Pittston Gazette

              f } Oldest Newsoaoer in the Wyoming Valley. PITTSTOX, LUZERNE CO., PA., FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1891. A Weekly Local and Familv journal. vromen sang and bandied coarse jokes with each other, and the younger and prettier ones—like their sisterifche world over—showed a decided disposition to flirt. | just before dark we heard what we took to be the sound of artillery firing to the south and west. With hope beating high in our hearts we pushed on through | the darkness, for another day might reward our long and trying effort. Into bis bead to sell cfcit his claim for a son" and come east to* fight the Yanks. He said in substance: T.'!:;ilc CT t!»e then popular songs, "The Bonnie Bine Flag" and "The Southern Wagon." Our own war songs at that time were not lyrical gems, but as compared with the southern songs, "My Maryland" excepted,, they were models of spirited verse, and then they were fitted to tunes of their own, which cannot be said of any of the southern songs, not even "Dixie" or "My Maryland." A PRISONER OF WAR against the desperate assaults of the Confederate General French's corps. At the risk of interfering with my direct narrative, 1 will say that the famous hymn, "Hold the Fort, for We are Coming," had its origin in this bloody fight. When Sherman found that Corse was being attacked by an overwhelming force, with the nearest help twenty-two miles away, signaled, "If you can hold out till night help will be up." Corse signaled back from the midst of his dead and dying, and with the enemy swarming about him, "1 11 hold out till hell freezes over." And he did hold out, though 1 have no reason to believe that the temperature has changed in the place referred to. honor bonnd to protect our unexpected guest 8, when in the far distance we hear; I a man shouting. On the instant we s; irang back from the fire and bent to li* ten. The man had evidently been attracted by the light, and there was that in his pitiful cry that brought to mind the apiDeals of the wounded, when, with torch or lantern, the details make their way through the distorted ranks of tha dead to find the friends and the foes who still breathed. A few minutes ofea?er silence, then the cry was repeat) d. This time the words were very disti ict and there was a thrilling pause betw sen, as if the man was not strong enoc ;h to speak the whole sentence. BILL NYE IN AI1KANSAW the reader. It is an ideal flower whit (j I thought of and then made a drawing of. "Hit took me jest two year to larn that the d—d Confederacy was a fraud. I seed that hit was a rich man's quar'l and a pore man's fight, so I lit out without a-sayin goodbv to no one. I jined of my own accord, and I allowed I was free to leave in the same way. And let me say to you two gents, if you go back and fight the Yanks again yer d—d fools; that's all." Hot Springs is the great healing center for the United States. It is a very charming place also in the matter of climate. The hotels also are now most excellent, a new one, called the P;.rk, being a great addition to the already excellent supply. One of her own -writers says very truthfully, I think, that these waters are "shadowing forth a hope that the tie plus ultra of panaceas has not yet been reached by them, and that these waters here found in inexhaustible quantities gushiug forth from mother earth possess a balm for their physical ills even to that of standing off old Father Time by renewing their youth, beauty and vigor." The Escape of Two Union Officers from Nliilen, Ga. EXTRAORDINARY PRIVILEGES OF COL- The case of Bell and myself greatly interested these people, all of whom strongly advised against crossing the mountains to the west, or attempting to go into North Carolina along the Blue Kidge foothills. The passes were guarded by Confederate troops and the country was being scoured by squads of cavalry. They advised us to remain there till it was safe to move on, but while making this offer they did not attempt to conceal the fact that they were themselves far from being safe, and that it was only by constant vigilance that they succeeded in keeping their little supply of food out of the hands of the quartermasters and themselves from being forced into the army. ORED PEOPLE ON THE CARS, CHAPTER X. WE ARE FORCED INTO THE CONFEDERATE PUthorlc Nature and Loc&] Hypernntri- SERVICE. tlon—The Typhoid Toucli-Me-Not of the Tropica—Puff's for Booming Towns—Hot By ALFRED B. OALHOUN (Late Majoi U. 8. Volunteers), Tho troops were as light hearted as if they had never known defeat, and although the pay of enlisted men was only thirteen dollars a month all seemed to have an abundance of graybacks, and they risked their money at poker in a way I never saw surpassed. The men who had been gathered up were kept under a close guard all night, but they were not neglected in the distribution of rations. The next morning more troops came in with more prisoners and more cattle, in addition to a number of wagons.Spring* and Its Victims. [Copyright, 1881, by American Press Associ» A If We assured Mr. Benton that we intended never to fight against the Yanks if we could once get out of the control of the Confederacy. He suggested that we join forces with him and search-far gold till the war was over, but BelTs fictitious wife and child and my mother were urged as reasons why we must be moving. [Copyright, 18S1, by Edgar VV. Nye.] In the State of Arkansas, on Board1 the Anonymous and Rkturn-if-not CALLED-FOR-IN—TEN—DAYS RAILROAD (Narrow Gauge). tlon.] Old Man Sleigh was evidently shaky in his Scriptural quotations, but there could be no mistaking the warmth of his welcome and the kindness of his heart. His family consisted of his wife, two daughters of over twenty and a boy of seventeen, who was an idiot who had no kin, but whom the old man "wuz a keerin foh foh de good Lor's sake." Arkansas is a state that is suffering with hypernutrition of undeveloped resources, a phlethora of crude and embryonic industries. Feeling easier now in my mind, I will now proceed. The railroad on which we are now riding is of the narrow gauge style, and this coach would tickle my little boys to death if they Sould tie a string to it and play with it on the front porch. The rear half is curtained off by means of rich hangings, costing six cents a yard at a fire sale. This divieion_g£, tlie car is In our terrible anxiety we forgot our hunger and did not dare to rest. It rained every night and often in the course of the day, owing, no doubt, to the continuous firing of the enemy in the defenses of Atlanta and the hammering away of Sherman's beseigers. Now and then, when we came upon a clearing, it did not tell of a human abode near by, but rather suggested the dwelling place of the spirit of desolation. On the trees surrounding the fenceless field lha Scavenger crows cawed in conventions that told that they had grown fat and prosperous. They did not fly away at our approach, for they had become fearless of or indifferent to living men. On heavy wing the loathsome buzzards hovered over the huge chimneys from which the wooden houses had been burned away, or here and there rose slowly from the carcass of a horse or a mule, only to return when we had passed on. It was th* grand distress night signal of a