The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-05-27
"Abel went to war one day,
Dropped his gun and ran away!

Abel Tut cried out aloud:
ANYTHING but thatl Sooner DEATH Give
me strength, oh Lord! Give me cour-
The incident passed in less than a min
ute. Then the two muleteerS ldSned on
the pack mules. The distance TO the
battalion was but a few hundred yards,
but these yards were each black with the
shadow of grinnlng death Inc pack
mules also were so mad with the noise
and the clouds Of earth shot up by smells
that they ran here and there and made
the distance twice as long. The younger
muleteer was afiame with rage and eX-
element. He rode ~ hOrSebreaker-
He circled like an Indian. lie kept ms
pack mule pretty straight, shouting,
cursing, cheering with every breath. Abel
followed silently, but he was no expert.
His charge broke hither and thither, and
every moment the bullets seemed to tall
faster. At last the young man rose in his
stirrups with a triumphant yell, and
waved his hat at the Spanish with
gesture of contempt Too soon he crOwed.
He was but seventy or eighty yards from
a bluff which would shelter him, where
the soldiers were eagerly waiting and
cheering him on. The pack mule was i'm
mediately in front OF him, and Abel many
yards behind The ordained shell arrived.
1t crashed fairly into the boxes of am
munttiOn packed on the mule. A rock
rending explosion followed When the
earth cloud vanished the mules and the
muleteer lay in a CHASTITY heap and the
ammunition was scattered far, and most
of 1t had taken part in the explosion.
Then the major and the men were aghast
with horror and disappointment, and
moan of sorrow swept the ranks. They
turned their eyes to Abel, their only
hope. The coward had seen and his pulses
almost seemed TO beat. Round him. the
missiles were falling thick In another
minute he would be like that unhappy
fellow of hiS-tOrn, bloody, mutilated. He
turned faint, and his impulse was to drop
from his saddle and creep away in the
llT1c GRO &C md md cha f-
coward flesh. Roaring noises were in his
ears; things swan before his eyes. With
a mighty effort he broke away and cried
again with a martyrs cry:
Give me strength, oh, Lord Give me
courager'
He received it He spurred his mule;
he guided the stampeding pack mule. He
charged through the he'll in front of him
He saw the cheering soldiers before him
and very near. Then something shrieked
in the air, fell and burst. and as the pack
mule was caught by the soldiers and the
all-needful cartridges were torn from its
back, Abel sank, grievously torn by
piece of the bursting shell, into the arms
of the major.
Thank you, thank you, my man. cried
the lubtlant officer. you've saved the
position. That last dash was grand, mag
nifcenti You're a, hero, and the folks at
home shall know of it, 1 promise you.
Abel tried to speak.
please sir he gasped. ''Wsll you-wilI
you tell the children
He lived awhile and was sent home. and
III the village which had Knocked him died
of his wound. There was no hooking
then, but much honor was paid the cow
ard, for the major made good his word,
and the newspa Ders spoke much of the
obscure muleteers timely bravery.
Decoration day came after Abel was
laid in his grave. For long, long lonely
years the day had been the unhapDiest
day to him oe all. Now the veterans of
the civil war and the returned volun-
Of he 1Sh raT,
fully at his headstone and sorrowed that
they had jeered at him. And the chill
dren came in little crowds silent and
fearful, and the scornful rhyme was for
ever banished from their lips and Abel
TUFTS mound was hidden by very many
best loved flowers Thus he, too, was
permitted at last to take part in the sol
eT-n celebration
There are divers sorts of bravery. but
he who is bravest of all is the coward
who conduers his cowardice.