The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-05-05

nooga by an officer who thought his chance
of life was better out of the town than
in it. he took the lad up in front of
him and started for the train. six miles
Steward was, ''whO carried small kit of
tools" The hand WAS amputated, and the
boy taken back to his home in the same
manner that he came. This was all the
medical attendance the boy received. and
he visited our camps the next Spring in
Chattanooga, coming in on horseback with
his mother. distance of GO miles.
SAILOR on HORSEBACK.
When | first met John, i'm 81, | was
cabin boy on lumber raft floating down
the river. John was Captains Mate on a
fish-boat out of the Haven. 1t was not
his Official position that attracted my at
attention. John had been over but few
months from Amsterdam, or Rotterdam,
! and was a good sailor, having been
brought up on the sea, where most of the
active work of the sailor is done, sitting
around waiting for the wind to blow.
1t was this sitting around that caused
John to grow greater in circumference
than i'm length. He was built more on the
sitting down than the running plan. Later,
when he came in to enlist, his description
list read about like this: Age, 20 years
(walks like 40, rosy cheeks, pug nose,
hair fiaxen. cut on the bang style; eyes
girth six feet four inches.
Before he donned soldiers clothes a full
length side view was all guesswork as to
which was front and which was rear. The
tailor who planned the trousers had this
i'm mind. and made them on the trap-doOr
plan. alike back and front. In this way
the front door was opened on the backside.
but they never had chance to bag at
| the knees.
At first he was dubbed "Dutchey." Then
| later on, a sailor on horseback" We had
| found out long before that man
might be good soldier on the march and
| i'm battle but an utter failure as a forager.
| While the corn was being loaded into
| the wagons. the Quartermaster was nego-
| tiating with the heiresses of all the country
i'm sight for q dinner. with real Irish pOta-
toes for dessert. The place was that of
| a prosperous man serving in the 1st Tenn.
| Cav-"Col. Jim Brownlow's IIoss Crit
| terbacks." Only the mother and daughter
| were at home to mind the crops.
j see that mother often in my reveries,
| going about the house in homespun dress
sucking solid comfort from cOrn-cob pipe
| filled with natural leaf, and the daughter
was a mountain laurel. grown up in Cum
| berland Valley. How could she be any
thing but beautiful? Remember. this was
long ago, when | was young and without
| experience. so | will not tell you of her
beauty, lest you think l had lost myself
in dream. This was before .Jenness
Miller had tried TO abolish these beautiful
undergarments that some men never see
only as they tapped idly in the wind on
the line on washing day. This girl was
far ahead of Miss Miller. Her dress was
the same as her mothers. cut short at the
bottom and no cloth wasted in pleats
The girl brought pail of potatoes out
of a secret place in the house. Potatoes
how delicious they looked. Four months
lnf, hn,.l ,lx Lan s.,o.t 60 ,
What luck we were in. She sat down or
the floor, with the pail between her knees
to get them ready for the kettle. while
brought in wood for the fire. Suddenly
turned just in time to see John coming
around the corner of the house. with boil
eyes on those potatoes. Quicker than
cow he secured that pail and started OIL
! a run down through the yard. out of tn,
gate. up the road toward the train, will
the girl at his heels. Utterng not a word
while his feet thumped only the high spots
like pile-driyer working at dock. h
certainly developed unexpected speed. TIL
: mountain pink" was equal to the occa
g sion. Following down to the gate she USE
words only heard by the birds when one i
fishing for trout along the brush-tangle,
? creeks of upper Michigan. / remembe
! once. while whipping an icy spring creek
e near the South Shore" of trying to cres
over it on a pole eight feet above whirl
ing pool. The first step on. the pole rolle
, over, and that part of mans anatom
that goes behind was the first to reach tn
. icy water: that caused just such expires
sions as used by the pink" John pegge
. back and. like Lots wife, became. sacl
e of salt It was fatal glance. Hetripped
? he fell. Then the girl. the Dutchman. tn
pail and potatoes went rolling in the dust
John forgot all his English and yelled onl
In Dutch. Legs and arms were flying Il