powerful secret society, of which I knew nothing at that time, but I never heard the words before nor afterward outside a Masonic lodge. The hailing sign I have seen, however, given on the field by friend and foe, and to the best of my knowledge and belief it was always respected. On hearing the words Bell shot out an oath, then bounded from my side shouting: The latitude of Hot Springs is 34 degs. north of an imaginary line passing around the earth equidistant from the poles and called the equator. Its longi tude is 93 degs. west of a given point. Its altitude is 1,300 feet above the level of the sea and hotel rates are from three to eight dollars per day, exclusive of hrtftrrl and ■ There 13 but one drawback about visiting Hot Springs, and that is the agony and lack of appetite which the sight of human suffering naturally engenders in a sympathetic nature. Our host assured us that the hills were full of Confederate troops, "sich as they was," and that the chances were they would han~ around till sure that th Yanks were not coming back. He assured us that if these Confederates got sight of us they would surely force us into the arm" and send us to join Hood, even though onr clothes were lined with furloughs. He prevailed on us to remain with him till the following day, which we did, and by way of coc*f snsating him for his kindness we helped him work his claim near the mouth of the little canyon. The two cabins were connected by a floored covered way, which was also the sitting room when the weather permitted. One cabin had Dn it the usual two high poster beds and the trundle beds beneath them. The other had a huge fireplace at one end, a table covered with oilcloth, a dresser with the usual heavy bluestone ware and straps to hold the tin spoons along the edge of the shelving. The chairs were homemade and comfortable, and the chickens scratching about the door and the sow with her litter of black "roasters" under the main apartment all told of unusual prosperity. On Monday night Mr. Bowman and two of his sous, all laboring under great excitement, came to Old Man Sleigh's and reported that a body of Confederate cavalry was marching in this direction from Clayton, in Raubun county, and that everybody who didn't want to be caught must get into hiding at once. One of the young men had come from Nacoochee that day and there learned that a large force of Yankees were raiding toward Dahlonega, and that they had already cleaned out Gilmer county and destroved the town of Ellijay. Theso people have a very vague idea of the meaning of the word "mile." They measure distance by the time it takes to travel, and a place is either "not fur" or "hit's a right smart distance." The Yankees could be reached in two days or less: the Confederates would be along the Tallnlah by morning. After breakfast Captain Reese sent for Bell and myself, and told us that he had been watching us since our arrival and was convinced we were brave men and good soldiers. For this we seemed duly grateful and showed a desire to merit his continued regard. The captain further informed us that all the rest of the prisoners were deserters, and that if they had their dues every one of them would lie shot, but the military authorities, not having time to try them, would soon place them where the Yankees would become their executioners. He then asked us if we could ride, and on being told that we could he said he would give us mounts and assign us to the detail that was to drive the cattle down to Lawrenceville, which was, I believe, in Gwinnett county, about thirty miles from Atlanta. "HOLD UP THAR, YOU; THAT'S MY DOOl" Bell and' I had been in the swamps, woods and mountains for thirty-seven days, but immunity from recapture did not abate our vigilance; indeed, as we neared our own lines and came within sound of the Union guns we became more careful and eager than we were even on that stormy night in Jane when we eluded the guards at Millen. This anxiety was absolutely painful. We felt like men must when, being tried for a capital offense, they await the return of the jury. Again and again my companion and myself had sworn to each other that we should never be taken alive. This decision was now constantly witb ns, and more than ever we felt like men who might be nearing the valley of the shadow of death. "Courage, my brotherl Courage by G—We tins iim-oemmf1 Yo~my-eurprise the Confederate who had been sabred in the head sprang to Bell's side. The remaining Confederate and myself remained back in the shadows, though the sound of our friends' voices talking with the stranger below the spring reassured us. made so mai uur Honest perspiration may not offend the nobtrils of a cCj*Dred man who is occupying that portion of the car. I come of a long line of purple fronted Abolitionists who had familiarized themselves with the negro by reading "Uncle Tom's Cabin"' and the Dred Scott decision by means of burning a pine knot in our little Penobscot home, but if they had been ordered out of a colored waiting room as I was the other day, or had stood up in a crowded "white" car, while one of our enfranchised brothers, whose portrait I have rudely drawn while tin; train seems to have left the track and to be running a trifle smoother, occnyioJ a car by himself, they would Lave been more conservative. The Ozark mountains are here found in great abundance, aud are sometimes used for climb'ng purposes by those who are making collections of that kind. After supper that night, as we sat about the fire in front of the cabin, the dog began a vigorous barking, and Benton seized his rifle and sprang out of the light, an "xample we were not slow to follow. After a few minutes a shrill whistle came down from the cliffs directly overhead, which Benton answered in a like way. Then th® man phouted: The voices came near, and in a few minutes Bell and the Mississippian came into the circle of light carrying between them a heavily bearded man, whose haggard face and bloodshot eyes told of more than the suffering of death. The faded gold braid on the ragged gray coat, the three bars on the collar and the swollen, rag covered left foot which he held straight before him told that he was a Confederate captain, and the spur on the remaining boot suggested cavalry, artillery or the staff. u 5! HT ujrE^XT I Mrs. Sleigh and her daughters dipped, and they swore and used expressions that wonld not be thought polite in a camp of rongh soldiers, yet it seemed so natural to them that the vulgarity was forgotten in their entire unconsciousness of harm Mr. Bowman remained to dinner, for which a number of chickens had been killed, and the meal was preceded by a very long blessing and a drink of new corn whisky, all taking it as freely and easily as if it were milk, except the idiot boy, Old Man Sleigh explaining the forced abstinence of the latter by saying, "I don't think no one should partake of them blessin's ez he ain't got the brains to predate," which was certainly a novel kind of temperance argument Frequently by the roadside between Wilton and Acworth we came upon mounds recently thrown up, sometimes the width of one man, and again long enough to hide a score. The soil of that land is particularly red, but it needed no activity of the imagination on this occasion to force on our