The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-12-16

leDge, but the kindly greeting of an old
comrade was in the laughing voice.
General Strong gazed in establishment
upon The youthful face with its bright
pink cheeks and smooth skin, and the
merry dark eyes that sparkled beneath
the prematurelv whitened hair, and be-
held the stately figure with its grlish grace
of movement, then he bowed low over her
hand. declaring in defiant Justification of
himself:
MADAM, the war of the Rebellion be-
gan in 1861. The United States armv
never Issued commissions to fve-year-o old
childrenT
l doubt whether, in all her eventful
life, which has brought her so much hon.
age, the major ever received prettier
compliment than this old comrade paid
her in these words, and never one that
was better deserved, for to those who
know her best it seems incredible that
this fresh faced woman. who retains all
her girlish activity and animation, who is
so full of enthusiasm for all good works.
so receptive in her sympathies. is the one
about whose fair young head the shells of
Shiloh fell.
Had it MT been for this little episode
we might not have known to this day tb at
we had among US this woman who bore
such celebrated part in the late war, and
| who received as her reward the only regu-
| lar commission ever issued by the United
! States army to woman. Mrs. Reynolds
never refers to her army experience eX-
| cept when among old comrades, and can
| with difficulty be induced to discuss II.
think this is regularity which she
| shares In common with all old veterans,
| whose indispositon to talk of the past
seems in exact proportion to the amount
| of active service that they have rendered.
Perhaps this is because these experiences
were so very real and their remem bran ce
| is so fraught with tragedy that 1t seems
| almost sacrilege to idly retail them TO ears
upon which they fall like romance.
Belle Reynolds stands out a separate
| and distinct figure in the history of the
| Rebellion. We have been surfeited 18th
tales of the "Nurse and Spy" order. until
it would almost seem to women who read
them that no woman can be of service in
such a conflict without discardng all
womanly attributes. unsexing herself and
developing low cunning that the his
torian dignifies as "woman's wit" but that
in ordinary decent society we should char
acterize as deceit aud treachery. Belle
Reynolds played womanly woman's part
| with more than a woman's courage and
devotion in those Iroublous times. No
am bton to present a dashing figure in
| the great contest carried her to the front.
| Her husband was among the first
who volunteered, and she accompanied
| him to camp through wife's devotion,
determined to, If possible. share his hard
| Ships and be near him 10 time of peril.
| Her after services were called forth by
the need of the hour and her own patriotic
| spirit, which kept her faithfully at her
post two years after her health had failed.
and every days task became battle
against her own physical weaknesses.
Arabella Macomber was born at Shell
burne Falls, Mass. When she was Il
years old she removed, with her parents,
to Iowa, which was then wild and IN
settled country. Two years later she went
| East to complete her education. ana upon
her return home taught the first school in
| Cass County, Iowa. The little log school
house in which she taught was six miles
| from her home. and every day she walked
this distance, with her little brother. wad-
| ing through stream on the way, where
she would lift the little fellow to her
| shoulders. 1t is possible that this expert
ence. severe as it was. helped to develop
| the magnificent constitution that enabled
her TO bear up under marches and hard
| ships that would have broken down any
| other woman.
In April, 1860, she was married to Mr.