The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1893-02-23

ave are quite ready for that" said the
old clergyman.
With this sketch my "reminiscences OF
the southern mountaineers will end, at
least for the present, not because have
exhausted my material, but because
do not wish to test the patience of my
readers, who have been kind enough to
indorse the accuracy Of my pictures and
reports.
The gang under Het Magoone, who
set fire to Father Peters house and out.
buildings, were more prudent than val.
orous, for while they well knew that
they outnumbered three to one the
Union men gathered at Bradley's Cross.
ing, they did not care to risk fight
with the little force under the lead OF
the blacksmith.
During the years that strong Dick
Bradley had counted himself Chris.
tian," and spoken in meeting of himself
as "a brand snatched from the burning, /"
and 1.-THE chief of sinners" because OF
his past, he found his sorest trials in his
constant effort to subdue to the spirit
the combative yearnings of the flesh.
When, through the teaching of Mrs.
Peters and Ella, he had learned to spell
his way through a chapter in the Bible,
he found his greatest delight in the
records Of Joshua's battles with the Ca
NANTES, or the story that told how the
shepherd boy, David, left his fiocks on
the hills to meet the champion of the
Philistines, and subsequently rose by his
skill and valor to be the king of q great
nation. He liked to read of how Christ
made a whip and drove the money
changers from the temple far more than
he did to ponder over the Sermon on the
Mount.
He would often say to me, said Miss
Peters in telling the story Of this re-
markable man, .Ireckon the Bibles all
right Ella, and hit amt TO pore, mis'a-
BILE sinner like me to banker to make any
changes in hit. I'll allow hit couldn't be
improved fo' them ez lives in cities whar
thar's lots Of churches and schools, and
them things, and whar folks isn't bleaged
to tote aims, but thar's some parts of 1t
that sticks in my craw and goes plum
agin the grain Of my natur'.'"
On being asked what parts these were,
he said:
"Wall, thar's that one that SEE: Who
ever smites yo' on the right cheek turn
the other, SOS he kin get a whack at
that Now. sense I've been Christian,
I've put up with right smart of smiten
from doggone lot of ours that took ad-
vantage of my bein kinder helpless, TO
that's jest what riligin does TO man in
these mountains; but don't think, eff
was to go to hell TO hit, that could
bring myself to inviten Teller to smote
me on the left cheek after he'd knocked
me on the right. draw the line at one
cheek. Ell any Teller tried it on two, I'd
forgit my riligin and he'd have coz TO- to
grieve.
''Then there's that pint bout lovin
ones enemies. I've allus thought ez how
that must have slipped into the good
book by mistake, for hit amt nat'ral.
I'll allow Father Peters mout do hit, TO
he's 30 chuck full Of religin he amt got
no room fo' nothin else; but pore sinners
like me must go ON a-gettin a heap of
solid comfort from not lovin thar enc
mics, but a-hatin 'em like blazes."
But after that night in the blacksmith's
shop Strong Dick Bradley's views as to
the nonresistance inculcated by religion
underwent radical change. He saw
that when the hour for brave resistance
came Father Peters did not "fall back
on prayer TO his defense" but was will
ing to fight and ready to lead. That one
act on the part of the old missionary did
more to endear him to these rude noun
taineers than the preaching and self de-
NAL Of the ten years that preceded it.
The raiders who had come up from
the Tennessee line under the lead Of Het
Magoone contented themselves with
burning all the vacant cabins they could
find, taking it for granted that they
were the property of Union men. At
Bradley's Crossing the number of refu-
gees increased every day, principally
mountaineers who had come up from
Tennessee or from the lower border coun-
ties of Kentucky. These men were all
armed with old fashioned hunting rifles,
and they were not only willing to face
south and fight, but they were eager for
it, for each man had some personal
wrong which he was more eager to
avenge than he was to carry back the
old flag to the hills.
All these men brought famished APP
petites, but no provisions.
A few days after Magoone's raid it
became evident that in another week, If
nothing were done, they would be called
on to face a more relentless foe than the
Confederates under Zollicoffer and Crit
tenden, and that was famine. While
every man at the Crossing understood
that If he had to fight it would be under
the lead of Strong Dick Bradley, all, in
Guiding the blacksmith, looked up to
Father Peters as the man on whom they
must depend for counsel, and as the
Moses who was to lead the inevitable
exodus from the mountains to that
promised land where there were strong
hands and keen bayonets to defend the
old flag.
After carefully talking over the situa.
ton together, the preacher and the
blacksmith assembled their friends in
the sInithy, and the former mounted the
anvil block and, after the customary
prayer. delivered himself after this man
ner:
MY friends, winter is on us. Oul
enemy, the rebels, swarm in the hills,
and If the reports that come to us be