minds another reason for the sanguinary hue of the earth. After we had discussed the situation for some time, Mr. Bowman made a suggestion about as follows: "If I was you uns and had to travel, I'd a great sight rather make for the Yankees than run the risk of bein 'rested by the Confeds. The Yanks '11 treat you uns all right; make you uns take the oath moat like, and then let you uns go home and behave." We were rejoiced at this arrangement. The horses given to us had the "U. 9." brand, and the saddles and equipments had belonged -to our cavalry. Captain Reese's confidence did uot extend to giving ns arms, but we expressed no desire for them. Before starting out that morning we understood that Benton had escaped in the course of the night, and a squad of troopers was sent back to 'shoot him on sight," but though 1 never heard of him again 1 am inclined to think that they did not succeed. "Hen, hit's me." After parting with the alarmed cadets who professed to have seen the Yankees near by, we hurried on in the direction, so fax as we could guess it, of the artillery firing to the south. But the Bound of the guns died out as night approached. We knew that there were not enough troops on either side in that region to fight a heavy battle, and so we inferred, and as it turned out rightly, that the fight was between the Confederate home guards and cavalry raiders from Sherman's army, then extending along the railroad from Dalton to Atlanta. "Tom Billings?' from Benton. \ §; fe- & I ) \b-~ J ~ii i  "Yes." "What in h—'s the trouble?" The clearings bordering the roads were pitted by the hoofs of cavalry horses. The trees back of hastily constructed obstructions had mapped on their bullet scarred sides and blistered arms the story of stubborn assault and desperate defense. The roads were now red and rutted rifts, strewn with the debris of broken wagons, splintered gnnstocks and the flotsam and jetsam that mark the ebb and flow of the battle's tide. There is a sublimity in the desolation of the desert, where nature erects her arid barriers against man's possession; but there is a horror indescribable in the desolation of war when witnessed by one who has had no hand in the destruction. The man was placed beeide the fire, and while Bell prepared some supper— for the poor fellow had not tasted food for eighty hours—I took the rags off his swollen foot and discovered that a musket ball had gone squarely through the instep and came out, leaving a big, ragged wound in the sole of his foot. While I was bathing the wound, soaking it in one of the tins and waiting for the fragments that had been used as bandages to dry, the man told us that his name was Watts. He belonged to the Second Kentucky, and had been on the staff of the Confederate General Ross when the Federal cavalry under Garrard charged into Decatur ten days before. After his friends had been driven off he concealed himself in the house of a southern family till three days before, when the approach of the Yankees forced him to fly as quickly as a man supported by a C.'utched stick and with the small bones of his foot smashed to splinters could. "Hold up, and I'll tell you uns." The man came down the rocks, by which time we had returned to the fire and the hound had stopped his baying. The new arrival was a young man dressed and armed like our host, and his manner told that he was laboring under great excitement He came to report that Confederate soldiers, "afoot and on critters," were swarming in the hills and picking up every man they could find. That afternoon they had seized a dozen men known to Benton and Tom Billings, and the chances were that they, too, wonld be taken the next day if they did not clear out CIIEERFCL VIEW OF HOPE ARK. The waters of the Hot Springs are nsed both for drinking and bathing into, bat not at one and the same time. They an very hot as they come from the spring, but may be cooled off by allowing same to stand in the tub for half an hour, during which time one may throw a "doily" over one's "shoulders and read "Robert Elsmere." Such an arrangement was exactly what we wanted, though it interfered with Bell's pet desire to get into western North Carolina, which was only a day's march away; but the enemy was in that direction. After pretending to deliberate, I told Mr. Bowman that I liked his idea, and that if he could put U3 in the way of reaching the Yankees we would start tnat nig&t. Witti a sticu ne smoothed out the ashes on the hearth and drew a map of the Chattahoochee river. Its sources were in the counties where the Yankees were then '•sported to be raiding, and if we did not fall in with them we could follow down the valley to Marietta, between which point and Atlanta we would be sure to find Sherman's army. 0 When the inarch begun the main body of troops, with the prisoners and wagons, went ahead, and a detail of about twenty-five men, all aruied but Bell and myself, followed with the cattle. The sergeant in charge of the detail was the man who had arrested us the day before, and his vigilance and bearing were such a3 might have adorned a higher rank. He watched Bell and myself continually, and we planned to win his confidence as we had that of Captain Reese. As the sun was sinking out of sight behind the Blue Ridge, men and women, the latter barefoot, though many of them carried shoes in their hands, came in from the hills anfi gathered about the little log church. On my expressing surprise, for this was Friday, Mother Sleigh explained that the folks "was a-coming down to meetin." She firmly believed that all those who were not Seventh Day Baptists were hurrying along the broad road to eternal ruin. She said in effect; "We uns' Sabbath begins at sundown tonight and lasts till sundown tomorrer. That's 'cordin to the Scriptures. Them that works the seventh day and lies off Sunday is pore,ignorant critters, and hit's most surprisin to me that the Good Lor ain't done lost patience with em long since. D—ti all sich. say I!" We decided after a long discussion to remain in the woods that night, for the artillery told that both Bides were near by in some force, and that there was a greater risk of running into the enemy in the darkness than of finding our friends. We found a secluded place on the jungle covered banks of a little stream that flowed into the Etowah, and there, after finishing the last of the food we brought from the Sleigh settlement, we lay down and were soon asleep. The portmit is drawn on tbo spot, bccause I so seldom see a large man vr-fh whiskers wearing a crochetted child's hood or even a child's crochetted hood, for that matter, that I can't help making a semiannual drawing of him, as we say in New Orleans, which city is rapidly becoming a nice, quiet suburb of the Louisiana state lottery. Dr. Keeley Las here one of his justly celebrated institutes for the cure of jagomania. It is a neat and attractive brick structure with a cheery aspect. Here, with a bottle of Apollinaris and a firm resolution to do better, reformation may be seen gnashing its teeth on every hand. Seventy-two of these hot springs which to the touch appear boiling hot. flowing .half a million gallons daily from out a beautiful romantic hillside shaded with maple, olive, box, hickory, black walnut, elm, ash, oak, cedar, pine and other