Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1901-01-18
ouR WAR CORRESPONDENT.
IBy NJ. quad in Newspaperdom'I

If a daily paper could get leICSi W
a week from some soldier at the front
When two or three dailies dubbed 10
gether. and sent a regular correspond
ent down, there was a great deal Oh
Boosting and Dragging about enter
prise" The correspondent had sou
snap of it. That Is, he kept Deyonu
the danger line, and got his rep0iIs
from the stragglers. Once IN aWhlle
he got straight goods, but IN the ma
iority of cases his facts got him INTO
trouble as soon as they were publish
ed. .,
1t was after AntieL q Chat "Ged
came down to us. He represented
combine of Chicago and CINCINNATI
and he was to make a new departure.
His instructions were to mix III,
and get his facts while the enemy 5
bullets were singing over his mead
had been detailed at division heaG
quarters, and when "Yed' reported
he was turned over to our chief OF Or
derlies, to be cared for and broken IN
| felt sorry for the boy-for boy he
was-on sight. l had dropped the
stick and rule to shoulder a musket
and had figured in a weekly newspa-
per as "Our Occasional Correspond
tllI, anu 81 lDclG W do a bOlAh 49,
us. Here was boy less than ~
years old, pale-faced, timid of nerve,
and ready to jump out of his boots
at the bray of a mule, but with a
determination to fill the place assign
ed him. Our chief was blunt and
brusuue with him. He looked him
over for minute, and then said
Say bub, you'd better go back
home. You won't find nobody down
here to sing you to sleep at night.
Our newspapers up North must be
hard up to send babies down here TO
g.. the news"
81 don't know how l will come out,
but I'm going to have a try at it,
stoutly answered "Yed."
"Oh! we are? Wall. it won't take
We more'n a week to find out that this
is neither an orphan asylum nor
nursery. Mebbe my old woman saved
our last nursing-bottle, though we
hain't wanted it fur ten years. If she
has, III hev her send it down."
In a way Eyed" was turned over to
me. When he had told me his story,
| was ready to put him through in any
way possible. He was the sole sup
port of an invalid mother and Grip
pied sister, and it was either take the
place at the front or walk the streets
of Chicago looking for work. 1t was
doubtless predicted at home that he
would make failure of it, and | used
to wonder how they came to give him
show. The first thing was to leave
him alone till he got his bearings and
could settle down to camp life. If
he'd been a bit rough in his ways, it
would have been better for him, but
he was anything but rough. He
neither smoked, chewed, drank nor
swore, and he had a voice like a girl.
1t wasn't a week before the men dub
bed him Sissy" and he could not walk
through a company street without
some one yelling at him
You there, Sissy? Amt it time for
you to take another dose of soothing
syrup"
The boy would come back with anX-
ious face and tears in his eyes, and |
knew that nothing on earth save the
thought of those helpless women at
home kept him from running away.
On the other hand his first letters gave
satisfaction. He had good descrip-
tive talent and way of putting things
as he found them, so he suited all
around. He determined from the
first to be lin it" in case of a fight,
and one day he said to our chief
Il have got to go out on the picket
line, and put myself under fire. AS
yet | have not seen rebel"
so you are ready to go home?"
Queried the chief
of course not
We'll. I'll tell you what1l happen.
You'll go out and hear a rebel bullet
sing over your head. and you'll take
to your heels and never stop running
till YOU reach Chicago. Good-by
Sissy. When you git six feet high
and can say damn it" without cough
ing up lung. come back and see us"
But there was a surprise party in
store for several of us. AS we were
in camp, with little doing in headquar-
tiers, four or five of us were passed
through to the pickets to put "Yed"
under fire. | don't think he got a
blessed wink of sleep during the pre-
vious night, and | know that two long
letters were written ready for mailing
to Chicago. It's that way with many
soldiers. If a big. burly farmer or
logger, who has enlisted to fight and
to take his chances, breads his bap-
tism, one can't criticise an outsider
with seemingly no more courage than
girl. Our chief went along ito see
the fun as he expressed it, and when
we reached the Federal picket we
found him crouched behind log. with
thin stream of blood running down
over his cheek. His cap was lying
on the ground beside him, and in ag-
grieved tones he explained
Damn them Johnnies over there.
but they don't know what good man
ners is, I'm out of tobacco. and | didn't
know but they'd trade me some fur
sugar | stood up on this log to yell
out to to EN-. but | hadn't got my
mouth open before one of them PUNK
ed at my head. Durn his hide. but he
raked my scalp and made me Jump
ten feet, and I'd like to be shet up in a
corn-crib with him fur about two min
it's"
We had an eye on Our Correspond
emit and we saw that he went winter
than snow at the sight of the blood
Just as the wounded soldier finished
his explanation the enemy opened fine
with five or six muskets, and the bur
lets cut the branches over our heads.
We who had been under fire a dozen
times over joked about it. but that
boy "Yed,' who was hearing his first
rebel bullet lay down on his stomach
with his face in his hands. and wept
like a child.
Il knowed how it would be, Sissy
| knowed it, said the chief, with a
touch of pity in his voice. you see.