Year: 1869

]
softly on either cheek, told her tina


she must go / gently pushed he


head out of the window and closed il


and then, holding up my hand, wit


the palm turned toward her, charge


her, making the appropriate motion


to go away right straight back to tn


stable.' For moment she stood look


ing steadily at me, with an indescrib


able expression Of hesitation and sur


prise in her clear, liquid eyes, an,


then turning lingeringly, wal5e'


slowly out of the yard.


! Twice day for nearly a month


while L lay in the hospital, did Gulnar


visit me. AT the appointed hour tn


groom would slip her headstall, anC


without n word of command, sht


would dart out of the stable, and, will


her long, leopard-like lope, go sweep
/ ing down the street and come dashinI


into the hospital yard, checking her
self with the same glad neigh at my


window; nor did she ever once fail, a
! the closing of the sash, to return


directly to her stall. The groom in.
3 formed me that every morning anC
evening, when the hour of her visit


drew near, she would begin to chaft
/ and worry, and, by paving and pull.


ing at the halter, advertise him that n


was time for her TO be released.


But Of all exhibitions of happiness
either by beast or man, here was the


most positive on that afternoon when,


racing into the yard, she found me


leaning on a cruteh outside the hOspit-


al building. The whole cops of nurses


came to- the doors, and all the poor
fellows that could move themselves
for Gulnare had become an universal


favorite, and the boys looked for her


daily visits nearly, if not quite, as ar
IDENTIFY as | did, crawled TO the win
dows TO see her. What gladness was


expressed in every movement! She


would come prancing toward me, head


and tail erect, and, pausing, rub her


head against my shoulder, while |


patted her glossy neck, then sudden


ly, with a sidewise spring, she woGld


break away, and with her long tail


elevated until her magnificent brush,


fine and silken as the golden hair of a


blonde, fell in a great spray on either


flank, and her head curved to its


proGdest arch, pace around me with
4 N4AeAN eAlAAOAA ElCD


peculiar TO the thoroughbred. Then,


like flash, dropping her brush and


laying back her ears and stretching


her nose straight out, she would speed


away with that quick, nervous, low


lying action which marks the rush of


racers, when side by side and nose to


nose tapping each other, with the roar
ofcheers on either hand and along the
seats above them, they come straining
up the home stretch. Returning from
one of these arrowy flights, she would
come curvetting back, now pacing


sidewise rs on parade, now dashing
her hind feet high into the air, and
anon vaulting up and springing
through the air, with legs well under
her, as if in the act of taking five
barred gate, and finally would ap-
proach and stand happy in her reward
my caress.


The war, at last, was over. Gull
mare and / were in at the death with
Sheridan at the Five Forks. Together
we had shared the pageant at Rich
mOnd and Washington, and never had
| seen her In better spirits than on
that day at the capital. II was a sight
indeed, TO see her as she came down
Pennsylvania Avenue. If the trium-
phant procession had been all in her
honor and mine, she could not have
moved with greater grace and pride.
With dilating eye and tTemulous ear,
ceaselessly champing her bit, her heat
cd blood bringing out the magnificent
lace-wOrk of veins over her entire
body, now and then pausing. and with
a snort gathering herself back uDon
her launches as for a mighty lean.
while she shook the frOth from her
bits, she moved with high pFaneing
step down the magnificent street, the
admired of all behOlders. Cheer after
cheer was given, huzza after huzza
rang out over her head from roofs and
balcony, bouquet after bouquet was
launched by fair and enthusiastic ad-
mirers before her, and vet, amid the
crash and swell of music, the cheering
and tumUlt, so gentle and manageable
was she, that, though / could feel her
frame creep and tremble under me as
she moved through that whirlwind of
no check or curb was
needed, and the bridle-lines-the same
she wore when she came to me at NAL
vern Hill-lay untitled on the pommel
Of the saddle. Never before had I
seen her so grandiy herself. Never
before had the fire and energy, the
grace and gentleness, of her blood so
revealed themselves. This was the
day and the event she needed. And
all the royalty of her ancestral breed,
a race of equine kings, flowing as
without taint or cross from him that
was the pride and wealth of the whole
tribe of desert rangers, expressed itself
in her. need not say that / shared
her mood. L sympathized i'm her eve
~ step. l entered into all her royal
humOrs. / patted her neck and spoke
loving and cheerful words to her. L
called her my beauty, my pride, my
pet. And did she not understand me-
Every word? Else why that listening
ear turned back to catch my softest
the frame, and the low, hap
py neigh? well, 1 exclaimed, as L
leaped from her back at the close of
the review, alas! that words spoken in
lightestmOod should portend somuchI
well, Gulnare if you should die, your
life has had its triumph. The nation
itself, through its admiring capital,
has paid tribute to your beauty, and
death ean never rob you of your fame
And / patted her moist neck and
shoulders, while the
groOms were busy with head and
lOins.


That night our brigade made its biv-
Ouac just over Long Bridge, on the
identical spot where four years before
had camped my company of three
months volunteers. With what eX-
periences of march and battle were
those four years filled! For three Of
these years Gulnare had been my con-
slant companion. With me she had /
shared my tent, and not rarely my
for in appetite she was truly
and my steward always cOun- .
ted her as one of our mess Twice |
had she been wounded, once at Fred 1
through the thigh and [
once at Cold HarbOr, where a piece of /
shell tore away part Of her scalp. So I
did il stun her, that for
some moments / thought her dead, I
but to my great joy she shortly recov- !
cred her senses. / had the wound /
dressed by our brigade sur !
yeon, from whose care she came ina I
month with the edges of the wound So (
nicely united that the eve could with /
difficulty detect the scar. This night, I
as usual, she lay at my side, her head I
almost touching mine.- Never before, /
unless when on a raid and in face of /
the enemy, had l seen her so uneasy, |
Her movements during the night |