forest trees, is a sight to be seen nowhere else in the world, and one that is well worth a pilgrimage of every admirer of nature's wonderful works, as well as the pleasure seeker and invalid—terras cash. "Thar's no better place to stick to than this," said Benton. "If the hounds find us har thar ain't a place in the Blue Ridge where it would be safe hidin. I've got grub enough to last all hands for two weeks, and then, if it comes to a fight, I reckon we four kin get away with any other four they have a mind to send." On the afternoon of Aug. 3, and when nearly starved into insanity, my stout hearted friend and myself came on an ash heap in the woods. About the place were pieces of broken crockery, rusty culinary tins, blankets hastily abandoned, a child's hood, a pair of little shoes much worn at the toes and a dilapidated doll with one red stocking on it9 remaining leg. Evidently this had been tbe camp of a family flying from the army, and they must have been hurried froui the place. The child's shoes and the doll told all this and much more. About 9 o'clock that night we found a good pasture for tbe cattle on Battle creek and went into camp. By daylight we had breakfast and were moving again. From the first Bell and myself had planned to save our horses without seeming to 6hirk our work, our object being to make a break the first chance we had. The second night we encamped on a plantation in Cherokee county. Since morning the burned fences, the groups of ash heaps beside the road and the general air of dilapidation about the houses, most of which were abandoned, told that friend or foe had recently been over the same ground. Texarkana is a thriving town with excellent natural advantages and a new style of early dwarf flea, which is a result of crossing the little mammoth black hornet or typhoid touch-me-not of the tropics with the seven year eruption of the primary schotl. To my great relief, Bell fell in with the scheme, and Hank Bowman, a tall, reticent young man of four-and-twenty, consented to gnide us across White and into the northern part of Lumpkin county. The near approach of the Confederates threw the little settlement into a state of great excitement, but, judging from the celerity with which everybody moved, this wa3 by no means a new experience. The cattle were driven into the hills, and the men, nearly all of whom where deserters, prepared to follow, and were ready, if not eager, to fight Old Man Sleigh's daughter gave us bread and meat sufflciont for two days, and about midnight we said goodby to our kind friends and started off with Hank Bowman. How this young man, without a moment's doubt, kept on over streams, along valleys and across the wooded spurs of the Blue Ridge, and never leaving the trail during the night, must remain among the most striking of my experiences on this long and varied march to freedom. We were very weary, and so daylight found us still lying in the bushes, where we might have remained for some honrs more had we not been startled into wakefulness by the barking of a dog. We sprang to our feet at on&, to discover that it was we who had attracted the animal's attention. "Cuss the cur; he looks like a bloodhound!" hissed Bell, as he raised his carbine and would have fired had not a man whom we had not noticed called out in an angry voice: After the captain had been fed and hia foot bandaged he was placed on the bed of boughs, near which we found the doll »nd the child shoes, and the poor fellow's voice failed him when he tried to express his gratitude, in order that the tnree Confederates might have a chance to talk without the restraint of our presence, Bell, with a delicacy that seemed entirely foreign to his usual manner, drew me out of hearing and whispered: Tom Billings "allowed" this "mout be all so," but he very much doubted whether the search parties would send just four men; but, as he could not do better, he was willing to stay. The shutters were taken down from the glasslass windows just as the golden glare of the sun vanished from the higher crests of the Blue Ridge, and the people flocked into the meeting house, the women first putting on their shoes. Old Man Sleigh carried in a bucket of water covered with a sheet, which he laid very solemnly on a little raised platform at the other end A few tin sconces filled with lard were lighted and fastened to the walls. On rough benches the men and women Bat facing each other, all with their eyes fixed on their clasped hands. 1 should add that the outer walls of the little meeting house were lined with long rifles, from which hung powder horns and bullet pouches. The California flea is a beast of more delicacy and refinement. He enters your home life and eats your fattest children, but he does it in a courteous way, with his hat off, and uses the finger bowl afterward; but the flea of Arkansas gets into bed with his spurs on, and has the debris of his breakfast in ius beard. The fire was quickly extinguished. It was arranged that we should each stand turn on guard, with an eye on the canyon, for that was the only direction by which mounted men could reach us. In our search we found about a peck of sweet potatoes, a few ears of onhusked green corn and about six pounds of bacon tied up in acorn sack. We devoured some of tbe meat and corn raw, and it was not till our burning hunger was partly appeased that Ball m ailed he had a flint and steel, and that this would be an excellent place to camp for the night Jay Gould once said that there were but two cities in the United States—New York and Hot Springs. This opinion may be regarded as valuable. coming as it does from a man who has been fined six times for refusing to serve on a jury. "Hold up thar, you; that's my dog!" In the course of the night it began to rain, and the next morning the creek along which we had herded the cattle was a running flood with enougff water in it to float a gunboat. Some of the cattle were on one side of this torrent and some on tbe other, and Bell and myself with two others were ordered across to drive the animals over. We had to swim our horses, and as my companion could not swim I kept close to his side. With an oath he whispered to me, "I'd rather have a battery fire on me than go back over that crik." "Thunder and Ginral Jackson, cap! if we uns stay har much longer hit looks powahful likes it you'd be head surgeon and me chief steward of a purty considable rebel hospital." "Waal, I don't keer whose dog he is, I ain't a-gvrine to be bit." responded Bell. The night passed without any cause for alarm. At my suggestion Benton |uid muzzled bis Uouud and confined him in the hut, for his barking was as certain to attract the enemy as it was to warn us of his approach. In the morning the dog was released, and as we were eating breakfast he ran down the canyon barking furiously. He had not been gone from sight for half a minute when a rifle shot echoed along the cliffs and we sprang to our feet. Before we could seize our arms a man shouted down from tbe rocks above the cabin: He is a low, coarse flea, with whiskers on his limbs, and a bad, wicked heart. HeSJlaS none of thtoe fine iuntiucts which we tiJud in the California flea. The Pacific cpast flea takes off his hat in the elevator, but the Arkansas flea uses the bosom of the