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* } PORT ROYAL, S. C? THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1864.
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? LOVE AND ENTERPRISE.
So small a thing as the scratch of a nail
sometimes affects the history of a life
time.
We had ridden ail day at a smart pace,
pausing only now and then in the shade
of wayside wrest stretches to breathe our
horses, Jaded and worn by long travel.
We had set out, with high hopes and resolute
purpose, to inflict a blow at the
very vitals of the Confederacy; and under
Grierson's gallant lead we had, so
far, swept everything before us, scattering
in dismay the bands of rebel troopers
marshaled to resist our progress, and leaving
on every side the evidences of our
avenging presence. Inspired by success,
running over with the love o( adventure,
we dashed- along?past thrifty field, past
scattered houses with affrighted inmates
tieering from door and window, past villages
too contemptible for our notice?
singing, laughing as we rode, careless of
present danger, indifferent altogether to
the probable liazards of the future.
While, however, we had so for been
1 - ?? -
successiui ai an pom us, wc uau uui encased
conflict and slight loss. At several
points. in our excursion we had been
sharply engaged; and while many of the
enemy had been made to bite the dust, a
few of our own gallant riders had been
left to keep them company on the field.
But notwithstanding all this we swept
gayly forward, spreading terror everywhere,
even with smiles on our faces and'
laughter on our tongues.
We had ridden smartly all day, and
now in the twilight a detachment of us
were sweeping into Enterprise, Mississippi,
to the left of the route pursued by the
main column. We knew the enemy had
concentrated there in some force; but
that only heightened onr interest In the
place, and with firm and steady columns
we chained straight into the town. Before
the stars had come out we had fought
and vanquished the rebels, and, with our
horses picketed in the streets, were foraging
for such cheer as we could obtain
trom the inhabitants. In the ma'n, thev
were by no means the hospitable people
we had expected to find them; but we
managed, notwithstanding their coolness,
to make ourselves very comfortable, taking
some liberties, it must be confessed,
which probably a strict construction of
army regulations would hardly have permitted.
But we could not loiter long?it was a
long way yet to Baton Rouge?so, alter
resting on our horses and refreshing ourselves,
we prepared to mount and t>e off.
*1 had taken supper just on the edge of
the town, with an old man anu his
daughter, occupying a neat little house,
and had been treated with great kindness.
I sakl my adienx, therefore, in my very
politest style, and started for my horse,
most of mv comrades haviDg already
mounted. But I was to ride no more,
that time, under Griereon's brave lead.
As I leaped toward my horse, in my
u lAln mI. nnmisidna A null niYllpPt- '
I1UMC Ml JUIU in J wimiumvi^ -j.
ing from the side of the gate caught my
coat. Stooping hurriedly and with "a
sort of blind impatience to extricate myself
from the annoying duress, another
sharp point struck me straight under the
eye, and with a howl of pain I fell back
stunned and bleeding, being blind indeed,
for the moment, from the agony of my
hurt.
m ?
An hour after,- opening qy #6yes, I
found myself in a pleasaflt little room,
lying on a faded lounge, with the old
man whose hospitality 1 had shared sitting
by me. A candle, standing on a
table, gave a feeble light, which made my
iace seem spectral in the little look-glass
just opposite.
In a moment I comprehended the " sit
' - 1
uation, ana tnquireu, nervuueij, ^
"Where are my comrades? Hsvf
they all gone ?"
" Tea, an hour ago."
"And left me here all alone?" Then
in a moment I added, bristling, "A^d
among enemies ?" /
"All alone, Sir, but not among enemies.
They didn't know, perhaps, you
were not with them. It was dsfk, and
they didn't move in much order." Theu,
as it'to reassure me, he continue#; " But
you needn t be afraid, Sir; we'll lake care
of you." \
"But my horse," I said; "what -has
become of him ?"
"I cut him loose and let him go some
time ago; it wouldn t have done for any
of the neighbors to have found him picketed
before my door. No doubt he has
followed the others."
Here was a fix indeed. Left alon?,
blind, with a stinging pain in my face and
eyes, with not a loyal man, probably, in
all the town, liable at any moment to he
taken out bv some gang'of rebel cannibals,
and hung up, or quartered, or
buried alive. I had started to ride
through the bowels of the Confederacy to
Baton Rouge,' but I was likely only to
ride into the bowels of some rebel Hades.
The old man evidently comprehended
my thoughts.
