Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-06-28
BEFORE ATLANTA FELL.
CThe following wasread year ago be-
fore the Epworth League and is now
printed only by special requesD.

printed only by special requesD.
The afternoon was gray and haZy, the
| distant mountains showing but dim and
| ghost-like along the horizon. The brow
| of noble Kenesaw usually rearing
! proudly in the blue sky, was now OBJ
scured. Al smoky pail, a sulphurous
! heat stretching away TO the right and
! left, now and then accentuated by a
great white puff of smoke, then the muf-
fled boom of the cannon, indicated the
advance guard Of the strangulating
| lines Of steel and fire under Sherman,
| that slowly and mercilessly were con-
/ stricting the environed troops OF the
Confederacy.
A knot of gloomy officers and men
stood within the Confederate entrench-
ments keenly endeavOring to penetrate
the design OF the coming enemy.
IF we could only get word to Carter,
| TO Frazier" said Col. Gordon, "for rein
| forcements, we would be all right To
have our men slowly melt away under
| repeated sllirmishes avails us nothing"
Then after pause he said: There
will probably be general advance up
on our whole front before long"
Send some one to Carter or Frazier"
| then"
Col. Gordon and the others turned
and, looking in the direction Of the
| voice, saw girl seated on the ground,
apparently intently watching the great
puffs of smoke that came from the dis
tant cannon.
AYE, very true, Madge, but the dan
ger. Who could cross that line and
live?"
I 81 can cross that line and return"
The colonel stood some time in refiec-
ton, then replied" No, not you, Madge,
but some one must 60"
She arose and approached the group
al said: IF any one gees I shall go.
Why not? You will not allow me a
gun, you keep me in the hospitals.
Every man is needed, and if l should be
killed what matter?" She folded her
hands and cast an appealing look into
the ColcnelS face.
Poor Madgs! By some strange de-
cree Of fate this gentle being had float
ed, dIIfted into the lurid vortex of war,
only to suffer and perish.
When General Sherman started upon
what he termed his rather Vandalic
march" her home stood before his desc
lating armies.
With a hand of blood and fire he
scourged the fair fields of Georgia Be-
fore his glittering bayonets lay fertile
lands, Villages, homes and life; behind
| low ocbac do RI
Madge Grays' home had disappeared
in smoke and flame. Her father. an
aged man, had died from wounds some
months before, and her brother was
away in the army under Lee. Her
| brothers boon companion, whom she
dearly loved, was in Colonel Gordon's
| command-this she knew Homeless,
| heart broken and helpless, and with but
vague ideas what to do under the cir
cumstances, she concluded to seek him
Ned. Her Ned, who with her had ex-
changed VOWS of eternal love long weeks
before.
She found Gordon's command. She
| found Md. but not the gallant gay
young artilleryman who had left her,
but in the hospital ward, a pale, wound
ed. suffering creature, dying.
Through weary nights and days she
watched him, and like a ministering
angel. cOmforted others around her.
He died.
For hours she would sit by his grave
gazing vacantly at the rude heap OF
earth before her, and silently kiss lock
of his hair, her most treasured me-
mento.
From Ned's death no smile crossed
her face. She persistenly refused TO
leave the camp and was assigned to hos
pital duty. When some wounded being
was carried in she would gaze upon him
with pity and murmer: Another son,
brother or lover, On, what God for
saken war;" She would seem at times
as wrapped in a dream, and would gaze
solemnly at the laundering batteries
that faced them, unmindful Of the dan
ger around her.
Col. Gordon scanned her closely.
"Madge. you are brave girl he said,
''but would you try this?"
Cry it? Not try it, but do it," was
the firm reply.
"Then come with me to my tent and l
will explain what this means"
In early evening Madge emerged from
her tent in the sanitary division, clad
in male attire She went directly to
the breastworks surrounding Battery
d and gazed across the intervening
! space that separated the watching ar
mics. She looked at the sombre, pom
derous guns beside her, then went to
the central cannon, threw her frail arms
around it's massive throat and pressed
kisses upon its shining sides-once.
twice and often-then a long fervent
embrace. another kiss and she released
her hold. Tear drops glisteaea~ on its
sides. That was the cannon that Ned
had manned.
She turned. went down through the
rear of the camp, paused by the grave,
uttered a prayer and then disappeared.
Two mornings after, the warm south
wind blew northward, carrying away
the great seas Of settling smoke and
gloom that shrouded the batteries and
fronts of the armies. The combined
Federal artillery had opened fire upon
the Confederate centre. The ragged,
broken, secussive sheets of flame, the
great wreaths of smoke. the screaming
of shot and bursting shell made a
scene sublime and awful.
Colonel. its getting a little too hot
here for comfort, amt it?" said Lieut..
Goodwin. as a solid shot plowed the
earth to the right, throwing up a great
furrow of red sand.
Goodwin again elevated his glasses
and suddenly exclaimed: Look. look,
! lookw