The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1893-01-18
Z Pathetic was Episode.

. About the saddest thing I ever en-
. countered was a pathetic little Incl
dent on the battlefield after the
, seige of Atlanta. It was night, and
I had been ordered to go out and
work on a easement near the enemy's
lines. They knew we were there, for
they kept up a continuous ping, ping,
ping Of mimic balls, now and then
varying the amusement by sending a
hot 10 FOUNDER, scorching the ground
and playing havoc with the bushes
~unpleasantly close to our ears. AS
I was running about suddenly one
of our boys rushed up and said,
"Ther's a dying man wants to see you,
Captain. You'd better come quick,
for he's got a hole through his
head" I fastened In the direction
he indicated, and soon found the
poor fellow. BE was being propped
up by q corporal, but by the way he
acted and talked I knew he was set
tied for,
"They've got me this time. Cap
tain," he said slowly, the blood chok-
ing him as he spoke.
He'd been wounded q couple Of
tit before, and was q brave man
and q good one, too. I said what I
could in the line OF sympathy, telling
him that it was the fate of war, and
that all his old comrades would fol-
low him SOONER OF later, It was
only a matter Of a few days, anyhow.
II want you to do MI a favor, Cap
tain," he said. the death sweat on
his forehead shining like beads in
the ftful CLEAN Of candle we had
lighted.
"0f course I'll do it, my boy I
said.
"There's my knapsack and can
teen,' he choked pitifully, stake them
or send them to my poor old father
and mother up in Vermont. Tell
'em that their only son died like, a
soldier on the field of battle. Tell
them that I died thinking of them
and-and-snd there's another mat
ter, another"
Here a stream
' ss'' bis ~
another matter" he gasped,
ssanother matter. sReach down in
my blouse and get a picture that IS
there" T did as directed, and saw in
the faint light that the card bore the
face of a young woman. "Its-its
the girl I was going to marry
sobbed the dying man. Tell her
that T died with my lips: On hers!
Put the picture on my lips, Captain,
that I may-may kiss it,
He kissed the s~enseless cardboard
over again, and though I turned my
face reverently away I caught s
glimpse of the loyelit eyes that told
his devotion. As he caressed the
likeness for the last time the am
bulance drove up and he was ten,
derly loaded in for the hospital
where his last moments might be at
any rate a little less painful than on
the rough rock-strewn battle ground
The first chance I got I sent that
knapsack and that sweet face to the
one who loved the soldier. That
isn't all Of the story. In October, ii
I recollect Alright, just before the
battle of Altoona, and after Gen
Hood swung round to Grants rear
I was riding along a very dusty roac
with my company. Suddenly l saw
a spectacle before me that nearly
knocked me off my horse. There, IL
the middle of the road with his arms
wildly waving toward me, was tina
same dying soldier. His head va
bandaged up, and when he spoke nj
voice was much impeded:
"I've got a furlough," he said, try
ing to grin good-naturedly, but fail
ing because Of the bandages rount
his face. I've got a Through an|
I'm going home to mary that girl.