Soldiers' record, 1870-01-22

              ONE FLAG, ONE LAND, ONE EE ART, ONE HAND, ONE NATION, EVERMORE!
YOL. II. HARTEORD, OOOT., SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1870. 1^0. 29.
1)0iir^ at iomc.
LINES,
Oil rciuUiig that Gon. Sheridan's fiancco was
° married.
IJY JOHN T. FORUKST.
And is Uiis truth J can such things bo ?
I'hii. Sheridan to "wear tliu willow
Could woman born reject e'en tiice,
'J^o bh>ss for aye a hoine-gnard's piUow
AVhat! tiion the hero true and tried,
The man of bright and sterling metal;
llefiise to be t/nj honored bride,
To wash III!/ «hirts, and boil thy kettle 5
She must be iiiiul, for naught but that
Could e'er excuse her foolish choosing—
To lea ve a whale and take a sprat!
By her own act a hero loosing.
Mrs. Lieut . Gen. she might have been.
And needed not mere earthly riches,
For all would bow, both great and moan,
Before the one who sows thy breechcs.
And if ?/oi6 failed, God help us ! how
Can wd, poor privates, hope to win 'eiu ;
Our ellbrts vain, I see it now,
To light love's cheery .spark within 'em.
Wo fought, cat "hard-tack," slept beneath
The leaden sky, nor feared war's thunder;
Yet they refuse us to our teeth,
And tear our tender hearts asunder. .
Perhaps, tlio'. you -wore all to hlanio ; ^^
Not broad enough in your "intentions,"
Imbibed some ' (Jlicinot" ere yon eanu)
'J'o see her, facts some kind (!) friend mentions ;
You kicked her poodle, oi', perhaps,
You put vour foot upon her taliby ;
Facts wliieh you deemed but slight mishaps,
But which she thought exceeding shabby.
Perhaps vou didn't ask her pa ;
Your Soulier hal)its seared her mother,
Unsteadiness in you she saw ;
Mayhap you did'nt suit her brother;
Or, Averse than all, you danced too much
AVith other girls, and left her musing ;
Full many a slight you deemed not such,
Would be just groiuuls for her refusing.
Mayhap you dared not faco the yoke,
Or saw the borax thro' the lioiioy,
And deemed it not as good a joke
As people say—this matrimony ;
You cared not to give up your key,
Your coi kserew and your jolly rovel.
The husband's cares you "couldn't see,"
Which shows, old boy, yoiir head is "level."
Perhaps ye wore not bound at all;
Perhaps it lied—confound the paper !
If so, 1 beg let mercy fall.
And pardon on my rhythmic caper.
But he who loved you still must feel
Sad with your pain, glad with your joyaunco,
Aud to be crushed by lady's heel
Is, you must own, a vast auuoyanco.
And is this truth ? Can such things bo '?
Phil. Sheridan to "wear the willow {"
Could woman born reject e'en thee.
To bless for aye a home-guard's [tillow '?
What! thou the hero true ami tried.
The man of bright and sterling metal;
llofuse to bo thy honored bride,
To wash thy shirts and boil thy kettle !
EED TAPE DEFIED.
AN ANECDOTE OF MOTHER B1CKERDYK13,
The liist (Iny of the year '6.3 was one
of memorable cohhicss, as was the firrit
day of the year'G4. The last will, long
be'rcnicinbered in ihe West us "i/ic cold
Now Year's day." The rigor of the
weather actually suspended all out-doOr
business in Chicago, and laid an embar-go
on all travel through the street.s. It
was yet severer weaiiier where Mother
Bickerdyke was located, for the icy
winds swept down Lookout Mountain,
where ihey were rein forced by currents
that howled through the valleys of Mis-sion
Uidge, making a furious Artie hurri-cane
that ovort\irned the hospital tents
in which the most badly wounded men
were located. It hurled the partially re-covered
patients out into the pouiing
rain, that became glare ice as it touched
the earth, breaking their limbs anew, and
chilling their attenuated frames with the
piercing mountain gale. The I'ain that
poured down so furiously and suddenly,
fell in such torrents in the mountains :hat
it mado a ilood around them, which, be-fore
the gale stillened the heudloug cur-rents,
actually swept out into the swol-len,
rushing creeks several of the feeblest
of the men under single hospital tents,
and they were drowned. Night set in,
with the most intense coldness, such as
the badly litied up hospitals wore wholly
unprepared for.
All that night Mother Bickerdyke
worked like a Titan, to save her blood-less
feeble patients from being frozen to
death. 'J'liere were fifteen hundred in
hospital touts—all wounded men—all bad
cases. The fii'es were piled higher and
higher with logs, new lires word built in
closer proximity to the tents, until they
were surrounded by a cordon of immense
piles blazing and crackling in the sting-ing
wintry atmosphere. J3efore midnight
the fuel gave out, and to send men oui
into the forest to cut more in that dark-ness
and awful coldness seemed barbarous.
