Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-10-08
A ROMANCE OF WAR.

cut OH up at tne hnOuluer ana tnen be
ready to return 10 this Internal prison in
Charleston, and to die here with my COM
rades, II need be, II l could Just see one per-
son and talk to her for 10 minutes"
The scene was in the jailyari at Charles
ton, where In the summer OF 1864 600 Union
officers were placed under the fire OF our
own guns, then bombarding the doomed
city from Morris island.
The speaker was Captain Walters. That
was not his true name, butit will answer
my purpose. He was captain OF cavalry
from Ohio and had been captain at Camp
BELLS Station, east Tennessee, some eight
months before.
"Why are you so despondentw asked
at is because of late she has been coming
to me in my dreams"
"Who is shei" l asked after painful
pause.
My wife" he said, with a groan.
why, did not know you were married,
captain"
1 took his hand, and in a vague sort of
way which / meant to be consoling told
him that much of ones troubles were imaR-
mary, and that IL was better to look upon
the bright side Of things. | am aware now
that this advice must have had in It ring
OF mockery, for II Is difficult TO imagine a
situation with less Of the bright side than
ours. But there was something besides tho
prison life that was breaking down the cap
tain, and curiosity and interest induced mo
to ask him what 1t was.
II not the exact language, the following
is, 1 am very sure, the substance Of what
Captain Walters said:
"IAke nine out OF ten Of the single young
men who entered the army In 1861, / was In
love. have no use for the man who has
not been desperately In love before hia
twenty fifth birthday.
THE girl to whom 1 was attached was
the daughter Of neighbor. had known
her since she was an infant and n boy In
knickerbockers, and / cannot recall time
when did not love her, and she was worthy
Of 1t from first TO last, though there was q
period when l did not think go, and 1t Is
the injustice done her then that is wearing
out my life, and not the sufferings Of this
prison.
"Wewere married last August, Just three
months before was captured and while
was home on q wounded furlough. For ono
month was the happiest man in the world,
and that happiness should have continued
had been worthy Of her love. False to
herr No, sir; l was not capable OF that,
mean though l was, but was not incapable
OF believing that she might be false to mo.
From the day OF our marriage had been
receiving anonymous letters charging nv
wife with love for another man. burned
the letters, nor ever mentioned the matter
to her. But l noticed there were times
when she persisted in going over the Ohio
river TO Newport alone to see a sick friend,
she always told me. My anonymous cor.
respondent, it would seem, kept track Of
her, and one day letter came saying that
II would follow my wife the next day she
crossed over the river to Kentucky would
have proof of her infidelity.
''The devil moved me to follow this I'D.
vice. disguised myself and followed her
carriage on horseback. Now and then
caught glimpse OF the pure, beautiful
face, and 1t filled me with such a sense Of
my own meanness that more than once
wheeled my horse to 20 back, but would
be changed from this nobler purpose by
the memory OF the letters.
~ Kept sight OF my wife till the earringe
stopped before secluded cottage out on
the wooded slopes above Licking river. In
few minutes she came out accompanied
by tall, handsome young man, who car.
ried his arm in a sling, but whose BEARING
bespoke him a soldier, and whose atten.
lions to my wife indicated lover. They
entered the carriage and drove back into
the hills.
My frat impulse was to gallon after
them and shoot them both but raltned
myself, and after hitching my horse found
aplace where lay concealed till their re-
turn.
The carriage stopped in the same place,
but this time my wife did not get out.
could see her, however, lifting up her
lace TO meet the lips Of her companion.
Then he returned 20 the Ohio side, and 1
followed with such storm raging In NV
heart as cannot describe. shudder 10
think Of 1t now.
81 galloped back, changed my dress and
at once sought out my vito. pushed her
back when she rushed forward to Kiss me
and with coarse oaths told her of my ais.
eovery and charged her with infdelity.
She tried to explain, butI refused 10 listen.
Will leave you to this lover shouted.
and you will never see me again
u dashed from the room inst as she fell
iainting to tue floor, and that was tho last
l saw OF my wife. ] suspected thai her
companion was n wounded confederate
soldier, who was hiding within our lines to
recruit his health and to conduct his
amours Without telling my own grief |
-f'''hNN my susliSiOhs tnhb night to the |
provost marshal, and then started sontb
to rejoin my regiment and with an intense
desire in my henrt to DO killed In the flrst
hight, Two days before my capture re- |
oeived letter from the provost marshal
saying he had arrested the man, that he |
was a Confederate officer who had been
wounded at Cythiana, and that he was nv |
wife's uncle, her mothers youngest brother.
who, being KsntuckiRn, had taken mn |
arms for the other side
That is my story. That Is why would
be willing to die IL could frst see nywife
for 10 minutes and fall at her feet and ak |
her forgiveness"
Ten months after this, when peace had |
come and the battleHags were furled, / |
learned that Captain (now Major Walters
wished to see me at the Lincoln hospital. / |
knew that he had escaped. rejoined his com.
mand and been wounded in North Caro-. |
lima
sought my old prison companion out.
ny his cot found beautiful woman sit
ting MY wife" he said by way OF intro. |
duetion. She gave me her little hand, and |
as l looked from her face TO his felt a |
throb of delight, for knew that explaha. |
tions had been made and that love had par
i .