Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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A BLIND MA Charles B. Lewis iu Between midnight and the coming cf the summer's morn, there had been strange sounds to arouse the man from sleep, and as he sat up and listened he whispered to himself: "It is the'marohing of men, the galloping of Worses, tho rumble of cannon wheels, the 'gathering of a host. When the east began to purple the founds were louder and nearer, but not so strange as when muffled by the shades of night. A smile formed upon the man's face as he listened sow, and there was a strange exul tation in his heart as he hurriedly dressed himself and called to his daughter: '.'Aye, Mary! I have heard those Bounds before?at Manassas?at Fair Oaks?at Savage Station?at Malvern Hill?at An tic tarn! Look out and tell nie what you see." "Down in the meadows there are thousands of men," replied the girl, as she stood in the open door? "thousands in blue and thousands in gray. More are coming up from the south?more from the north. There are mounted men?men afoot?men resting in long 'lines. What does it mean, father?" "There is going to be a battle, Mary. I know it would come some day, and I prayed that I might live to see it." "But you are blind, father." "Yes, blind sinoe Chanoellorsville, where a bullet spared my life but took my sight, but my ears are good, and you shall see for me. The blue are on the east?the gray on tho west. How muoh neutral ground.lies between?" "Just that wide field with the creek flowing through it." "God! but they nearly ran into each other in the darkness! Do you see camp fires?" "Yes, hundreds of them!" "The men are snatching a sip and a bite while yet there is time. Girl, vour voice trembles. Are you afraid?" "A little." "Aye! a girl would be, and many men as well, but you must fight it off. Lead me down under the big pear tree. Yes, you are afraid, but it will be a glorious sight?a sight you will remember to your dying day. It is a quiet morniL g, with no breeze to blow the smoke away, and the blaok clouds of powder-smoke add to the grimness of the battle. I hear a oonf used mur mur down there?the neighing of borfles?the blare of bugles?the sound of wheels on the turnpike? but no reports of -muskets. That's good. The skirmishing before a bat tle is but the scolding of angry wo men. .There was rain yesterday, and there must be plenty of water in the creek. Thank God for that! At Fair Oaks and Savage Station the wounded had to drink the blaok waters of the swamps. At Chanceiiorsviiie there was not even that, and they cried out for water till the sound rose on the night air like a wail of agony from a plague-stricken city. Do I hear mass es of men moving down there?" "Yes, father. The men in blue on foot are forming in lines across' the meadows?two long lines. There are cannons here and there, and here' And there solid niasses of men. The cavalry are riding to right and lef t. It is almost the same with the men in gray." "Double lines of battle?reserves ?cavalry on the wings?that is right, Mary. God! but to jbo blind when this picture of war is about to be hung up for eyes to gaze atL Don't tremble, girl?don't be afraii-dqn't runaway from me!" -."* .' "No, father, I won't leave you, but I'm terribly afraid. The men are far away, but it seems to me that their faces ate pale with fear, and that they turn their heads as if they would , "Aye! moat of them aro pale-faced, ?aughter, and thfy??ok to the right *od left and mutter both onrsos and payers. ' The waiting is eating nip wefc heartii ; At Fair Oaks we wait "or an hour. I trembled like a fcaf in the breeze; my teeth clicked Aether; I wanted to curse and scream and pray i? jho same breath. I was weeping like a heartbroken child ?nen the enemy cam? marohing aoroea jje fields, and the first order of our "olonei drove fear from my heart and Ranted a devil of ferocity there, quiet ' U grows down there, aryl" V/-';:^ "Yes, there is a hush upon tho "fcn;. there in no longer any move eot. Why do they wait, father?" "They are drawing a long breath fore the rash?looking far the weak Ms in eaoh s?;he?'a lines. Blind! mdl And 1 would give**U the rest ?ay dsys if t could have my sight two hours! How still