universe for a pocket handkerchiefs"No, but he looks ez ef he was sot that way, and I'd a heap sight rather shoot the dog than be his meat," said Bell. "But he ain't bit you, hez he?" After giving our Confederate friends time enough to discuss us and to debate their own situation. Bell and I returned to the fire, and I at once announced our purpose, after telling Watts that we were Yankees, which he already knew. I recall as a curious fact that each of these three men had a loaded revolver in his belt, but after our meeting we felt that they would no more think of tiring at us than at their own people. Truly a fellow feeling makes even old foemen wondrous kind. It was now near sunset, and while my companion was making a fire, which was to be extinguished as soon as all the provisions were cooked, I went off to examine the surroundings. True to Hid Friend. The trains ob one of the railroads lead ing into Atlanta are notoriously slow, and they are on that account much frequented by tramps, who can readily catch on as they pull out of stations. Not long ago as a passenger train stopped at a water tank a tramp, dusty and tired looking, slipped off a truck and approached the conductor. With many oaths and the free use of stones—"darnicks," the natives call them—the man drove the dog back and then came to view himself. He was bearded like a pirate, his hair looked as if it had not been cut "since befo' de wah," and he was tall even for a mountaineer. A slouched hat, a cotton shirt and a pair of butternut trousers, the bottoms inserted in the tops of a pair of verp muddy boots, constituted this gentleman's costume. But there were two pistols and a knife in the wide belt buckled about his waist, in addition to which he carried a Spencer carbine, which must recently have been the property of a Yankee, for I knew that these arms had been issued to our cavalry less than a year before. I cap never describe my feelings when I thought that I was alone and the solemn tones of the midnight bell moaued through the hush of the voiceless night, to feel the harsh whiskers of the Arkansas flea against my long white neck and shoulders. In front of the building a huge fire had been built, and about this the children gathered, all silent and unnaturally solemn looking. There was a weirdness about the situation that impressed me greatly, and Bell, to whom this was no novelty, looked as if he were meditating a speech or a prayer that would make a hit I shall not attempt to reproduce the long prayer of Old Man Sleigh. At his fervor increased, so did the number of "ahs," which he shot out like a man short of breath. Stirred by his zeal the men shouted: "Glory!" "Amen!" "Hallelujah!" "Lor bless Old Man Sleigh!" and "Tetch we uns with thy sperrit Lor!" while the women groaned and swayed their bodies till the wonder was how those at the end of the benches kept from falling. It was so near night when 1 returned to Bull that 1 could see the glow of the camp through the trees far in front, yet this assurance of his safety and whereabouts did not draw me away from a caution that had become habitual. 1 kept in the shadow of the trees in advancing, as if we were pickets of the opposing armies. When within about a hundred yards of the fire I heard loud voices, and, with my heart leaping like a wounded tiger, I halted and compressed my lips to get my brain and my hair under control. Except for occasional stops to eat or to bathe our feet, we made no long halt that day. We met a number of mountaineers, all of whom confirmed the report that the Yankees were near by, and this fact did not give them nearly the same concern that young Bowman's story did about the Confederates advancing from Rabun. About the middle of the afternoon we came upon one of the typical cabins. This was the home "whenever he was about" of a Union man named White, whom, Hank Bowman assured us, it would be entirely safe to tie to. As there was no lock to the door, there was no trouble in getting in; there was but little furniture inside, no sign of a bed, and the cold ashes on the hearth told that it had been some time since a fire was lit there. "Don't dare to stir, boys! You're covered." The cattle we were sent after appeared to have as much dread of the flood us had Bell. They bolted into the wood*, and then began a race on our part to head them off, work which the two armed men were quite willing we should do. We dashed into the woods after a steer, and by the time we had turned him we must have been at least half a mile from the rest of the party. Our horses were quite as good as any with the sergeant There was no need for consultation. A glance and Bell and myself understood each other. We left the steer to take care of himself, and at a gallop we made for the south, the direction of Atlanta and of Sherman's army. Has the reader ever gone through such an experience? Did the reader ever feel this way and know that now was the time for his hair to tnrn suddenly white, yet knowing that it was at the bottom of his trnnk and Ckmld not be got at? What I hate about the flea of this state is that he will not lie still of nights. A failure to maintain my equilibrium at the bank for several years made me acquainted with several strange bed fellows who were not provided with letters to me, but I never knew anybody in my life that would overload his digester and then get restless at night and pat all his cold feet in the pit of a total stranger's stomach, and then straighten out his legs and push a man to the wall like the Arkansas flea. I looked up and saw six men pointing their rifles down at us, and at the same ■time four mounted men rode up the canyon and called on us to surrender. Resistance was out of the question. The men on the rocks came clrmbering down, our arms were seized, and we were prisoners. Captain Watts, who knew the country thoroughly, gave us directions which, if followed out, would take us into our own lines by morning. He handed Bell his revolver, saying that he should have no more use for it. but would release the Mississippians and remain above on the hill till sficcor came or he died, and he did not seem to have any choice in those alternatives."Ain't you the conductor?" he asked. "What were you doing under that car?" was all the information he received.' Ridin; you didn't s'pose I was walkin, did j*ou?" "Well, what do you want? I'm th& conductor." These men were commanded by a sergeant, a soldierly looking fellow, who evidently understood his business. I showed him the paroles of Bell and myself, which had so often stood us in good need, but their power to convince was gone. The sergeant, who belonged to the Third Georgia cavalry, expressed himself about as follows: Prepared for flight if the situation should warrant it, 1 dropped on my hands and kuees and "snaked" toward the fire. Two men in ragged Confederate uniforms, one with a bandage about his head and the other and younger of the two with his arm in a sling, were tying down and looking up at my companion, as I had often seen wounded prisoners look up at their captors. Bell moved about and kept oq talking like a man who was master of the situation. I advanced at once to the fire, assured that these men were wounded deserters from Hood's army, and my surmise proved to be right. "For the Lord's sake, mister, can't you put more steam on, or put a brakeman out behind to push her, or do something to git along faster! 