The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-05-11


hand of Destiny is tie hero. 1t is
uncertain whether he puts the hero
last because he ranks as the superla
tive in the scale of these three scour-
ges.
| This is true, however, that the third
| of these three great scourges is very
different from the other two in its in
dividual effects. In both the former
instances the body itself of every in
dividual implicated is laid hold of.
His flesh is literally assailed, and as
his organism deteriorates, perhaps his
mind and morals deteriorate with it;
for, generally speaking, let famine or
disease ever get a hold on nation,
and it's valor declines. Sel6shness
exhibits itself where one is astonished
to observe it almost unhuman cal
lousness characterizes even those who
were known to be of benevolent ten
dencies. Mothers desert their own
children in the one instance, and eat
them in the other. Children fly from
the prayers of their dying parents
under the unnatural hallucination OF
the plague. Husbands and wives
shun each other, or snatch food from
one another. All the kind relations
of life are reversed under the poison
ing influence of either famine or dis
ease. 1t is understood, there are
noble exceptions to the rule; but this
is the rule.
War wakes up and intensi6es the
pure emotions. Patriotism, the back
bone of sentiment, defense Of home,
arouses latent bravery that might,
without the voice of war, have re-
NAMED unknown. And all the dear
domestic loves are tenfold strength
ened, when the possibility arises of
saying goodbye to the brother or the
son or the sweetheart bound on the
grave and hazardous expedition of war,
of saying goodbye with large posi-
bility Of never saying welcome. Oh,
then, if even down underneath the
crusts of our self-centered and unsym-
pathetic hearts there is the smallest
spot of space which is capable Of hold
ing the image of another, surely at
that moment that spot of space ex-
pands, that germ of affection shoots
bud. Surely then, if our eyes are Of
that polite sort that never commit the
blunder of tear, surely they will at
least, at such moment, smart little.
O, war is strong conjunction!
Here is picture Of one Of the Incl
dents (?) of Napoleon Waterloo. We
have all read it in that monument Of
fiction, Les Miserables; but it is not
unworthy second reading. This pic
ture may be called an incarnation of
war. This could be the picture Of
nothing but war-you volunteers of
Georgia; you bright-eyed, gay-hearted
heroes. This is one of the accidents
only of war. Listen
Gail at once, tragic to relate, at the
left of the English, and on our right,
the head Of the column of cuirassiers
reared with frightful clamor. Ar
rived at the eliminating point of the
crest (of small elevation, unmanage-
able, full of fury, and bent upon the
determination Of the squares and can
mons (of the English) the cuirassiers
saw between themselves and the Eng
lish ditch, a grave. 1t was the
sunken road of Ohain.
1T was frightful moment. There
was the ravine unlocked for, yawning
at the very foot of the horses, two
fathoms deep between its double slope.
The second rank pushed in the first,
the third pushed in the second the
horses reared, threw themselves over,
fell upon their backs, and struggled
with their feet in the air, piling up
aud overturning their riders ; no power
to retreat the whole column was
nothing but projectile. The force
acquired to crush the English crushed
the French. The inexorable ravine
could not yield until it was filled
riders and horses rolled in together
pcll-mell, grinding each other, making
common flesh in this dreadful gulf,
and when this grave was full of living
men, the rest marched over them and
passed on. Almost third of Dubois
brigade sank into this abyss. Here
the loss of the battle began
This sunken road of Ohain goes
down in history as one Of the mon
strosities Waterloo and the sunken
road Of Ohain look not like scourge,
but revenge-if one might say the
word of God. And that sunken road