it ia ! If I had N'S BATTLE. St. Louis Republic. not heard the old familiar sounds I should believe that it was yet uight and I was dreaming again. That's it?that's it?the battle has opened at last, and every red flash is the breath of Death!" "You must hear?you must seel" ?shouted her father, pulling at her arm, as if he knew the situation. "Curses upon the bullet which blind ed me and the man who fired it! I saw and heard a hundred guns at work at the Chickahominy?more than two hundred at Malvern Hill?two hun dred again at Antietam, God! but how they roared aud crashed and thunder ed! How round-shot moaned and shell screamed through the smoke-cloud and made mangled corpses of brave men. Hear it, Mary?hear it!" "I am afraid, father?terribly afraid!" (be sobbed, as she clung to bis arm. "Afraidl Aye, you are but a girl, and fear a harmless snake in the road. If I had my sight?heavens, but if these were my eyes of old!?I'd rush down there into the smoke and help them to kill?kill?kill 1 Now I scent the powder-smoke?how I hear the screams of wounded horses?now? now?but I am blind?blind!" "Be quiet, father?be quiet! There -?the noise iB dying away. What aro they going to do now?" "That was the prelude, girl?the music that openB tbe ball. There is a ' menace in the roar of cannon and the scream of missiles, but Death docs not reap his harvest until the musket comes into play. The smoke must be lifting now?tell nie what you see." "There is a movement among the cavalry down on the left of the blue lines?the same on the right of tbe gray. Tho masses of men separate? the lines break and reform again. Ahl I see the flatter of flags and catch the flash of eabero. Are they going to charge, father?" "Yes; girl, that's it! God pity me? a charge of cavalry, and I oannot even tell daylight from;darkness! Look? watoh?don't miss a move! The tien are breathing hard down there in their saddles?muttering, cursing, impa tient for the bugles. I saw a cavalry oharge when Ashby was killed, and it was glorious. For hours afterwards my blood tingled and I felt like cheer ing. It is level ground down there, and the squadrons will ride at full gallop, every horse with his teeth on the bit, his ears laid back and his eyes aflame. And the troopers will oheer and - oheer, aud the sabers will flash and whirl, and?and? Are they moving, girl? Yes, there go the bugles?they have got the order, and I can't see?I can't see!" "Hush, father! I am afraid, and yet it is a glorious sight. The lines in blue are moving out?the . lines in gray are moving out. Now they walk. Now they trot. ? Now they gal lop. Now?don't you hear the oheers, father!" "Aye! God in heaven, but I do?I dot Yes, they oheer and shout and yell, and the thunder of the- thous ands of hoofs makes the earth quiver under my feet. . If my eye-lidB were only shut that I might tear them open with m5 fingerst Look! Look! Lookl It is . the . grandest thing in war?a cavaly oharge I Where will tho shook take place?" "On the green meadow, where the school children used to oh a bo the lambs about at noonday and search for four-leafed ciovera. > Hear them cheer, father?hoar them oheer 1" "I hear them?I hear them! Hip ^?hip?hurrah! Word of God! but thoy have come together! That craah rolled over a thousand horses. Now they out and slash end shoot and have a fiend'b desire to kill I Now they thrust and out and have hell's passion in their ourses. God, but what a smile on the face Of Death as he looks that way I Thorb are no ?ong?rjoom names and regiments; it is a mob of thousands, whirling 'round and 'round, and filling the jaws of Death to glut tony, I am blind, bat I want to go? I must go. I am an old soldier with wounds which blister and burnl" "Hush, father?bo quiotl Now the mob io breaking up. Tho blue ride to tho eaBt?the gray to tho w*at. And God forgive mon, but tho meadow is littered with horses and riders 1 Some are quiet?some limp or crawl about ?a thousand are down. Oh! father, but think' of tho-widows and orphans ?the tears and woe arid misery i" "War is war. child. It is a great h east with flaming eyes and bleed re? Jaws, and it has no mercy on youth or aga?on the widow or the orphan. Tear at my.eycB with your fingers?j pray to God with me that my sight