1 want to git to Atlanta before the exposition is over." Bell at once blazed up and, after damning the war and all that brought it on, he became really eloquent in his pleading. As nearly as I can recall his words, he addressed the Confederates after this fashion: "Are you a soldier, my friend?" asked Bell, as wo left the bushes and stood facing this decidedly formidable looking man. "Come off," growled the conductor. "If you don't like it why don't j*od walk?" After the prayer two young men psmnil around corn bread and water, of which all partook sparingly. Then the men took off their shoes, and Old Man Sleigh, with the bucket, passed down the line, going through the motions of washing their feet and drying them on the toweL After this ceremony was over the men kissed each other, and the woman did the same. This was followed by a silence that was becoming positively painful when, to my great surprise, Bell roqe and walked back to the little platfohn, where the old man embraced him. To this day I cannot tell whether it was religious zeal or the desire to make a good impression on our mountain friends that prompted Bell's conduct, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt "Weal, not edzackly at this time," said the man, and his black eyes surveyed us somewhat contemptuously, I thought. "But," he added, "I reckon I know enough about fightin to be able to keer to' myself—ef so be I was druv to hit." We had learned from the sergeant the night before that we were in Cherokwe county and not more than thirty miles in a straight line from Marietta, whioh was in Union hands. We kept in the byways, never slacking our speed till noon, when the poor, steaming animals reeled as if thoy must fall. When it became evident that they could not stand the strain and that we could make better time on foot, particularly as we were in the Alatoona hills, we dismounted, took off the bridles and saddles, and gave freedom to the noble creatures who had served our purpose so well. "Because the president of* this road i» a friend of mine," and the tramp drew himself up in a dignified way, "and if 1 walk I'll beat the train there about eight hours, and that'll set competin lines to makin nnkiud remarks. 1 ain't goiE back on a friend in no sich low down manner as that, even if 1 didn't git to Atlanta in time to make New Year's calls: you hear me. cully conduc." This place was as far as Hank Bowman had "allowed to come." He assured us that White would Boon show up, and that we had "better hang round like" till he did, it would be entirely safe to trust him. Bell had some Confederate money left, which he offered to share with the young man, bui it was refused with an expression of pride that was most becoming. He shook hands with us, and with the stoicism of an Indian turned to retrace hie steps. "Your paroles may be all right, and then, again, they may not be. But if they had been drawn up by President Davis and countersigned by General Lee they would do you no good. Why not? Well, because my orders are not to recognize furloughs unless the men who have them are sick in bed or so badly wounded that they can't handle a gun." "You uns hez fit till yer comes in all bloody and yer spurs plum wore up to the leg. Before you uns gits well this har wah will be done gone and over, and thar ain't no doubt in the mind of any man ez ain't a plum idjit, ez to which side's comin out ahead. Now if you uns will agree to stay har and not go limpin around, we uns will send out fob you uns jest as soon as we strike our folks. I mout say we'd report you to your own folks, ef so be we uns was gobbled agin, but that aint agwine to happen, onleas we uns is fit foh the grave or you uns gives us a most powahful surprise." I have a tender, thin, aristocratic skin which is very delicate and sensitive, tin color often mounting to my brow, bath ing neck and face, even while reading a chapter of the Scriptures without re hearsal, and so it happens that a fle;. will often come and look over the reg ister and be assigned to my room, even when some traveling salesman, who is handling iron bridges, perhaps, has a Bell assured him that this was eminently proper, but that neither he nor myself was "a hankerin fo' a fight" "We uns hez had all the fight needed, yet if we uns had to shoot again at a feller mortal he wouldn't make nothin by hit, I reckon." When I came up Bell introduced me to the strangers, of whose names I took no note. They were Confederate cavalrymen from Meridian, Miss. They had recently been wounded by General Garrard's troopers in the attack on Decatur, and were now trying to make their way back to their old homes. The poor fellows were thoroughly licked. One of them, who had been at Center college, Kentucky, when the war broke out, and who was a fine young fellow of unusual intelligence, as he pressed both hands to his wounded head—though 1 am sure it was not to ease the pain of the saber cut —said: Benton protested that he was wounded, and Bell showed the still unhealed bullet wound on his right breast, but the sergeant was obdurate. He had orders and must obey them, and in addition to that the Confederacy needed every man at this time. Hood had just been beaten by Sherman before Atlanta and it was the duty of every good southern man in Georgia to hasten to the defense of the beleagured army? The conductor gave him a seat in tht smoking car after that, and he went tc sleep and forgot that there was any such place on the map as Atlanta.—Detroit free Press. victamto The thought that we might catch up with our troops the next day filled Bell and myself with an intense desire to be moving. Still, we decided to conceal ourselves in the woods near by and wai' till the next morning, if need be, foi White. We kept watch by turns, but the night passed away without any sign of life in the little cabin. Before leaving us the evening before Hank Bowman told us that about two miles south of White's cabin was the Etowah river, along which "thar was right smart of gold mining," but he cautioned us against the miners, some of whom, he declared, would kill a man for a dollar. It remains a wonder to me up to this day that Bell did not involve us in a fight with every mountaineer we met, for he resented any approach to indignity in a most combative spirit Tha stranger actually laughed at Bell's speech, then came nearer, and after shaking hands with him told us that his name was Benton, that he came from "No'th Calinay," and that ever since he left the army—he did not say when or why he left—he had been "rumagin the cricks of Lumpkin county a-tryin to pick up a little gold." In return for this confidence Bell gave him his own name, introduced me, and then told the old story about our being furloughed soldiers and on our way into the Bine Ridge in western North Carolina. « In the afternoon the booming of guns could be heard in the direction of Atlanta, and the sound urged us on as a spur does a jaded steed. We had not eaten since morning, but although we* could see lights after nightfall we decided to run no risks, but to go without food for a week, if need be, or till we reached our lines. We slept on the crest of a wooded