Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-12-19
CHAPTER I.
The Battery Passes.

the climbing roses. already far adj
,anced in that southern latitude,
,weetly silvered in the moonlight.
Within the great old house apparently
IN equal calm.
Yet. neither within nor without was
he night absolutely soundless. Far
iway to the southwark the cloudless
horizon. easily visible from the slight
pminence on which the house stood,
was marked by quivering flashes OF
lurid light. From time TO time, the
attentive ear might catch the roll, the
roar. the reverberation OF heavy sound
,ika distant thunder-peals intermin.
sleti with sharper detonations The
flashes came from great guns, and the
rolling peals were the sound OF the
cannon, the detonations explosions Of
the shells. There was the peace OF
God in the heaven above; there we're
The passions Of men on the earth be-
meath.
Lights cleaned here and there, shin
Ing through the twining rose foliage,
rom the windows OF the old house,
which stood far back from the street
From a room on one side Of the hail.
which opened from the broad pillared
portico Of Colonial fashion, hum OF
voices arose.
A group of women, with nervous
hands and anxious faces, working
while they talked, were picking lint
tearing linen and cotton for bandages.
hni
chatter Of other days. They told sad
stories of the death of kings." How
Tom" and Charles" and Allen" and
Page" and Burton had gone down
into the Valley of the Shadow of
Death, whence they had not come
back. How this fort had been ham
mered yesterday, the other, the day
before. How So-and-So's wounds had
been ministered to. How Such-a-One's
needs had been relieved. How the
enemy were drawing closer and clos
err, and how they were being held back
With courage, which. alas! by that
line was the courage of despair. And
much of their speech was of their
own kind, Of bereft women and father
The busy fingers few.
Upstairs from one of the front
rooms the light shone dinly through
window partly covered by half
drawn Venetian blind. One standing
at the side Of the house and listeninf
would have heard out OF the chamber
low meanings, muttered words from
feverish lips and delirious brain. The
meaningless yet awful babble was
broken now and again by words o
tenderness and anguish. Soft hands
were laid on the burning brow of the
poor sufferer within, while a mother:
eyes dropped tears upon bloodstainet
bandages and wasted frame.
And now the gentle wind which
jwept softly through the trees bore
\ sudden sharper, stranger SOUND
toward the old house in the garden
The tramp of a horse, the creak o.
wheels, the faint jingling OF arms ant
sabers drew nearer and rose louder
Sudden words Of command puncturet
The night. Here came q battery, with
ont the rattle OF drum or the blare
sslloping 1t rolled down the street
Lean. gaunt horses were ridden ant
driven by learer and gaunter men In
dusty, worn. ragged. tattered uniforms
Only the highly polished brass guns
twelve-pounGer Napoleons-gleamet
bright In the moonlight.
The sewing women came out on the
porch and the blind o. the window
above was lifted and q white haired
woman stood framed in the light.
No, those watchers did not cheer al
the battery swept by on It's way t.
the front. For one thing, a soldie
lay upstairs dying; for another. the.
had passed the time when the.
.heered that tattered flag Now the.
Hept over 1t as one weeps as he be
holds for the last time the face OF
friend who dies. Once they had az
claimed it az the sunrise In the morn
Ing, now they watched 1t silently z
inevitably to the sunset Of defeat.
The men did not cheer either. The
we're not past cheering-oh. mol The
we're made Of rougher stuff than tn
women. and the time would com
when. in final action, they would burs
forth into that strange, wild yell tina
struck terror 10 the hearts of tn
hearers. They could cheer even Il
the last ditch. even In the jaws O
death-face the end better for thei
cheering perhaps; but women ar
more silent In tho crisis. They bea
and give no tongue.
The officer in command saw tn
little group Of women on the porcl
The moonlight shone from the stree
side and high-lighted them, turnin
the rusty black OF most OF the gown
home-dyed mourning-all that coul
be come at In those awful days
Richmond-into soft shadows, abov
which their faces shone angelic. II
saw the woman's head in the windoy
TOO. He knew who lay upon the be
o1 death within the chamber. He ha
helped to bring him back from IN
front several days before. He bit hi
lips for a moment and then, ashame
of his emotion, his voice rang harsl
With arm and saber the battery Balu
cd the women and passed on, Will
from the window of the great drawing
room. opposite the room of the lin
pickers and bandage-tearers, a slende
boy stared and stared after the di
appearing guns. his eyes full OF env
and vexatlous tears as he stamped hi
foot In futile protest and disappOin