"Don't give yourself any uneasiness,"
.he said. " We haven't forgotten the old ,
flag in tfn's house f and a glow came over !
his face, "and we will be glad to keep
all harm from one of its defenders! |
Jane!"
"Here, father!" and a moment after
the daughter stepped into the room. 1
looked at her more carefully now that I
was likely to be her guest for a season.
She was a round, rosy little body, with
clear black eyes and thick wary hair falling
over face, and a soft, cheery tone in
her voice that was like music. .
"Jane," the old man said, as she came
into the room, " where is the flag ? n
She slipped out a moment, and then,
coming shttly back, held oat to the
father a little 'flag with all the stare upon
it. He fondled it a moment
"We have kept it 8ir, be then said,
"hidden away out of sight for two long
years. I look at it every morning before
I go out; it keeps fresh in my heart the
? 4Un ma/vl /\1/1 1 KaIami
UJCUiUI y Ul i LLC vuuu mu miiva uviwiu
treason bad tried to blot out itf stars.
You see, friend, you will be safe with us
if you will only koep out of sight.
Well, I teas safe for a time?safe from
the rebels, civilians and* soldiers, swarmI
ing all round us, but not safe from the
little minx, Jane Weston, who sat with
me every afternoon in the little upper
room where they had stowed me away.
My eye was too'much inflamed to permit
[ of my reading, so Jane read to me an
! hour or so every day. Of couree I very
soon fell in love. I hadn't any thing
else to do, in fact; and if I had been ever
90 busily employed, I couldnt have kept
my heart from making what 44 raids" it
pleased on its own account Jane saw
at last what state I was in, and jp-ew shy
?anu rescrvea. out i wan iw uiu u u;?iupaigner
to be alarmed at that. I just
took her one day in my arms,. told her I
loved her from the crown of lier head to
the sole of ber foot; that I wouldn't ever
fight another day for the Union if she did
not consent to be my wife; and, strange
to $ky, the shy little creature, overcoming
her reserve, accepted me right out, saying.
roguishly,
'Not foryonrown sake, John?I only
take you on patriotic grounds, so as to
secure you to the countTy?for no other
reison, I assure you."
Of course I had my revenge for this
hqpertinenee: but that is neither here
ntr there.
Late one afternoon the old man?his
name was James Weston?came hurried?ly
home with a troubled face.
\[ ^Somehow," he said, "it has been
i fond oat that you are here, and they
i>a<m tKwMiAnorl tn hitrn the house over
Mr. head for giving you shelter, and to
JMg yea forthwith."
I had always expected to be-discovered
sooner or later, and the old man's communication
did not startle me.
"All we have to do, then," I said, "is
to leave at once."
"That is easier said than done," he regKed.
"Pickets are every where, and
will be impossible to get away."
But I thought differently, and so after
a time, with many tears, the father and
daughter determined to attempt with me
to reach oar lines. How much it cost
them to ahandon their home and all the
precious belongings, to turn their faces
toward a strange land and people, only
those, who have suffered as they have
dbne can ever know; but life was more
than estate, and that was In peril every
hour they remained.
I That night we stole oat under a starless
sky, and with such light effects as
we could carry, set our faces Northward.
Patrpls were all round us, but I dodged
! them all, how I can not tell. For days
we traveled on, following unfTeauented
roads, sleeping often in forests and fields,
telling such tales as we could to avoid
detection; and at last, foot sore, weary,
j with poor Jane half wild with fever,
reached the Tennessee, crossed over in a
scow found ready toonr hands., and in
the midst of the thunder-storm, that rolled
with the noise of a thousand guns
along the heights of Lookout, came into
Chattanooga.
There, very soon, kindly hands soothed
our weariness, nursed Jane into health,
and rubbed from our lives all the grime
and pain of our lqng journey. Then, one
rtav I said to Jane.
" We are under the old flag now, darling;
I am ready, to become its defender
again; shall we be married ?"
With a blush she said Tea; and a week
after we stood up before a chaplain, and
with tough General Thomas looking on
Ji a- witness, were married; the flag
Changing over us, Its stars seeming to
'shine down royal benediction upon our
, union.
Thus it was that the scratch of a nail
got me a wife, and as fair and sweet a
wife as any soldier ever won.
Three months ago, when Sherman
dashed into the heart of Mississippi, putting
his hand on its veins and arteries,
and one day paid his compliments to the
town of Enterprise, I rode with others in
the van. Old James Weston's house 1
found standing unmolested still, though
weeds were growing thriftily about its
door, and disorder appeared every where.