hill, and with the first gleam of day we were up. but early though it was the guns that had been silent during the night were again booming in sullen echoes along the hills. The Confederates discussed this proposition without any heed to our presence, and they finally agreed to stay where they were for forty-eight hours, to keep the fire burning at night and to offer no resistance to any Yankee who might approach their camp. We understood what this conclusion meant. Then, after refusing to take our share of the provisions, we shook hands with them and hurried away from the fire, feeling, somehow, that we had said goodby to friends even more helpless and unfortunate than ourselves. There are heights to be reached in every profession, ami it is not to be wondered at if those of his own professior are considered superior to those of any other by the enthusiastic artist. Martin, the popular French singer, fonnd food for reflection in an experience which he had with a cab driver. Tha incident is related by the athor of "Souvenirs d'un Chanteur." Valuable Voice. He %egan so quietly and hesitated so long and so often that I feared he had made a mistake, but gradually he warmed up, and he began to sway his body and to introduce "ahs." Although his quotations were never exact, they were always appropriate. At length his eyes began to blaze and he developed an eloquence that stirred even me, and caused a Continuous torrent of approving exclamations from his audience. After a time he took up the war, and with intense fervor called out: And so Bell and myself, who had vowed to die rather than be recaptured, were again prisoners, and to add to the horror of the situation we were about to be marched away to fight against our own people, for it would have been fatal to us if we had told the truth. "Since the day Joe Johnston left us I've felt that the game was up. Every death in battle after this is a murder. Myself and my friend want to get home and to stay there till onr wounds are healed, then, as we no longer have a country, we'll make our way to Mexico and fight against Maximilian. My GodI it would have been better for both if we'd been planted on the field." Martin had a voice of great coin pas* and most agreeable sound, of which h« was decidedly proud. He had a weakness for drawing out compliment! upon it. There were no preparations to make. Benton was permitted to conceal his mining tools in the hut; then unarmed, and with the guard before and behind ns, we were marched down the canyon and along the stream to the Etowah river, where we found a camp in which there were abont 200 soldiers and as many more sullen mountaineers, who had been gathered in by the searchers. Keeping in the woods and shaping our course by the sound, we continued on till noon, when we met an old black man in the woods. He had a bag of cornmeal on his shoulder, and he gave qs some, which we ate raw, for it was tbfrty hours since we had tasted food. This man told us it was about ten miles to Marietta, but he advised us not to keep on as we were going, for there was a targe body of Confederate cavalry between us and our destination. The coming of Mr. White was altogether uncertain, so after breakfast and a careful gathering np of every crnmb that was left we started off with the rising sun at oar backs. It was midafternoon before we met anybody, and then it wi3 in an unexpected way. We had just come upon a road that led in the direction of onr advance when we heard yells in the distance, followed by the pouncing of hoofs. We came out to a treeless knoll and halted to look about us, for it was a beautiful, clear night The line of the Chattahoochee was marked by camp fires. A glow marked the whereabouts of Marietta, and far to the east, from the direction of Atlanta, we saw widespread pulsations of light that flamed up and died out, and then over hills and stream came the dull booming of a gun. Sherman was evidently keeping Hood awake in Atlanta. On the east of Keneaawtothe right, and Stone mountain on the direct left, signal fires burned, and we felt that the former, at least, marked the whereabouts of our friends. Keeping in the direction of the Chattahoochee we descended the hill, and at the foot of this we found a road leading in the right direction. Tough though the soles of our feet were, the ruts and stones in this road punished us cruelly, and we availed ourselves of every field to get out. At times we stopped to listen, particularly before entering a wood, and twice we heard the distant rumble of moving trains or artillery, but it was impossible to tell the direction from which the sound oame, "I thank the good Lor, ah, that ma and all them az is of my kin is Democrats, ah, but oh, Lor, ah, in thy infinite marcy, ah, damn forever and forever, amen, ah, them that went after the false gods of secession, ah, and brought on this destroyin wah." One day, as he was being driven through the streets of Paris in a cab, he saw some one passing carelessly in front of the cab, and in danger of being run over. Mr. Benton told us that we were very lucky not to have been five miles west the previous day, for Garrard's Yankee cavalry had been raiding the country, but that they had gone back "arter wallopin our folks like h—1!" The miner invited us to breakfast, saying that his house was close by. He led us up the creek, either side of which was covered with pits from which the earth had been taken to be washed for gold. The certainty of final success made me forget my own sufferings and anxiety, in sympathy with these brave fellows. Each had a good supply of bread and meat in his haversack, so Bell had no trouble in getting us up a fair supper. After it was over I got a can of water from a spring near by, and, as I was somewhat vain of my surgical skill, I washed out the stiff bandages and dressed their wounds, neither of which was serious enough to prevent travel. For this attention our Confederate friends were full of gratitude. "Whoa!" lie cried, in his most sonorous tones. The coachman turned around excitedly. This seemed to me like the recklessness of a madman, but to my great relief the approving exclamations i ncreased in vehemence, and the men and women began clapping their bands in concert. My friend had the sympathies of his audience.My companion and myself reasoned that the very best thing we could do was to seem to fall in with the spirit and design of our captors. The captain in charge of the camp was a young man named Reese, and after telling him our story I said that, much as we had suffered and eager though Bell and myself were to go home, we would cheerfully go with him to Hood's army provided he treated us like men and not like prisoners. He declared that this was his purpose, and that he was willing to show his faith in us by letting us ride the following morning. "Oh, monsieur!" he cried, "what a beautiful 'whoa!' Ah, if 1 only had a voice like that!" There were two or three men, not more, we felt sure, in the party. So we stepped into the timber and waited. 