Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1910-06-29

reached the point Of interest, they,
too, cast back long aud lingering
glances.
This slowing up at any point meant
that a good bit of running must be
done in order 10 make up time we
used sometimes to trot along mile
or more after passing such a roadside
magnet, before catching up. If it hap
Fened to be a pretty warm day, this
was not an agreeable exercise.
Whenever there came a TING of
hitehing along on good roads, our
second lieutenant used to declare
that there were some of those tor
mented girls up there in front: and
he wished that either they'd have
the sense to stay in the house where
they belonged or that the men would
have the sense tc go along and not
linger to gaze. and hall stop the
whole lire of march. But used to
observe that when we reached the
front gate where the girls stood not
man in our company would finger
and gaze longer than he. And | re-
core this to his credit.
Our army used to be a sight
to the negroes. They had been told in
many places that Yankees were not
like other folks; that we were not
more than half human that we had
horns.-and other like ridiculous lies.
Because OF this. it IS no wonder that
they gathered by the roadside, as We
passed TO see the menagerie. And il
is likewise not 10 he wondered at
chat MANY Of them were half afr raid
Of us. They would grin, and scrape,
and bow. and. on The whole, aflord US
great deal of amusement. They
were generally very polite, and when
ever we spoke to them they would
touch their hats or remove them alto
kether And, for all the falsehoods
the southerners had told them about
us. they knew, as If by intuition that
we were favorable 10 their freedom
They were always friendly and true
to us.
| have said that most of them were
4 very timid as they stood watching us
/ pass They were natu ally afraid of
/ guns. Some Of our misehievously in-
/ clined boys took advantage of this
fear, to get sport out of them When
a long row of them stood by the slice
4 of the road in front of some farm
house, the whole row grinning and
/ shying, one of these boys, having a
I cap on his gun would step out of the
ranks. point his musket directly at
some bashful youth or maiden. and
made noise like the discharge Of a
pistol. and would scare the darkeys
4 nearly into fitsl Sometimes, when a
cap was thus snapped at row of
then sitting on the fence, they would
scream, let go, and keel over back
wards upon the ground, their feet
kicking around in the air, 1t was
cruel sport, but we couldn't help roar
ing with laughter at the antics they
cut
| One day while marching along a
road that was hemmed in by tall
bushes on each side, we found two
Fold negroes, with a yoke of oxen
hitched to a cart loaded with sacks
of -four. They had got the team in
to the bushes on the upper side hill,
hill, just barely clear of the track,
and were waiting for the army OF
some miles in length, to pass by them
They had evidently been in that po-
sition d good while for the oxen were
nervous and fretful Every man that
passed felt called upon to pay his re-
spects to either the oxen or the
! darkeys by making such remarks as
suited his fancy One of the teamsters
stood BY the oxen trying to quiet
them, the other by the cart wheels
ready to give lift to keep the cart
from backing into the road Alto
gether, their situation was one in
which JOB himself must have beer
put to il to keep patient, lust as ouI
company passed them, one of ouI
rogues quickly put the muzzle On his
glrG TO the leg OF the old man by the
cart wheel, and snapped cap. Tht
POOR old negro was stricken with ter
ror. his leg came mp with a spasmod
* JERK. HIS udllu TtdIH6Q t4OWH EOu
vulsively as if to ward off the bullet
and his eyes rolled up in their sock
cts as If to look back into his head
. He was astonished when it was al
over, to find himself unhurt; but
presume he suffered as much as /
there were bullet put through th'
calf Of his leg
After this. Kinney very sensibil
gave orders that such sport must b
stopped It was too cruel.
In writing the early part OF THU
sketch of our service. found mucl
to record in the way of uproariou
|, sport and jollity recall much les
of that sort of thing in connection
with our later service l suspect tina
the grim experiences Of war tool
something Of the boy out Of US. Blu
now as we found ourselves out from
under the stern influences of war
as We began to breathe in the spic
fragrance Of an afa posphere Of peace
. we began to relax. feeling a stroni
inclination to raise the very mischie
! in one way or another.
/ on the 7th Of May we approaehe
4 K Petersburg. It was with very dee
, interest that We looked over tn
!. works where Grants army had bee
? 80 long entranched in the siege. Blu
: we we're Stocked. in marching oye