Soldiers' record, 1870-04-23

              Om FLAG, 02sB LAND, ONE EEART, ONB EAND, ONE NATION, EVERMORE:!
y o L , I I. H A R T I ^ O R D , OONIST., S A T U R D A Y , A P I I I L 23, 1 8 7 0. N O , 4 2.
ioars at iomc.
AFTBK THE BALL.
They sat and combcd their beautiful hair,
Thoir long bright tresses, one by one,
As thoy laugliod aud tallced iu the chamber there,
AftoV the revel wiis doue.
Idly thoy talked of waltz aud quadrille,
Idly, they laughed like other girls,
Who, over the hre when all is still
Comb out thoir braids and curls.
Robe of satiu and Brussels lace,
Knots of flowers atul ribbons too,
Scattered about iu every place
For the revel is through.
And Maud and Madge iu robes of white.
The prettiest night gowns under the sun,
Stockiugless—slipperless—sit in the night.
For the revel is done.
Sit and comb their beautiful hair,
Those wonderful waves of brow7< aud gold,
Till the fire is out in the chamber there,
And the little bare feet are cold.,,
Then out of the gathering winter's chill
All out of the bitter St. Agues weather.
While the fire is out, aud the house is still,
Maud aud Madge together,
Maud and Madge in robes of white,
The prettiest night gowns under the sun,
Curtained away from the chilling night.
After the revel is doue.
Float away in a splendid dream.
To a golden gittern's tinkling tune.
While a thousand lustres shinuueriug streaui,
In a palace's grand saloon.
Flashing of jewels and flutter of laces,
Tropical odors sweeter than musk ;
Men aud women with beautilul faces,
And eyes of tropical dusk.
Aud one face gleaming out like a star,
Oue face haunting the dreams of each,
.And oue voice sweeter than others are.
Breaking iu silvery speech.
Telling through lips of boarded bloom
An old, old story, over again.
As down the royal bannered room,
To the golden gittern's strain,
Two and two they dreamily walk.
While an unseen spirit walks beside.
And all unheard iu the lovei's talk
He claimeth one for a bride.
Oh! Maud and Madge dream on together,
With never a pang of jealous fear.
For o'er the bitter 8t. Agnes weather
Shall whiten another year,
Robed for the bridal aud robed for the tomb.
Braided brown hair, and golden tress.
There'll be only one of you left for the bloom
Of the boarded lips to kiss.
Oh ! beautiful Madge iu your bridal white,
For you the revel has just begun,
But for her who sleeps iu your arn»s to-night,
The revel of Life is done.
But robed and crowned iu your saintly bliss.
Queen of Heaven and bride of the sun.
Oh ! beaut'iful Maud you'll never miss
The kisses a,nother has wou.
I moved slowly along the pavement,
hiui to near the curb-stone, and quietly thrust
them laid him out as a corpse, covered i who
him with a blanket, and ca.-ried
the dead house, where he lay, still as a | bank notes into the hands of one and an-log,
a.id nearly smothered with his rude i other of the prisoners.
face-cloth, till dusk. At length he raised
himself, made a hasty reconnoissance
barefoot, and finding all right, sallied
forth. Just at this time, as had been ar-ranged,
a sham light was played olfin the
opposite part of the enclosure, by which
the attention of all the guards was ar-rested,
when his comrade slipped into a
hut near the dead house, and McCullough,
as had been arranged, when everything
was favorable, threw a stone against the
logs. His comrade came out ; the two
adventurers, Avere together and undiscov-ered
They quicldy scaled the high board
fence, one standing on the other's should-ders,
and ther. drawing his companion up,
and let themselves down on the other
side in the same manner. Once outside
the prison, they went to the i)lace designa-ted
by the young lady, and found her
waiting. She told them to follow her at
a distance, keeping ia sight her white
handkerchief. Taking a circuitous route
she led them twenty-five blocks, and
waited for them on the steps of a house,
which proved to be that of her father.
Here they were kindly received by him,
though he knew nothing of the plan of his
daughter. In a few days he procured
them passes Ijy paying for them between
two and three thousand dollars in Oun-fedcrate
money. The young lady pro-vided
them with suitable cloihes ; her
father sent them away in his carriage,
and he and his daughter gave them their
blessing as they departed for the Federal
lines, which they reached, with but little
difficulty, on the 23d of December, 1863,
just three monchs after they were made
prisoners.
THE GOOD WOMAN AT ROME.
As she approached the major, the
bright-faced boy gave, him a look that
seemed to say, "This is my Massachusetts
mother, sir, who hus tanght me to love
Yankees and the Union.'' The glances
interchanged as the l;idy threw her eyes
upon the war-worn New England soldier-were
hasty, for the suspicious guiird was
near, but how full of mutual admiration
and esteem!
fWritteu for the SoLoiiiu's RICCOKD.]
