Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1897-02-11
WellingtOn's Ways.
CHARACTERISTIC ANECDOTES OF A
LUCKY AND GROSSLY OVER
RATED COMMANDER.


During his campaigns the Duke OF
Wellington acquired peculiar habit
in regard to sleep. No noise, no,
the discharge of the loudest cannon.
ade or an explosion, would wake
him; but the most delicate touch
even on his clothes, aroused him in.
Stantly. When aroused, there was
no moment of Semi-somnolence, OF
: eye-rubhing, or blurred conscious
ness as to where he was or what had
happened. Out of the deadest sleep
he was instantly in possession of all
his faculties.
Now, whether it was a determine
ton not to yield to advancing years,
or merely the habit of q lifetime, it
would be difficult to say hut during
all the time he was living as a COun-
try gentleman at Strathfeldsaye,
there was nothing he resented so
much as the attempt of anyone in
his houshold or out of it to do him
any personal service. Numbers of
the anecdotes turn on this popularity.
He had had made for him specially
constructed tandem. 1t had two
seats at the back, and was COM
| pletely covered in, the whole front
being Of glass. The reins passed
under the glass casing in front. In
this way the duke himself drove two
very fine horses, One day his Sec
ond son, Lord Charles Wellesley,
was sitting with him in his carriage.
The duke, as in later life he often on
various occasions did, fell fast asleep,
still holding the reins. The spirited
horses soon felt the loss of control.
Before long, Lord Charles, anxiously
watching the situation, saw that in
another moment the leader would
dash up steep bank, and that his
fathers life and his own would be
in iminent danger. The risk was
too great to run; though he knew
his father too well not to be aware
that any interference with him as
the driver of the horses would be
bitterly resented. AS quietly as he
could do so, he slipped his hand over
the rein, drew down the leader from
the bank, and saved them both from
catastrophe, anXiously endeavOr-
ing not to wake his father in doing
so. 1t was useless, however. Light
as his touch had been, the great duke
was instantly awake, and fully alive
to all that had happened.
What are you doing, Charles ?"
only turned the leader, sir,
from the bank, he was just running
up it, and we should have been up
set.n
"Mind your own business, Charles
Mind your own business ~ was all
the thanks he ever received.
The same son, Lord Charles, had
been on leave in either italy or
Spain. He bad met with series of
accidents on his return journey, and
had been in very serious danger,
and, though he had made the ut
most efforts to do so, had failed to
get back in time. His father asked
for an explanation, and would hear
none. He treated him as a con-
victed Culprit, refused to have any
intercourse with him, and in various
ways made him feel his displeasure.
One day visitor to Strathfieldsaye
drew out from Lord Charles an ac-
count of his journey. The duke lis
tened, and when the story came to
an end he went up to his son.
$50, Charles, you met with an &C.
cident?"
Yes, father"
"And you did all you could to be
back in time ?"
Yes, father"
Well, I'll give you horse.
Charles. I'll give you a horse"
1t was the only form in which he
admitted the injustice Of which he
was clearly conscious.
Another story to which the (sec-
ond) duke gave something more of
a significance than l care to attach
to it, has, / think, says an English
writer, been told somewhere al
ready. When the duke first came
back to England from France and
settled down in Apsley House, he
was naturally immensely popular,
and the London crowd, anxious to
express their enthusiasm, used to de-
light in catching him walking
through the streets. They would
promptly hoist him on their shoul-
ders and ask, Where shall we
carry you, your Grace?" Now, it
not unf'requently happened that it
would have been highly inconveni-
ent for the duke to be escorted
by a vast public procession. Ac-
cordingly unable to escape from his
too-appreciative tormentors, and I'M
willing to declare where he was GO
ing, or to be carried thither, the
duke almost cried out, "Carry me
home! Carry me home" SO that
the effect of his popularity was to
make his attempts to walk out for
any visit Of his own impossible, and
he had either to ride or drive in or
der to reach his destination.