The Surgeon-in-charge crawled oil' into
his quarters, and wrapping himself in
blankets, left Mother Eickenlyke to meet
the emergency. She was equal to it.
With her usual disdain of red tape, she
appealed to the pioneer corps to take
their mules and axes, hooks and chains,
and tear doWn the breastworks near them
made of logs, with earth thrown up a
gainst ihem.
There was no one who dared give the
order for this to be done, but after she
had refreshed the shivering men with a
cup or two of panada apiece, which was
made of whiskey, hot water, sugai- and
crackers, they went to work at her sug-gestion
without orders. They knew as
did she, that on the continuance of the
huge lires through the night depended
the lives of hundreds of their wounded
comrades. For there was no bedding for
the tents, only a blanket or two for eacii
wounded man. So the men of the pio-neer
corps set to work, tearing down the
breastworks, and hauling the logs up to
the fierce lires, Mother Bickerdyke direct-ing
half a dozen barrels of meal to be
broken open, and mixed with warm water,
to feed their mules. Immense cauldrons
of hot drinks were renewedly made un-der
her direction—hot coifee, pa,nada,
and other like nourishing potables—and
layers of hot bricics were put around
every wounded and sick man of the en-tire
ii.teen hundred, as he lay in his co
From tent to tent she ran all night in the
gale, hot bricks in one hand, and hot
drinks in the other, cheering and warm-ing.
and encouraging the poor, shivering
fellows.
Suddenly she heard a great cry of hor-ror,
and looking in the direction from
whence it proceeded, there were thirteen
ambulances, full of wounded men, who
had started for her hospital, from lling-g<)
ld, in the morning, l:y order of the uii-thorities.
It had l)ecome necessary to
break up the small out-lying hospital
po'^ts, and concent rate at Chattanooga.
They had been delayed by the rain, and
the gale, aud for hours had been travel
ing in the unparalleled coldness of the
weather, both mules and drivers being
nearly e.Khaustcd, aud half frozen. On
opening the ambulances, what a specta-cle
met Mother Bickerdyke's eyes! They
were filled with wounded men nearly
frozen to de.ith. The haiids of one were
frozen like nuirble, the feet of another,
the face of another, the bowels of a
fourth, who afterwards died, every band-age
had stillened into ice, the kegs of
water had become solid crystal, and the
men had got past complaining, almost
past sullbring, and were fast congealing
into the iciuess of death. The subordi-nate
surgeons, unlike their superior olli-cer,
were all at work through the night,
with Mrs. Bickerdyke, and came pronipt-ly
to the relief of these poor men, hardly
one of whom escaped amputation of
frozen limbs from that night's fearful
ride.
As the night was passing slowly into
the cold, gray day, tlie Major of the guard
commanding the post, was informed of
Mother Bickerdyke's unauthorized ex-ploits,
and hastened down where the ue-molished
breastworks were last being
consumed by rhe hungry llames. ile
took in the whole allair immediately, aud
evideLtly saw the necessity and wisdom
of the course she had pursued. L'ut it
was his business to preserve order, and
maintain discupline, and so he made a
show of arresting the irregular pi'oceed-ings.
By no mere order of his could this
be doiie. Not until day dawn, when
they could go safely into the woods to
get fuel, were the men disposed to re-linquish
tlieir raid on the breastworks,
which were comparatively useless, bay-ing
sei ved their purpose of defense against
the enemy weeks before.
"Madam, consider yourself under ar-rest
!" was the Major's address to ubiquit-ous
Mother Bickerdyke.
To which she replied, as she flew past
him with her hot bricks and hot drinks,
"All right, jMajor! only don't meddle
with me till the weather moderates, for
my men will freeze to death, if you do !"
A story got in circulation that she was
put in the guard house by the Major, and
this is still current in the West, and by
many is believed; but it was not true.
There was some little official liubbub
over lier night's work, but she defended
herself to the officers who quietly re-proved
her action, with this indisputable
statement: "It is lucky for you old fel-lows,
that I did what I did. For if I
hadn't, hundreds of the men in the hos-jjital
tents would have frozen to death.
Nobody at the North would have blamed
me, but there would have been such a
hullaballoo raised round your heads, for
allowing it to happen, that they would
have had to come oil", whether or no."
as could be scared out of the non-perform-ers
of duty. Having fixed upon a final
plan to dodge the issue, at the appointed
hour he waited upon the court to show
cause,if auy he had, why ho shouldn't
willingly have toted a musket and knap-sack
about the town for twelve mortal
hours, and otherwise perform the duties
of a live "patriot."
