The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-09-14

sney appeared In the brilliant dress o.
the ballroom. these dresses formerly
worn by the convivial having been sud.
denly come upon. and when tho wives
and daughters of missionaries and
Christian merchants had nothing else to
wear.
Lord Bishop Cowie also had OH his
walls pictures of some of the most stir.
ring scenes of the Russian war with
which the military friends of the bishop
had been cognizant. Here is pictured
scene where there was no retreat for tho
English, and yet their standing firm
seemed certain destruction, and their
general cried oct; MEN, there is no re-
treat from this place. You will die
here" and the men replied, faye, aye,
we are ready to do thatp' And yonder
another pictured scene Of Balaklava
after the famous charge Of the 600, and
the commander said to the few mon who
had got back from the awful charge,
Men, it was mad Drained trick" and
they replied, Newer mind, general; we
would do it again. The bishops walls
In other places were made interesting
by swords, belts and torn insignia of
battle from the fields of India, all the
more interesting because we expect in
our journey around the world to visit
Lucknow and Cawnpur and Delhi and
many of the chief places made immortal
by the struggle between British valor
and sepoy infamy.
And here from the bishops own
words l got satisfactory answer to
question l have asked many times, but
for which Inever received satisfactory
answer. l said: "Your lordship knew
the chief men of Balaklava, and will
you please explain to me what have
never been able to find out, and to which
Tennyson makes reference in his Charge
OF the Light Brigade, and in that line
where he says, Some one had blum
deredT Do you know and will you tell
me exactly what that blunder WASP
He said; II can and will. " Then the
bishop illustrated with knives and forks
and napkin rings on the dining table
the position Of the English guns, the
Russian guns and the troops. He DEM
onstrated to me plainly what the mill
tary blunder was that caused the dash
and havoc of that cavalry regiment
whose click Of spurs and chatter of hoofs
Ind jingle of bits and spurts of blood
you hear in the poet laureate's battle
hymn. Here was the line of the English
guns not very well defended, and yon-
derwas the line of Russian guns backed
by the whole Russian army The order
was given to the cavalry regiment to
take care of those Ell lish guns and keep
them from being tal;en by the Russians,
and the command was, "Take care of
those English gunsp' But the words
were misunderstood, and it was supposed
that the order was to capture the Rus
sian artillery. Instead of the command,
Take care of those English sunsp' it
was thought the command was, Take
those Russian gunsp' For that ghastiy
and horrible assault of the impossible
the riders plunged their spurs and head
ed their horses into certain death. At
last l had positive information as to
Witto viz bluQuCl az DdlhhltNd was. Ab
Edinburgh years ago asked one of the
soldiers who rode in that charge the
Same question, but even he, a partici-
pant in the scenes of that fiery day,
could not tell me just what the blunder
was.
Now | have at last not only told in
stirring words of natural orator and
talker, but on the dining table
Of the lord bishop Of Auckland I had it
set out before the eye, dramatized and |
demonstrated by the cutlery on the
white table cloth, but instead of the
steel bayonets the silver forks of a
beautiful repast, and instead of the
sharp swords of death knives for bread
cutting, and instead of the belching
guns Of destruction the napkin rings of
> hospitality the memory of which shall
be bright and fresh as long as remcm-
Der this visit to New Zealand.
T. DE WITT TAIMAGE.