not having ctr-t to cap
tur- him. a. they wcTr rtii1g to ch,rgr.
managed o. crawl uIon him sni make
nv way back ln.lie ~ oar lines, whore
INV wound received prompt sgrgicI at
t.ntlon. Nol have doubtls-. arrived AZ
the conclusion, without suy .s,rrc strain
on your logi al posers, thu ! recovered
from NV scratch, though iher- were
icw day- when Il seemed no light mat
ter to mr.
"Aiier the unplea.,ntne.s va. over,
lnstr vi of rr.umlng the practice ~ mel.
icine. engaged Ia business quite dif-
fer at from that 81 welding the .sori,
namely, that of selling ploughshsre..
o. other words, hccams travelling
.ale.man Tor whole.ale hardware
hou.. Ia NJ. Louis, whose chief trade
va. In agricultural Implements. Ny
territory lsy IN the north, and In an Iowa
town Va. hardware m,u named Muir
gon Who wss good customer 81 mine.
lie wa.a pleasant fellow, aud ! u."i
often to .lend .om- time nj his .toie chat
ting With hlm while waiting for the train
by which usually left the place. On
one of tiio.. occasion. related IN. Incl
dent which have Iu.t nov inflicted up
on you, aud when bul.hed Murg"n slap
pei hi. hand down on his knee excisim-
log! 4 know the man Who gave YOU
that .,br. cut II !. old Uncle Bllli.
Grampton, Who live. out here q few
mile. distant. lie !. q gooi customer aud
friend of mine. I have heard him tell
your story often With tears Ia hi. eyes,
for be Ia. never forgiven himself for
cutting YOU down. While the probability
that he may have Killed more th,n one
man la battle, lighting at random. doe.
no, trouble him, the consciousness of
having killed one msn whom be met lace
to face seem. Ia hang over him Ike
pail, aud he feels hlm.elf almost mur-
derer. lie often come. In hereby the
way he IL coming la thi. evening Ia
get q plough from ms, and u you will
walt over till the eight o'clock train you
can meet him here. ant will get him Ia
tell the story In your presence. IL seems
Ia weigh on his mind, and be IL always
ready to talk about It, Well, ! stayed
Ia see the old min. Ile came In Sue
enough along Ia the evening, weather.
be ,ten, hone.t.facci old fellow, who
didn't look at all like n man posses sci of
q taste for sabre-.lashing. Mr.. Murgon
engaged him Ia conversation. and adroit-
IA led him into the recital of the story Ne
he had promised. During the recital.
which 'uncle BILLIE managed Ia length
en- as an old man can, quite number of
men dropped In, one by one, aud fornei
q group about him, aud when he had
finished, he said:
"'I tell YOU, men, the only thing re-
trrt about my army life IL the killing of
that man. II could undo that one
| strohe W my fis"' s'"' """" ~"
py man.
ellis account of the affair Tailed 30 ex-
actiy With my recollection of u a. to
leave not the slightest doubt of his be-
Ing the man Who had assaulted me, 60 ]
said: give yourself no further aneasi.
ne.s about that man he IL not dead, but
here before you. am the man you
struck with your sabre that day. And
I parted my hair and showed him the
scar ne have shown Il to you. a fcw
more words from me describing the
horse rode, and mentioning the letter
~ which had observed on hIs cap, as
surcd the old man that I was Indeed the
man whom he had mourncd ~ slsin by
his hand, and with burst Of joyful tears
he sprang at me, threw both hls arms
around me, and, resting hIs face on my
head, s0bbed like child. j often met
Uncle Billie after that; In fact, he al
ways made it point to Be at the town to
meet me when he knew ] WAS coming,
being Informed BY Murgou, and We have
had many pleasant chats togeth~r. Tie
said, and believe he spoke truly, that
he had not comrade In srms whom u
!, v.ve him "A much Measure 20 80 as my