Alpena argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1893-1909, 1894-12-05
OUR RUNAWAY MATCH.

low One Hundredth street, and on
the fashionable side of Fourth
avenue. 60 down town every
day, in the morning, just as if ! had
something to do; Mary sees to the
housekeeping and goes out shop
ping, just as if we had large fam
lily and many purchases to make.
The fact is, that l receive barely
enough money to keep us from
looking poverty-stricken; but the
house which Mary's father gave her
as a wedding-present, furniture and
all, is so complete, that | think we
shall manage to scrape along until
| become prosperous enough to
make accounts balance favorably.
As / was about to say when | be-
gan, you would never think, to look
at us, that we made a runaway
match of it few years ago. None
Of your commonplace affairs by
moonlight, in a close carriage, clan
destinely, and against the wishes of
parents, guardians, and everyone
else, but in broad daylight, and in
sight of quite a party of friends,
all of whom were very much horri-
fed, and did all they could (Which
was nothing at all) to prevent it.
However, we two run away then
and there, although (don't be
shocked, reader) we were not mar
ried until two years or so after
ward.
Mary's maiden name was Shirley,
and she and | both belong to New
England families of the old-fash-
Toned style. Our homes were in
different states and far apart, but
Tom Shirley, Mary's brother, and
| were schoolmates at a Massachu-
sets school, and became sworn
friends during the three years that
we were together. We visited one
another's homes during vacations,
and rode, fished, and boated away
our holidays in a way that is most
satisfactory to look back upon. My
father was inflexible in his deter
mination to send me to Yale, and
between us we managed to bring
old Squire Shirley round to give up
Harvard for Tom, and so to college
we went together. Mary and ]
were naturally good friends from
childhood up, and, seeing one an
other so intimately, grew to have a
brother and sister sort of feeling
never thinking of falling in love
and regarding the jokes that were
cracked at our expense only as good
things to laugh at in private. All
this was really so, too, for Tom and
| were together in the same office
for some time after graduating
Mary and / saw one another fire.
quently, and ] solemnly protest that
/ was not in love at all. Mary will
tell you the same thing.
By the time that the war broke
out, Tom and were getting ad-
vanced in years-that is to say, he
was twenty-six and / was five
months older. OF course we went
off with the three months men as
privates. After a summer in the
neighborhood of Washington, we
determined to 90 into the cavalry,
and in order to learn our business
thoroughly, enlisted in a regular
regiment, knowing well enough that
when volunteer cavalry was called
for we could get commissions.
Our regiment was pretty badly
cut up in the Peninsula, and Tom
and ], by dint of attention to duty,
had been made non-commissioned
officers by the end of that unsuc-
cessful campaign.
When we found ourselves in win
ter quarters, thinking that we were
sufficiently posted to take charge of
companies, we set the necessary
documents in motion, and were soon
in command of companies in one of
the best of our volunteer cavalry
regiments.
During a sharp little affair in
Virginia, one summer morning in
'83, Tom was badly hurt by frag-
ment of shell, and had to be sent
home. A few weeks later, | was
knocked over by spent grapeshot,
and had to 60 home, too.
Here | must introduce a very I'M
portant character, to wit, Graylock,
my horse. Probably ninety persons
out of every hundred would say, on
first seeing Graylock, "What an
ugly brute!' Standing about eigh-
teen hands high, with not an ounce
of extra flesh to cover his huge
bones and mighty sinews, with his
straight neck and rather large bony
head, with his ribs always visible,
even after months Of the best stable
diet, he certainly does not present q
prepossessing appearance. 1t is not
until you notice the quick, bright,
intelligent eye, and the sensitive
ear and nostril, the soft shining
gray coat, the broad muscles Of
theighs, breast and TANKS, that you
perceive, if you are anything of a
judge, that he is, to use somewhat
inelegant expression, "all horse"
/ found him guard over the body
of his dying master in a lonly
region Of the Virginia mountains,
where / was scouting with a small
party Of my men.
The dying man was type Of the
Southern cavalry officer, young, Of
a saturine sort Of beauty, and with
something overbearinR even in his