The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-02-28


the Smelling was the destruction OF the
gas works. Every old candlestick, broken
lamp, or anything else that could. give
light or hold up something to shed any
scrt of light was brought into requisite.
Wonderful were the candles made of any
substance that would burn. One beauti
full invention | remember well-so arts
tic, so gratifying alike to taste and con-
vCnlence. 1t was made of a round piece
or wood. cut with q knife, usually dull
one, to give, probably, more unstudied
ruggedness to it's edges. In the centre
of the wooden base was stick If severe
simplicity about eight inches in height
around this was twisted what was term
Ell candle, but which consisted in reality
OF thick cord several feet in length COW
cred with crude wax. As the wick burn
ed. ii was necessary to untwist portion
of the long candle and prop the end
against the middle stick of this thorough
| y original, selffeeding, easily-adjusted ar
rar cement. BY these lights we made our
toilets, entertained our booted and spur
ell visitors, and ate our luxurious COME J.
crate dinners. Occasionally, absorbed in
| the most exciting part of our novel, we
| would forget to untwist the wick, when
the wood would suddenly CATCH, the whole
affair be consumed, and our light, as we'll
as our hope for an evenings reading, be
eXtinguished.
| The deelopment of unexpected personal
courage was remarkable. A tmid little
widow, who had always shrieked at the
popping of frecracker, and stuffed
her ears at the firing of Fourth of July
cannon, bravely lived in the cellar of her
house after two th:rty-two Founders had
entered the upper part of it, and thor.
oughly Investigated most of the furniture,
notwithstanding the fact that washtuhs
were required when it rained and sha
could take practical astronomical observa-
tiCns without lifting her head from ttc
pillow.
There was a Virginia jurist whose legal
lore offered him no parallel on which
TO base his decision of remaining unde-
the fire of hostile guns; SO, no sooner
! dill an unusual activity disclose itself
in the muzzles pointed at Petersburg,
than Lawyer B. seized a ready packed
valise and, taking the next train for
Richmond, quickly placed himself beyond
the reach even of Battery 5. So regular
did his visits coincide with accounts OF
unusual severity in Smelling, that one gen-
| tlenan remarked. Oh seeing him in Rich
mend on one OCCASION Bad Smelling in
Petersburg today-met Lawyer B. coming
from the station.
During an armstice We felt desire
to see the shelled portion of the city; so.
walking down B street we looked on n
| scene, the sadness, the utter desolation
OF which it would be difficult, indeed to
describe. Here pile of bricks, mortar,
and rubbish, under an immense cavern
Gus hole in an old-fashioned house with
| it's arched doors and high windows, over
whose walls broken gutter swings from
| side to side with a desoate, creepy
screach as it scrapes against The bricks.
ftnder fine but deserted mansion makes
a somber target with its wide marble
steps, up which SO many careless 4eet
have tripped, now crushed and mutilatcd
by the tumbling stones from great open
ings in the solidly-built walls, through
which is plainly to be seen the weed
grown garden beyond, with its SCARED
and torn trees signing over the waste
and spreading their leafmantled arms 70
cover the rents in the house over which
they have waved SO long.
We met but one human being in the
dreary, deserted place as We crept noise
lcssly along, with the feeling that we
district, and then fastened from region
so depressing and pitiable.
AT O'Clock on the morning Of July 80
We were awakened by a shake like an
earthquake shock, followed by a terrific
rattle of musketry. Great God! they've
blown US up at last" exclaimed an old
ger tleman of the family, betaking himself
to the cellar long in advance of ourselves
(the women were, by far, the bravest
part of the population as regarded the
Smelling, not / hope, for the reason so
brusquely assigned by an officer. "The
wcmen not afraid of the shells haven't
got sense enough to know the danger,'D
while We snatched up bag containing
small articles not buried and a few iln-
pertant papers which we always kept
within arms reach, and entered one door
OF the cellar IS the cook appeared at the
other.
Nellie, what is ths?" inquired the
gentleman above alluded to-
Lord marse, dunno; whoever live fru'
dlshcr war live long time"
Az we sat around in various unstudied
attitudes-one on an old wheelbarrow,
another on keg of lard, third balanc-
Ing himself on the precarious top of a
pickle jar, while one of us invo!untarily
played see-saw on the end of a pine log.
with the dark faces of the servants max
ing background lighted by white, CLEAN
ing eyes-and listened to the musketry.
at times lost in the deafening roar Of
thr cannon-not one of US knew the
cause. At o'clock, the cook, having had
courage to go to the kitchen, which was
situated in separate building in the
rear, in. the Virginia style, announced,
81 dun cook brekfus.''
Then you will also have to eat it,
said one OF the family, feeling the situa-
tion far too tragic to admit of the ord,
nary incidents of everyday life.
We learned, of course, afterward that
the shock was the blowing up of a bat
terry on the lines, followed by what is
known as The Battle of the Crater
April 2, 1895, found us still listening to
the same monotonous picketing along the
iihe. the steady boom of the cannon, now
near, now distant; the ever continuing
"hizz and crash of the shells on many
DAY and through many night, and
the startling fall of ricochet when the
Det'erles were directed to the lines in
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