GEN. GEO. H. THOMAS.
IJY JOHN T. FORREST.
Another gone! how fast death's sickle falls
Upou the ones our nation prized the most,
Tliose great true hearts that stood as living walls
Between our country and the rebel host;
Yet Heaveu bo thanked that they have lived to
see
All treason crushed through our now happy land,
Aud all who breathe its air, equal and free,
United lor its welfare, hand in baud;
Such sceno as this iu patriot's dying hour
Would rob e'en death of half his fearful power.
And yet we weep, though safe our country ride
• At anchor iu the haven of sweet iieace,
Oiu- Hag, half nuisted, in dark crape we hide.
And tolling bells give to our tears increase,
For One we watclied through nuiny a bloody fray
One of earth's heroes now lies stitfand cold,
One mortal called by loving God away
To his reward amid the heavenly fold;
Then be.nd in prayer aud hush the hot tear's flow,
Aud kiss the rod that guides all earth below.
Oh, Thon, whose will rules all Thy hand hath
made,
Whose love beholds the puny sparrow's fall,
Whose care pro Dects the lowly grassy blade,
List, Thou, unto a mourning Nation's call;
Oh, make our hearts like his you took away,
As meek aud humble, yet as strong and true,
May we, like him, before our struggles pray
For heavenly help our duties stern to do;
Though temptations gather make us like him
stand
With chief desire to save this glorious land.
advance. I cftnsuited tny purse whether
it permitted me to go or not, and while
counting its contents, a very sing(dar
thought struck my raind. Supposing, I
thought, these men i-eally do what they
promise, and thoy do it so well that I can
not discover how they do it, is there any
good reason why I should not go the
next day also, if a Man promises to make
his big toe sing the great aria of Norma,
or to make a full grown man <;ome out of
a gallon jug. Gunning men might, justi
as well as they, do all those useless
things, promise, and really do numberless
things which are neither more miraculous
nor more out of the way tha)i my Indian
juggler's performance, and they might
persistently lighten my purse without any
advantage to me other than the convicition
that every one of them understood how
to do tilings which I did not know, and
which, besides, if I ever slwuld know,
would by this very fact become absolutely
useless to me.
LOYAL RICHMOND GIRL.
The following story of "hair-breadth
'scape," illustnites at once the genuine
loyalty of some of the citizens cf the reb-
•el capital, and the unequalled fertility of
woman's wit in devising expedients.
ri. 11. Mc(.'ulk)iigh, the hero of the story,
is a Wisconsin soldier, who was captured
at Chickamauga, and brought as prisoner
to Richmond.
Being somewhat ill, he was sent to a
hospital, and had not been there long be-fore
a young lady of the city made him a
present in the form of a pretty bag filled
with ''Virginia fine cut." It occurred to
joung McCullough that possibly the bag
inigh: contain something besides tobacco;
and sure enough, at the bottom ho found
a slip of paper with these words : "Woula
you be free ? 'JHieu be prepared to act.
Meet me to morrow at Tlie meet-ing
took place. In a few briof words she
told him her plan for his escape, agreed
upon a day I'or its execution, and the par-ties
separated without being noticed by
the guard. In a few days lie received an-other
note conveyed in a similar manner,
giving further instructions, and saying
that he might bring a comrade with him.
As the day approaches ho can think of
no way of passing the guard but by
feigning to bo dead. The details of tins
ruse were discussed with his fellow-pris-oners
; and on the eventful day four of
A large body of Union soldiers, that
had been confined in a distant southern
prison, reached the town of Rome,in
Northern Georgia, on their way to Rich-mond
Weary, famished, and thirsty,
they were halted in the middle of the
sireets, under a broiling sun, and expos-ed
to the coarse jeers of the embittered
populace.
Handsomely dressed women came out
with handfuls of little cotton bullets,
which they threw at the poor, helpless
fellows, with such words as, "So yon have
come to Rome—have you ? How do you
like your welcome V Hour after hour
of this tedious waiting and insult had
passed, when a Union major, who was
leaning wearily against a post, Avas light-ly
touched on the arm, and turned around
expecting some fresh opprobrium. He
saw a fine-looking boy, about twelve
years of age, standing by his elbow, who
glancing at the guard, who was then look-ing
the other way, pulled the major's
skirt, and asked, ''Are you from New
England 7" "I was born iu Massachu-setts,"
was the reply, "rio was my moth-er,"
returned the boy, brightening up.
"iShe was a New England girl, and she
was what you call a school-ma'am ; she
married my father, and I'm their boy ;
l)ut how she loves New England and the
Yankees, and the old United States ! and
so do I."
The poor major was touched at finding
this stray scion of the good old stock a-way
here by ''the rivers of Babylon."
