The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-05-06

We took our accustomed seats at the
little table in the corner of our inn fac
ing the street. AS we were beginning
our meal a smiling young Russian with
Calmucklike cheekbones, tip tilt nose,
sandy hair, and small gray eyes looked
through the window, and a pair of blue
spectacles perched on his olfactory or
gan. On seeing us he opened the door,
walked in, bowed and marched up to
BUR table. With smile he wiped his
pince nez on the sleeve of his jacket,
placed them on the table by his plate,
then called for food and commenced eat
ing.
Now, being more or less of an old cam
paigner, can put up with almost any
kind Of eccentricity in the manner of
eating, but this little RUSSIANS behavior
was, to say the least, nauseating-not SO
much in using his fingers or in the fact
that if we had such Injuries we would
not have hesitated in eating peas with a
knife-for that weapon he used with
marvellous dexterity in conveying his
food to his mouth. When the feeding
was done, he calmly seized his fork,
which had been untouched for any edi-
BILE use and slowly began dislodging
from between his teeth the stringy por-
tions of the tough beefsteak he had been
consuming. At one moment he seemed
to be performing an act of iugglery as
the 3-pronged instrument almost dis
appeared down his throat in search of
some molar, but it would miraculeusly
turn up once more as much as to say,
"You observe, ladies. and gentlemen,
there is no deception about it."
My sense of decency was SO aroused at
this loathsome exhibition that I turned
to Forbes and whispered, "That young
man will not be a great loss to society If
he gets shot this afternoon" The gen.
tleman with the fork did not seem to no
tice our we'll marked aversion to his &C.
centric behavior. After the Russian had
made his mouth comfortable and lodged
his goggles on his sunburned nose his
face widened into q grin as he told us
that he had only arrived that morning
and that he knew us by repute; that he
was a brother war correspondent for a
Moscow journal, and he felt so honored
in making the acquaintance of two such
distinguished brethren.
In spite of his urbanity and good hui
NOR the uncomfortable sensation he had
caused us by his novel use Of the fork
could not easily be defaced. We were
glad to light our pipes and get once more
into the open. All the time during din
ner the increasing rattle of musketry
and booming Of guns told us the fight
was waxing hotter and hotter. Wehas-
ten ID to the the tete du pont. The works
at the bridge were bristling with bayo-
nets, for the reserves we had seen march
by in the morning were packed closely
in cover. About half a mile from the
bridge we joined Mackellar and his staff
of surgeons and logged along in their
ambulances till a favorable spot, de
serted cottage, was reached, where we
halted to receive the wounded. In our
immediate front were fields of Indian
corn; then a wood stretched from the
river on our left flank as far as the hills
skirting the right of thevalley. Through
this wood close into the fort hills, where
it passed village, our road could 5e
traced by occasional puffs of dust as
shell struck it or an orderly scampered
along. The fighting was going on on
the other sides of the thicket. We could
see the branches Of the trees stand out
in bold relief from the yellow flashes of
our artillery on the outer fringe.
Tho little village on our right seemed
almost deserted, but lazily hanging in
the noontide heat was a red cross flag on
the roof of one of the houses. Surgeon
Boyd was told off to go as far as this vii
lage and report the number of wounded.
Now, knew that Boyd was very anxious
to see some practice, and this was his
first venture in the field, so thought
would accompany him, As we began to
move parallel to the wood horseman
passed us, waving his arm in recognition
and grinning from ear to ear. His horse,
rugged, heavy boned animal, seemed to
be playing cup and ball with him, but
the rider still held on. It was the little
Russian correspondent of the fork in
cident.
One or two shells from the enemy,
missing our artillery, passed over the
trees and came upon the road. On
whistled SO near us that we fell fiat to
the ground. It whisked along to the
fields on our right and burst in the soft
soil. AS the mud and stones were shot
into the air, more and more did our Rus
slams horse seem to play cup and ball
with him till we lost sight Of horse and
rider as they danced into the village. A
few slightly wounded soldiers dribbled
through the woods into our road. We
dressed their wounds, and they hurried
away to the bridge in our rear. On en-
tering the hamlet we found it rapidly
filing up with wounded. Many of them
had MANNED themselves by blowing off
their trigger fingers. The stumps were
freshly blackened with powder, and we
could see by the looks of these cowardly
stragglers and the faces of the more seri-
ously hurt that the day was lost.
We hurried up to the house flying the
red cross. The wounded were being
rapidly placed in the requisitioned coun-
try carts. which were fastened away as