They told us a rebel colonel occupied it
now as his own; but 1 managed to save
it tW?m flpotmnLinn thinking that perhaps
some day, when Mississippi is wholly redeemed,
the rightful owner may return
and set up his altars afresh, with grandchildren
of the name of Smith prattling
to him as the years grow old.
Already one grandchild is his, for last
week he wrote me from the home in
Vermont, where my dear ones abide,
u A fat, bouncing boy dropped into Jane's
arms yesterday; and she says his name
is to be Enterprise Smith."
Mif name is John Smith. But Enterprise
and a rusty nail gave me a wife ;
?od it is only fair that my boy, crowing
jn his mother's arms away up there in
iFermont, should be called Enterprise
<4taiUi, -in memory of the day that brought
me my fate. Besides, the name may
serve him as capital when he comes to j
man's estate.
The Beacfokt Post Office.?Among
the improvements in our town lately, ,
none, perhaps, is more noteworthy than
the change in the post office. Some
weeks ago the location was removed
from Eyle's corner to the building nearly
opposite, on Bay street, between Douglas
& Co.'s Military; store and Adams' Express
Office. This building has been
titted with every convenience to facilitate
the prompt disttibution and delivery ot"
mail matter. There are 36 lock boxes."
"Ol! nnMlurn^ llAVAO olarv DphftTOlA
auv& UUIUUUH'U
apertures for the box and genial delivery.
Dae attention has also been given to
arrangements for regimental and hospital
mails. ?
In the large front room of the office are
kept on sale the various newspapers and
periodicals of the day; maps, military
books, novels, stationery, &c., &c.
We commend our worthy postmaster,
J. C. Alexander, Esq,,' and his able as-.
sistants, Messrs. Candee and Logon, for
t heir, taste and enterprise. And their efforts
OrO appreciated.?Fne South.
. t . *
; 11
ReadinghOld Ana's Phoculmation.?
Brigadier-General Morgan informs me of
an incident that occurred on his line of
operation that is too good to be lost..
While his brigade occupied the ga^ be
tween Oak Knob and Rocky Face,
a corporal of Co. I, OOtli Illinois, broke
from the line, and under cover of projecting
ledges, got up within twenty feet
of a squad of rebels on ths summit.
Taking shelter fipm the sharpshooters,
he cried out:
" I say, rebs, don't you want to hear
Old Abe's amnesty proclamation."
"Yes, yes!" was the unanimous cry,.
" gi?e us the Ape's proclamation ?"
" Attention!" commanded the corporal. and
in a clear and resonant voice he read
the amnesty proclamation to the rebels,
beneath the cannon planted by rebel
hands, to destroy the fabric of government
established* by our fathers. When
he arrived at those passages of the proclamation
where the negro was referred
to, he was interrupted by cries of " none
of your d?d abolitionism. Look out for
rocks!" and down over his hiding-place
descended a shower of stones and rocks.
Having finished reading, the corporal
asked:
"Weil, rebe, how do you like the
terms! Will you hear it again ?"
" Not to-day, you bloody Yank. Now
crawl down in a hurry, and we wont
fire," was the response, and the daring
corporal descended and rejoined his command,
which had distinctly heard all
that passed. I regret to say I could not
learn the name of the corporal, for he
must get promotion at the hands of Father
Abraham and Govern Dick Yates.
Queen Elizabeth's Last Lover.?The
ill-tavored Anjou pleased Elizabeth more
than he did the people. The pulpit
echoed with objections made to unnatural
alliances; and pamphlets were published
of so offensive a nature on this subject
that that stationers who put them forth
got their hands chopped off for their impertinence.
And vet the people, pulpit
and pamphlets had their influence, notwithstanding.
Anjou came a second
time, and tarried several months here,
till his patience was worn out, or his
power of simulation was at an end. They
dallied, and Douted. and caressed, and
exchanged tokens, and caused much
jealousy, and seemed to be mutually
smitten, and finally parted forever. The
queen accompanied Anjou stage to stage'
to Canterbury; she returned to write
sonnets descriptive of her imaginary miseries.
And all for a hideous fellow
whom his own sister loathed, and to
whom his most intimate companion,
Bussy d'Amboise, once said, " If I were
Alencon and you were Bussy, I wouldn't
heve you for a lacquey."? Coart md
dety from Elizalxth to Ame.