may return for an hour?a half hour ?for 10 minut?e! I hear a murmur I ing as of tha November winds sweep iog through the dead leaves on th beeches. What is it, Mary?" "It is tho men on feet?the tenan try. The lines are moving forward. A few men are running in front, and they drop to the earth and fire and then rise up and run forward again. Hear it, father?hear it!" "I hear it; it is the fire of mus ketry. Now the grain is ripe for the sickle and the name of the reaper is Death. Hear the volleys merge into a roar! Feel tho spite i nd venom and hate aod desire to kill! Men are being sent to their God down there faster than the beats of a clock. It is too deadly and cannot last. Watch, Mary?for God's sake watch! Why do they cheer?" "One long line is advancing; I see the bayonets flashing on their guns, nnd the flags are ripling above the ^.en'a heads. See, father?see! Now they run! Now they almost halt and stagger about! Now they push on again, and the other lines fall back; there are dead men at every step? dead men and wounded until the grass is hidden beneath them!" "And I am blind! blind! blind! God of my fathers, give me back my sight and ask any reward! I have it ! ?I bave it?I hav: it! Mary, I can see?my sight has come back." He rcn away down the hillside? past the barn with its open doors? past the bee-hives and their buzzing toilers?past the spring house and through the orohard, and the girl fol lowed after. They had ju3t cleared the last of the trees, each one laden I with its wealth of white and pink blossoms, when there was a blare of bugles, a rush of horses and wheels, and a battery came thundering down upon them as it ehanged its posi tion. The riders saw an old man and a girl ahead of them?saw them halt and look helplessly about, and then clasp .heir arms about each other, but the six horses were lashed to a madder gallop, and no rider looked backward to see what the heavy wheeis had jolted over. "Halt! Left wheel into line! Un limber?boom! boom! boom!" And, shouting and cursing and dancing about like devils, thei" faces amirohed with powder, and the . eyes burning with the light of battle, they took no heed of the dead almost under their feet?of the old man whose eyes were sealed in death?of the fair-hair ed girl whose last thought had been to shield him. Of the thousands of dead, what of two more or less? And as the guns thundered and roared and sent shot and shell into the ranks of the enemy, the pink and white blossoms of apple, peach and pear tree were shaken down as by a summer's gale, and they fell upon men and guns and caissons and horBes, and from thence to earth. And they also fell upon the dead lying there, and they fell so thickly that they hid the sight of blood and the pallor of death, and an artilleryman rested for an instant to observe and to whisper to himself: "God, but what shrouds for the dead on a battle field!" The Man in the Kitchen. The helplessness of mere men in the presence of ordinary domestic tasks, remarks the Youth's Compan ion, was illustrated in the case of the old miner, who explained (hat he had onoe tried to improve his oooking by Btudying a book of receipts. "It was no use," he sadly confessed, "because every ope of them receipts starts off with 'take a clean dish.' " He was kin to one of the sons of Mrs. Dunsmuir, a Scotchwoman liv ing in Pennsylvania. She waB called away from home one day just after dinner. As she was leaving she said to the hoys: "One of yon must wash the dishes and the other wipe them and put them away, so that everything will be tidy by the time I got back." "All right, mother," said Jaok, "but Will's got to wipe them. I'm willing to wash, but wiping is such greasy work 1". Reminded Sansan of Home. . The reoent tornadoes in Kansas led the Kansas City Journal to tell of the experience of .a Kanaan crossing the Atlantic in rough weather. One morn* iog he went out on deck when a big gale was blowing* Nobody was in sight except the captain. "Go below there 1" the captain shouted. f. ... The passenger looked around to see whom he was talking to. "Yon mean me?" he yelled baok when he saw there was no ouo in sight, "Of course, I do; go below,*' and the captain eame alongside. "Well/1 guos3 not." protested the Kausah. "I'm