There was nothing he could give the boy
to strengthen his loyalty but one of the
buttons on his frock. Ashe was cutting
this from his bi east, the lad pulled a
string of them fi om his pocket, and said.
TRAVELING WONDERS.
Once I went to^see an Indian juggler,
who swung himself around the point of a
dagger which was perpendicularly fast-ened
on a heavy block with its point up-ward,
while the juggler lay horizontally
on top of it, so that the point by entering
his navel formed the point around which
the juggler swung. The point was as
sharp as that of the sharpest dagger, of
which I convinced myself by examining
it attentively, and trust-worthy physicians
who attended the exhibitions assured the
audience that there was no iron matrice
in the juggler's navel, or anything which
in their mind could possibly prevent the
dagger from piercing the Indian through
and through. It is true, I had pr-viously
seen a great mauN' other things which
neither I nor a great many others could
do. Iliad witnessed a man sawing and
splitting two cords of oak wood in one
day. I had seen Raphael's "Madonna"
{delta sedia) aud the suspension bridge
across the Niagara. I knew a man who
could extract the square-root of 7,41G or
any other number, as fast as I could have
multiplied that same number by six or
eight, and I had seen an actor, who so
admirably performed the role of "•iiamlet"
that for a moment 1 forgot thai the whole
thing was a mere play, and the tears filled
my eyes. Aud yet in comparing all these
things with the Indian who swung on the
point of a dagger, they seemed to me as
being mere trifles.
A few weeks after this a man announc-ed
himself who could weep ten cent pieces
from his eyes. I had seen a better thing
previously, and ] therefore did not go.
Another fellow promised to swallow melt-ed
load, and hold a red hot iron rod in
A STORY OP GKN. THOMAS.—Among
the stories told of Gen. Thomas, is one
of an incident which occurred when he
and his chief of staff. General Garfield,
were inspecring the fortifications of Chat-tanooga
in 1864. They heard a sliout,
"Hello, mister ! You ! I want to speak
to you ;" and General Thomas found that
he was die person addressed, by an un-couth,
back-woods. East Tennesseean.
He stopped, and the dialogue which en-sued
was as follows :—
•'Mister, I want to get a furlough."
"On what grounds do you want a' fur-lough,
my man?"
"I want to go home and see my wife."
"How long since you saw your wile ?"
"Ever since I enlisted, nigh on to
three months."
"Three months !" good naturedly.
"Why, my good man, I haven't seen my
wife for three years."
The East Tennesseean stopped whit-tling
for a moment, and stared incredu-lously;
at length he said: "Well, you
see, me and my wife ain't that kind."
Evi^n General Thomas's grimness was
not proof against the laughter which ho
rode away to conceal, leaving tht* aston-ished
soldier without an answer. Of
course it is General Garfield who tells
the story.
A REMARKABLE CASE OF PATRIOTISM.—
In the Maine legislature on Wednesday,
Mr. M(-'tcalf prepented a resolve in favor
of giving Betsy Reynolds of Burnham a
pension during her life, and made the
following statement of tacts :—
Mrs. Betsy Reynolds, widow of John
Reynolds of Burnham, sent four sons, two
sons-in-law, and one grandi3on to the war,
neither of whom returned to tell their
story. They all died defending our flag.
When the war closed she was left with
thirty-one orphan grandchildren, made so
by the war. Her surviving son, who is
lame, volunteered, but was rejected on
account of his lameness. Mrs. Reynolds
is now depending on her own labor for a
livelihood. Seven of her orphan grand-children
were taken into the Bath asy-lum.
"See, I have a dozen just like it, gifts of; his hand until it became cold. Still
other boys in blue. My mother would'
like to see you. I'll go and tell her."
"AVhat are you doing hero growled
the guard, with an oath, as he turned up-on
him. But the little fellow slipped a-way
through the crowd, and presently
returned, walking beside a lovely lady,
an-other
would make a table walk on its
wooden legs, until, iu the end, another
promised to make me see the ghost of eith-er
my deceased grandmother, or Julius
Caesar, or General Washington, and
make them talk with mo as long as I de-sired—
all for half a dollar, to be paid in
At the Battle of Gettysburg Gen. Ga-briel
R. Paul of St. Louis was shot
through both eyes, aud his sight wholly
destroyed. Senator Drake, has introduced
and passed through the Senate a joint
resolution giving him the pay and allow-anct's
of a Brigadier, he having been re-tired
on rank. The resolution lias also
passed the House. Gen. Paul was ap-pointed
cadet at West Point in 1828 by
ex-Attorney-Gen. Speed, at that time u
member of the House.
The Worst Tax—-At-tacks on one's
purse.
The only Men who can beat Time.
—Chefs d'Orchestre ; but time beats them
at last.