Year: 1869

present as his choicest gift to the woman
he loved, and yet one which that woman,
wife or lady love, would give him to ride
when honor and life depended on bottom
and speed


Gail that afternoon the beautiful mare
stood over me, while away to the right OF
us the hoarse tide of battle flowed and
ebbed. What charm, what delusion of
memory, held her there? Was my face
to her as the face Of her dead master,
sleeping sleep from which not even the
widest roar of battle, no, nor her cheerful
neigh at morning, would ever wake him
Or is there in animals some instinct an
swering to our intuition, only more potent,
which tells them whom to trust and
whom to avoid? I know not, and yet
some such sense they may have, they
must have; or else why should this mare
80 fearlessly attach herself to me? By
what process of reason or instinct l know
not, but there she chose me for her mas
ter; for when some Of my men at dusk
came searching, and found me, and, lay
ing me on a stretcher, started toward our
lines, the mare, uncompelled, of her own
free will, followed at my side; and all
through that stormy night of wind and
rain, as my men struggled along through
the mud and mire toward HarrisOn's Land
ing the mare followed, and ever after, un-
til she died, was with me, and was mine,
and l, so far as man might be, was hers l
named her Gulnare ~. s..#


GAS quickly as my wound permitted, I
was transported to Washington, whittier I
took the mare with me. Her fOndness for
me grew daily, and soon became so marked
as to cause universal comment. had her
boarded while in Washington at the cor
per of - street and avenue. The
groom had instructions to lead her around
to the window against which was my bed,
at the hospital, twice every day, so that by
opening the sash l might reach out my
hand and pet her. But the second day, no
sooner had she reached the street, than
she broke suddenly from the groom and
dashed away at full speed. I was lying
bolstered up in bed, reading, when heard
the rush of flying feet, and in an instant,
with loud, joyful neigh, she checked her
self in front Of my window. And when
the nurse lifted the sash, the beautiful crea-
ture thrust her head through the aperture,
and rubbed her nose against my shoulder
like dog. am not ashamed to say that
put both my arms around her neck, and,
burying my face in her silken name, kissed
her again and again. Wounded, weak,





to wait upon me, and scant service at that,
the affection of this lovely creature for me,
so tender and touching, seemed almost hui
man, and my heart went out to her be-
yond any power of expression, as to the
only being, Of all the thousands around
me, who thought of me and loved me.
Shortly after her appearance at my win
dow, the groom, who had OWNED where he
should find her came into the yard. But
she would not allow him to come near her,
much less touch her. If he tried to ap-
proach she would lash out at him with her
heels most spitefully, and then, laying
back her ears and opening her mouth saw
agely, would make short dash at him,
and as the terrified African disappeared
around the corner of the hospital, she
would wheel, and, with face bright as
happy child's, come trotting to the win
dow for me to pet her. / shouted to the
groom to go back to the stable, for I had
no doubt but that she would return to her
stall when I closed the window. Rejoiced
at the permission, he departed. After
some thirty minutes, the last ten of which
she was standing with her slim, delicate
head in my lap, while braided. her fore
top and combed out her silken name,
lifted her head, and, patting her softly on
either cheek, told her that she must CO.
l gently pushed her head out of the win
dow and closed it, and then, holding up
my hand, with the palm turned toward
her, charged her, making the appropriate
motion, to 'go away right straight back to
her stable For a moment she stood look
ing steadily at me, with an indescribable
expression of hesitation and surprise in
her clear, liquid eyes, and then turning
%<>ff1 I'D


"Twice day for nearly month, while
lay in the hospital, did Gulnare visit me.
At the appointed hour the groom would
slip her headstall, and without word of
command, she would dart out of the
stable, and, with her long, leopard-likee
lope, 60 sweeping down the street and
come come . sdashing into the hospital yard,
checking herself with the same glad neigh
at my window; nor did she ever once fail,
at the closing of the sash, to return directly
to her stall. The groom informed me
that every morning and evening, when
the hour of her visit drew near, she would
begin to chafe and worry, and, by paving
and pulling at the halter, advertise him
that it was time for her to be released.


"But of all exhibitions of happiness,
either by beast or man, hers was the most
positive on that afternoon when, racing
into the yard, she found me leaning on q
crutch outside the hospital building. The
whole corps 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
ardently as did, crawled to the windows
to see her. What gladness was expressed
in every movement! She would come
prancing toward me, head and tail erect,
and, p.using, rub her head against my
shoulder, while patted her glossy neck |;
then suddenly, with sidewise spring, she
would break away, and with her long tail
elevated until her magnificent brush, fine
and silken as the golden hair of blonde,
fell in great spray on either flank, and
her head curved to its proudest arch, pace
around me with that high action and
springing step peculiar to the thorough
bred. 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 of cheers
on either hand and along the seats above
them, they come straining up the home
stretch. Returning from one of these ar
rowy flights, she would come curvetting
back, now pacing sidewise as on parade,
now dashing her hind feet high into the
air, and anon vaulting up and spring ng
| through the air, with legs well under Aer
as if in the act of taking a fve-barred
gate, and finally would approach and
stand happy in her reward-my caress.
"The war, at last, was over. Gulnare