up here to see how one of your mountain-high waves and 'terrin? gales' compara with what we have in Kansas in the way of cyclones. This ain't a patch to what I've seen out our way." A big Wave broke over the deck, sweeping the Kansan aft. They pick ed him up with a broken leg, twisted shoulder, a sprained wrist, and his face looking as if he had been drag* g*d backward through a briar patch. When he came to he ?saw the cap tain. Cleveland Hunts Rabbits. Grovcr Cleveland, Ex-President of tho United States, writes on rabbit shooting for the vacation number of the Independent. He says: ''Because rabbit shooting is season able only in late fall or winter weather the mention of it is calculated to sug gest shivering chills, cold feet, numb fingers and all sorts of heavy clothing. At first blush, therefore, it may not seem to be exactly an appropriate top ic to be given a place in a magazine designed for midsummer reading. On seco2'.? thought, however, I hope it will not be deemed amiss that the torridity of such a magazine should be tempered by a cooling admixture hint ing of recreation free from dog day swelter, and reminding tho reader that a season is on its way which briugs with it outdoor sport exempt from summer heat and unvexed by the stings and arrows of outrag eous gnats, flies or mosquitoes. It is quite with reason to suppose that tho addition of rabbit hunting to the in gredients that simmer in summer re creative reading might bo as refresh ing as the addition of ice to au other wise tepid summer tipple. "Some hunters there are, of the su perfined and dudish sort, who djny to the rabbit any position among legiti mate game animals; and there are oth ers who while grudgingly admitting rabits to the list, seem to think it ne cessary to exouso their concession by calling them hares. I regard all this as pure affectation and nonsense. I deem it not beneath my dignity aud standing as a reputable gunner to write of tho rabbit as an entirely suitable member of the game community, and in doing so I am not dealing with hares or any other thing except plain, little, every day plebeian rabbits?sometimes appropriately called 'cotton tails.' Though they may be 'defamed by every charlatan' among hunters of self-oon stitute,! nigh degree, and despised by thousands who know nothing of their game qualities, I am not ashamed of their pursuit, and I count it by no means bad skill to force them by a suc cessful shot to a topsy turvey pause when at their best speed. "These Bly little fellows feed at night, and during the day they hide so closely in grass or among rocks and brush it is seldom they can be seen when at rest. Of course, no decent man will shoot a rabbit whiie sitting, and I have known them to refuse to start for anything less than a kiok or punch. When they do start, however they demonstrate quite clearly that they have kept their feet in the best possible position for a spring and run. After such a start the rabbit must in fairness be given an abundant ohase to gain full headway, and when he has traversed the necessary distance for this, and is at his fastest gait the hunt er that shoots him has good reason to be satisfied with his marksmanship. I ohee actually poked one up and he eecaped unhurt, though four loads of shot were sent after him. "In the main, however, dogs must be relied upon for the real employment and success of rabbit hunting. Tho fastest dogs are not the best, beoause they aro apt to chase the rabbit so swiftly and closely that he quickly bo takes himself to a hole or other safe shelter, instead of relying upon his running ability. The baying of three or four good dogs steadily following little ootton tail should be as exhilar ating and as pleasant to ears attuned to the music as if the chase were for bigger game. As the music is heard more distinctly, theihunter is allowed to flatter himself that his acute judg ment oan determine tho route of the approaohing game and the precise point from whioh an advantageous shot can be secured. The self-satis fied oonoeit aroused by a fortunate guess conoerning this important de tail, especially if supplemented by a fatal shot, should permit the lucky gunner to enjoy as fully the compla cent, pleasurable persuasion that