Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1897-03-11

the Valley of the Shenandoah.

] =
-, 1--WE 10 not feel at liberty to pre-
sent her full name to the world and
to this fair daughter of the Valley be-
longs the credit of the beautiful action
which we proceed to record. In pass
ing amid the dead and wounded, now
dimlv discernable only by the sur
geon's lanterns, the moonlight and the
last beams of day, Miss - came all
at once upon a youth who seemed to
be suffering extreme agony. He was
moaning fearfully, and bending over
him the young lady saw that he was
frightfully wounded. The blood had
deluged his person, and although his
wound had been hastily bound up by
one of the surgeons, he was evidently
suffering horribly; his features were
contracted by his anguish, and, lying
in a very constrained position, he
seemed the most piteous object which
vet had attracted her attention.
To see his sufferings was to attempt
its relief. The young lady sat down
on the ground, and finding that the
poor boy was almost unconscious from
the extent of his agony she raised his
head in order to afford him, if possible,
some ease, if only from the change Of
position. She had scarcely done 50
when painful sigh issued from the
lips of the wounded youth, his head
sank in the young lady 5 arms and his
measured breathing told that he had
almost instantly fallen asleep. This
result was so unexpected that Miss
- was for some moments at loss
what course to pursue. 1t seemed an
unnecessary and excessive act Of at
tention to remain thus holding the
youths head. Her position was be-
coming a very painful one heI COM
panions had passed to other portions
of the extensive battlefield; she was
alone in the midst of a 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 corpse
Under these trying circumstances
she once or twice essayed to move and
place the boy in an easy position upon
the grass, but whenever she attempted
to do so his features contracted pam
fully, he moaned uueasily and it was
only when she resumed her position
holding his dropping head as before in
her arms-that he sank once more 70
calm and painless slumber. She was
still supporting thus the form of the
wounded youth when one Of the Fed
eral surgeons approached and looked
with some surprise at the touching
group. Then his gaze was directed to
the face of the youth, whom he eyl-
IDENTIFY recognized. In a few words
addressed to Miss -- the surgeon eX-
planned 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 ar
rived. If this slumber continued until
morning he might then be out Of dan
ger if it was broken, his death was a
certainty. Having made this an
nouncement in that terribly matter-oi-
fact tone which characterizes persons
familiar with suffering and death, the
surgeon passed on, leaving Miss --
alone among the dead and wounded,
holding the bleeding young man in
her arms.
Ifhis slumber continued until morn
ing, he might then be out Of danger
| if it was broken, his death was GER
tainty. That was the plain, clear and
terribly logical statement Of the sur
geon. To live he must sleep, and
those two or three attempts to deposit
her burden on the grass, with the sud
den 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 movement OF her should
disturb the deep sIumber Of the boy,
no act Of her own arrest the subtle
spirit of life, which, like 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 1t IN
deed soon became, unutterably painful,
weighed down, as her rarm was, by the
poor youths weight; but there was
something worse than night, cold, pain,