Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1897-03-11

ed by his anguish, and, lying in
very constrained position, he SCENE,
the most piteous object which We
had attracted her attention.
To see his sufferings was to at
tempt it relief. The young lad,
sat down on the grounl, and find.
ing that the poor boy was almes.
unconscious from the extent of his
agony she raised his head in order
to afford bin, If possible, some
ease, If only from the change of po-
sition. She had scarcely done so
when painful sigh issued from
the lips of the wounded youth, his
head sank in the young lady g arms
and his measured breathing told
that he had almost instantly fallen
asleep. This result was so unex.
pected that Miss was for some
moments at loss what course TO
pursue. 1t seemed an unnecessary
and excessive act of attention to re.
main thus holding the youths head.
Her position was becoming a very
painful one: her companions had
passed to other portions of the ex-
tenslve BATTLEFIELD; she was alone i'm
the midst of great waste of fields
and woods, at night, unprotected
from insult, and holding in her
arms a wounded soldier, who would
in all probability soon be a corpse ,
Under these trying circumstances
she once or twice essayed to move
and place the boy in an easy posit-
ION upon the grass, but whenever
she attempted to do SO his features
contracted painfully, he moaned
uneasily and it was only when she
resumed her position-holding his
dropping head as before in her arms
that he sank once more to calm
and painless slumber. She was
still supporting thus the form of
the wounded youth when one of the
Federal surgeons approached and
looked with some surprise at the
touching group. Then his gaze
was directed to the face of the
youth, whom he, evidently Eecog..
nized. In few words add fessed.
to Miss - the surgeon explained
how he had himself dressed and
bandaged the youths wounds. His
case was a most critical one; never
theless, if he could only sleep for
some hours he might live. He had
not slept since the battle and was
dying for sleep. The crisis of his
fever had arrived. IL this slumber
continued until morning he might
then be out of danger; if it was
broken, his death was q certainty.
Having made this announcement
In that terribly matter-of tone
which characterizes persoas famili
ar with suffering and death, the
surgeon passed on, leaving Miss
- alone among the dead and
wounded holding the bleeding
young man in her arms.
Ii his slumber continued until
morning, he might then be out of
danger; il it was broken, his death
was a certainty. That was the
plain, clear and terribly logical
statement of the surgeon. To live
ne must sleep, and those two or
three attempts to deposit her bur
den on the grass, with the sudden
wakefulness Of the patient, proved
to the young lady that to sleep his
head must continue to rest in her
arms. When this fact was clear
and patent to her intelligence her
resolution was taken. No move
ment of hers should disturb the
deep slumber of the boy, no act of
her own arrest the subtle spirit of
life, which, like a blessed balm.
was even then infusing itself into
his shattered frame. The place
might be dark and lonely-the
night cold, terrible, fearful, there
among the dead-her position
might be, as it indeed soon became
unutterably painful, weighed down
as her arm was, by the poor youths
weight; but there was something
worse than night, death-it was
not to save that boys life when she
could save it.
And she determined to save il.
Throughout the long hours OF the
dreary night she remained az mo-
tionless as a statue of mercy, hold
ing the boys head in her arms. Ali
others had returned to Winchester.
Around her was the vast mooniit
field, over whose surface the wind