the entire achievement is due to his saga city, ksenneBs and skill as though the animal circumvented were a larger beast. In either case the hunter ex periences the delight born of a well sense of superiority and self pride, and this notwit hstanding .all attempts to keep it in the baokground, is the most gratifying faotor in every sporting indulgence. "Some people speak slightingly of the rabbit's eating qualities. This must he an abject surrender to fad or fashion. At any rate it is exceeding* ly unjust to the ootton tail; and one who oan relish tender chicken and re* fuse to eat a nicely oooked rabbit is, I believe, a viotim of unfounded pre judices. "Why, then, should not rabbit hunt KILLthk cough I ?io CURE the LUNGS [Bureat and auiclteat Oun for all THROAT and XiTJNft TBOTJB XJCS, or BtONSftr BACK. ing, when honorably pursuod, be given a respectable place among gunning activities? It ocrtainly has every ele ment of rational outdoor recreation. It ministers to the most exhilarating and healthful exercise; it furnishes saving relief from care and overwork; it is free from wantonness and inex cusable destruction of animal life, and if luck favors, it gives play to in nocent but gratifyiug self-conceit. "Let us remember, however, that if rabbit hunting is to be a manly out door recreation, entirely freo from meaness, and a sport in which a true hunter cau indulge without shame, the little cottontail must, in all cir cumstances, be given a fair chance for his life." Swift Trains And The Danger. Eighteen hours to Chicago is fast running, and the Pennsylvania mau agement is statistically warranted in announcing its new eightcen-hour train to Chicago as "the fastest long distance train in the world." How long it will remain so depends upon the enterprise of competing lines. The New York Central system now has a twenty-hour train to Chicago which was scheduled to bo reduced to nine teen hours. It will now probably bo scheduled to make the run in eight een hours, whioh a calculation shows will require au average running speed, including necessary stops, of about 54 miles an hour. It has a line to Chicago somewhat longer than that of the Pennsylvania, but it has some advan tage in easier gradcB than that line must overoome in Western Pennsylva nia. Fifty-four miles an hour is not an unusual speed for relatively short runs, but to maintain this speed for eighteen hours is a very serious prob lem, and even the most courageous railroad man might well hesitate to undertake it unless compelled to do so by business considerations of the most exigent character. It is a question whether the demand for such very fast trains is great enough to warrant tho great cost of running them. Even a very small gain in speed is attended with a tremendous increment of wear and tear. If tho state of the art has advanced to a point which makes it safe and sano to bring New York and Chicago within eighteen hours of each other, the run should be made in that time. If how ever, it involves an added risk, and tho desire for it is the outgrowth of a competition in which the managements of two great systems are willing to "take chances" whioh their judgement disapproves, its business wisdom is open to question. Train acceleration is very muoh more a funotion of tho mechanical department than of the General Passenger Agent's offioe. There is a limit established by the strength of materials and the point reached in the oo-ordination of parts. To keep as near this limit as is prac ticable is wise; to go one inch beyond it, or even to enoroaoh undully upon a narrow margin of safety, is not wise. The danger is not so muoh in tho eighteen-hour schedule as in the temp tation it offers to establish a seven teen-hour run, and then a sixteen, as competition becomes keen and propor tionately reckless. Speed is in a evolu tion. Our progress in that direction has probably been as rapid during re cent years as was consistent with sound principles of railway manage ment, and leaps forward are apt to be regarded as showing more enterprise , than discretion on the part of those who make them.?New York Times. Daniel Was "Helping Zeke." t The anecdote, "Webster and His I Brother," in a recent Sunday Herald, suggests another on the same