He was ushered into the court-room
immediately—which was held in an old
country house—where he discovered some
three or four persons seated, attired in
flashy regimentals, and whose awful "yal-ler
epoletts" alone were sufficient to com-mand
the attention and respect of the pro
foundest behoKler. Though somewhat
disconcerted at this rather unexpected
exhibition of spurs and buttons, be put a
bold face on the matter, and responding
to the directions of the junior member of
August court", he advanced to the table,
and the chief functionary commenced the
examination.
"Your name, sir ?"
The offender placed his hand quickly
to the side of his head, without uttering a
word or moving a muscle in his face.'
" ^ hat is your name T' reoeated the
questioner in a loud tone.
"A little louder," said the wag without
replying. »
" iY«m(?,"shouted the Judge.
"Taunton, Bristol county,"
•'What business do you follow ?"
"Main street," said the delinquent.
"Your business ?" yelled the officer.
"Right-hand side as you go up." "A-bout
two miles and a half."
"How old are you, old fellow ?" con-tinued
the judge nervously.
"Boss carpenter."
"What's the matter with your ears ?"
"Dr. Scarpie's oil, sometimes. Some-times
Gur'em's ointment."
"Why don't you answer?"
"Nearlylive years."
"He'scicaf as an adder," remarked the
Judge, turning round to his subordinates
earnestly.
"Clear the l(a)ber out."
"You are not liable to perform military
duty," said the secretory, with his mouth
close to the wag's ear.
''Iknow that,'' said the fellow, cooly.
"His hearing improves," ventured the
sergeant.
"What do you suppose we sit here for?"
asked the judge in a loud vo'ce, at last.
"A dollar and a half a day,' said the
prisoner.
"He may go, Mr. Sergeant."
"You can go," said the under officer,
pointing to the door. '
But our friend took no notice of the
order.
'•'•You may go yelled the Judge, "Is
it possible a mtin can be as deaf as all
that?"
"1 can't say," continued tlie delinquent,
pretending not to understand, "but 1
should think—."
• "Go—go!" screamed the Judge ;
"CALL THE CATTLE HOME."
[The following exquisite ballad is from Alton
Locke, by Eov. Cluirles Kiuijsloy. Perhaps the
English language (lT)es not eontain a moi-e per-foeti
and bountiful adaption of sound and rythm
to the subjeet.]
"Oh, j\[ary, Mary, call the cattle homo,
Ami call tlie cattle home,
And call the cattle homo,
Along the sands o' Deo.
The we.steru wind was wild and dark wi' foam,
And all alone went she.
"The creeping tide came np along the sand,
And o'er and o'or the sand,
And round a,nd round the sand,
As far as oye could see.
The blinding mist came down and hid the sand,
iint never home eamo she.
"Oh ! is it wood, or fish, or iloating hair—
A trc.ss o' golden hair,
O' drowned nuiiden's liair.
Among the nets at ,soa'{
Oh, never salmon yet that shone so fair,
Among the nets of Dee.
"Tliey rowed her in across the angry foam,.
Tlie cruel, crawling foain.
The eniiity, hungry foa-in,
To her grave besiilo the sea.
But still the boiitnieu hear lioreall the cattle home
Along the sands o' Dee."
DOUGINCI A ^ L I T I A FINE.
BY TlIFi YOUNG'UN.
In days gone by, when objectionable
militia laws were in force in Ma,ssachn-setts,
the customary draft was made in a
country town a few miles from Boston,
and a notice to "appear, armed and equip-ped
according to law," was left at the
boarding house of a wag, who possessed
very little martial "music" in his soul.
Determined that he would neither train , ^^ ^ ^ general
nor pay a hue, and entertaining, withal, a I regiment like you to command!
very indiilerent opinion ot the utility ol ^^^^
the system, he took no notice ol the sum- - -
mons. Having been didy "warned," how-ever,
as he anticipated, at the expiration
of a few weeks the sergeant waited upon
him with a bill of nine shillings for non-attendance
at the muster.
"You're lined, sir—nine shillings—non-appe
ranee."
"••What is it?" asked the wag, pretend-ing
to misunderstand the collector.
"Fine for not training ?" bawled the
other.
"Shan't pay it, fellow !"
"Ir will be throe dollars next time 1
call."
Ijiitthewag couldn't hear a word ho
said, and in the course of another month
he received ii peremptory summons to ap«
pear forthwith at a court martial in the
ro found himself at liberty.
He was never again summoned to train
during his residence in Taunton,
A friend at a pinch—One who shares
his snulf with you.
It does not follow that one is bound to
abstain from llesh to become a vegetariaa
—all llesh is grass.
iNceording to a recent decision boarding
house keepers who serve hash are obliged
to take out license as manufacturers.
A^geutleinan maintaining that poverty
was a virtue ; "That," said his friend, "is
literally making a virtue of necessity."
A married lady of St. Paul, Minn., has
been in a trance state for six weeks, and
district, instituted, for the purpose of try- husband won't have u doctor yet. Ho
ing delinquents, and collecting such lines s'^ys it seems so novel.