subject that I heard, many years ago, related by a relative of Mr. Webster who had , spent her youth in Concord, N. H. The father of Ezekiel and Daniel, dissatisfied with the performance I of some task assigned to the boys, call ed them to account. With much difficulty he elicited from Ezekiel the admission that he had been idle and lazy, and chiefly employed in "holding down chairs." "And what, sir," said the stern par ent, turning to Daniel, "have you been doing?" . "Helpin' Zeke," was the prompt re ply.?Boston Herald. Almost Satisfied. Congressman Broussard, of Louis iana; says that at New Iberia, his state, in tho early '90'a, when that district was visited by a severe flood, one of the expeditions for relief or ganized by the government one day encountered an old negro paddling with one hand, while he bailed ont his craft with the other. "Hello, there, unolel Anything yon want?" "Nothin* 'cept wings, boss," was the reply. g-;V-i>' m - ? ? The worst about paying bills is it just makes another ohance to run them up again. ? There would be too muoh money in the world if women wore common - sense clothes. ? Faith is turning the faoe toward God. Rydale's Tonic a new. scientific remedy for tho Blood and Nerves It purifies the blood by eliminating tlio raste matter und other Impurities and by destroying tlu> genus or ntlcrobef that infest the blood. It builds up the blood by restoring and multiply* lug the red corpuscles, making the blood rich and red. It restores and stimulates tho nerves, causingn full freeflow of nervo force through out the entire nerve system, il p|teedity cure* unstrung nervoa. nervousness, nervous prog, tratiou, und all diseases vt the nervous system. a re Owl cure for Malaria. RYDALF/s TONIC Is a sp?cifie for alf f.?ra?^ of Malaria. It acta <jn a new principle. It hiXCi the microbes thut produce Malaria. Tli-j coaee being removed, the disease quickly di^apij^arjj? HYDALE'S TON 10 is guaranteed to euro tfce > mewt obstinate cases or Malarial Fever, ChOtol and Fever, Ague, etc. We authorize a'l deafeMI v handling our remedies to refund tho pure h-ml price for every bottle of KY DALE'S TQIttQi that doe* uot give satisfaction. RADICAL REMEDY COMPANY, HICKORY. N. C. FOR SALE BY EVANS PHARMACY. IP YOU ARE GOING TO BUY? A Buggy Or Harness, We want a chance to sell you. If you OWE US you don't knowihow we would apprecia te a payment these'pinchingltimes. VANMVER BROS. & MAJOR. Now comeB the "Good Old Summer Time" when you want one of our. Up-to-Date VEHICLES for Pleasure. Carriages, Surreys, Phaetons, Buggies, Run-a-Boute, Buchboard, Traps, And iu fact anything you need in the Vehicle line you will hod at our re positories. A line line of HARNESS, SADDLES, UMBRELLAS, CAN OPY SHADES, DUSTERS, &c. Call and examine for yourself, and if we cannot suit you it will be oua fault. Very truly, FRETWELL-HANKS CO,, Anderson, & G> THE SOUTH'S GREATEST SYSTEM 1 Unexcelled Dining Car Service. Through. Pullman Sleeping Cars on alllTrains. ConvenientlSchedules on all Local Trains? WINTER TOURIST RATES are now injeffect to all Florida! Tciate For full information as to rates, routes, etc.,^consult j [nearest Scataeaa Railway Ticket Agent, or R. W. HUNT, Division Passenger Agent, Charleston, a CL o b ? M M 0 Ed ? H ? Q M GO ? 0 & 2 M S g ? o S S CD b o 3 5 ONE CAB OF HOG FEEI>. Have just received one Car Load of HOG FEED (Shorts) at very close prices. Come before they are. all gone. Now is the time for throwing? Around your premises to prevent a case of fever oa Bome other disease, that will cost you very much more* than the price of a barrel of Lime ($1.00.) We hav* a fresh shipment in stock, and will be glad to send yox? some. If you contemplate building a barn or any other building, see us before buying your? CEMENT and LIME, As we sell the very best qualities only. O. D, ANDERSON MORBID I WE have moved our Shop and office below Peoples' Bank, in front of Mr. J. J. Fsetwell's Stables. We respectfully ask all our friends that need any Roc fing done, or any kind of Repair work, Engine. S tacks, Evaporators* or any kind of Tin or Gravel Roofing to call on us, as we are prepared to do it! promptly and in best xnaonor.ft 8olic\ting!your patronage, we are,_ Respectfully,! B?RRIS8 ? DIVTKR