1 In a few minutes two horses were reined in close by, and with alarm in their faces the men looked back in the direction from which they had come. They were boys, dressed in a cadet uniform and armed with carbines. Without consulting me Bell stepped into the road, and I followed. The young men turned pale, and one of them was about to dash oil when he noticed our clothes, and shouted out: CHAPTER XL Hi THE UNION LINES AT LAST. "Well, what would you do if yon had?" asked Martin, with a smile, believing that he had been recognized, and pleased at the idea that his reputation extended even to the drivers in the streets. About a half mile from our sleeping place the creek flowed through a canyon with walls from twenty to sijpty feet high, and 200 yards up the walls formed an amphitheater, and here in a half cave, half cabin, the miner lived alone, unless we count the vicious dog that had preceded us. Before the door or rather the opening to the cabin, for it had no door, there was an ax, a pick and a spade, with a rude cradle such as I had seen at Sleigh's for gold washing. A few appliances for cooking and a bed of pine boughs covered with an old army blanket constituted the furniture of the cabin. v*m »» ■ ■■ ii... . J these Arkansas Percheron fleaa. Thej aome into my room with their wet umbrellas and stop over night, and in the morning I look like a bed of scarlet geraninms. After Bell had exhausted himself others spoke in the same vein, and all worked themselves up to a great pitch of excitement. It was midnight before the meeting was over and we returned to the preacher's house. The old man and his daughters were loud in their praises of what they called Bell's "spiritual gifts," and they hoped he would be moved to talk again on the morrow. We all slept in the same room, my companion and myself having one of the large beds to ourselves and the Misses Sleigh occupying one trundle bed and the idiot boy the other. As we prepared for bed in the dark all the proprieties were preserved, and with commendable modesty the young ladies stole out before we were awake next morning. The following day, Saturday, still more mountaineers came down, and the services of the night before, including another sermon from my very remarkable companion, were repeated. There was no cooking done till after sunset, then the character of the people seemed to change. The men shouted like boya released from restraint and swore as if profanity were a positive comfort The "YANKEES, CUSS YOU I" Up to this time the fugitives took us to be Confederate deserters, for, as one of them said, "The woods are full of us," Bat I thought the tiqie had come to tell the truth in our own interest After a whispered consultation with Bell I told the men who we were and of our anxiety to get back to our own lines, and I asked them to advise us as to the best course to take. To our surprise neither of our visitors showed any annoyance at my disclosure; indeed, they Beemed freer and franker than before. The young man with the wounded head drew in the ashes a map of the country twenty miles about Marietta, taking that town as a center. He showed us that Sherman was not only before Atlanta, but that the Federal troops held the whole line of railroad from the Chattahoochee to the Tennessee and ou to the Cumberland. " Above I give a hasty view of the Texarkana electric light plant at oar hotel. We have electric lights in the hotel, bat just as I got one side of my face shaved and was stropping my uice new razor they all went oat. It seems that some one had been in and borrowed the dynamo to drive fence posts with, and had injured it, I believe. So we got quite a lot of empty bottles, which very fortunately thrive well in this climate, and putting a half candle in each we were soon as gay as could be, hopping cheerily around with hot tallow on our hands. "What would 1 do. monsieur? Faith, 1 should become the first coachman in Paris."—Youth's Companion. These Confederates belonged to Wheeler's command and were not authorized to collect the tax in kind, yet they had collected several hundred head of cattle and about eighty horses for the use of the army. As they gave receipts for all the property taken, their conduct did not perhaps violate the rules of war, but it served to intensify the hate of the despoiled mountaineers. The Confederates were in good spirits, though I noticed that, from the officers down, all were outspoken in their denunciation of Jeff Davis for retiring Johnston in favor of Hood. They were firmly convinced that Sherman had played his last trump, that his army was in a trap across the Chattahoochee, and that he would wake up some fine morning and find himself bagged. Hi* Misfortune. The scholars in one of our Sunday schools were kchocked one session recently by an answer given by one of the small boys in the juvenile department The day lessons had been finished, and the superintendent had been telling the younpr members the story of Adam in the Garden of Eden, finishing his story with the remark: "And so Adam waa very happy. Now, can one of you children tell what misfortune befell him?" The small boy above mentioned piped out, "Please, sir. 1 know; he got a wife." —Providence Telegram. "Thunder! I thought you were Yanks." "You uns seem to be running as if the Yanks was close by," said Bell. [TO BK CONTINTTED.] The young men declared that the Yankee cavalry were close by; they had seen a lot of them—a regiment, one of them declared—not an hour before, and they were "swarming this way" as fast as their horses could carry them. The young men urged us to go back with them, but we laughingly assured them that we were not scared of all the Yankees *in the land. If the horses ridden by these amateur soldiers had not been prs$ty well exhausted we should have forced them to dismount; as it was, we let them go their way, and as they saw us going down the road they most have thought us great heroes or great fools. Mr. Benton—by the way, he professed to be a second cousin of the famous Benton of Missouri—prepared us a breakfast of corn bread and bacon with coffee made of sweet potatoes and sweetened with sorghum. He told us that his mining had been fairly prosperous, though as he had no quicksilver he wai sure that he did not save one-tenth of the gold. He was a man of much intelligence, and was in California when the war broke out. He told us that he was mining and making money in the Sierras, when one day the devil nut it A Mark of Recognition. Congrius applies at the prefecture of police for assistance in finding a lost daughter of his. "How are we to know her?' inquired the officer on duty. From July 30 to Aug. 1 Bell and I remained in hiding in the dense woods that cover the Alatoona mountains, northeast of the pass then held by our troops, though we did not know that our friends were only five miles away, with no serious obstacle intervening. This was the p;iss which a few weeks afterward the Yankee General Corse held with a haudfql of gallant fellow" "She is rather tall, and looks three or four years older than she Is."—Concordia. A brcat Comfort. The St. Louis Girl. Conductor—We have minted theconneo tlon, and you will have to wait at this station six boors. In the halls it was a blaze of light with two candles in each cuspidor. I give a drawing of the overshot candelabra. The flower on the off one was improvised by me, 1 will be honest with "What would you do if you were in my shoes?" asked the perplexed Chicago girl of her St. Louia friend. "Change them for a smaller pair," was the consoling reply.—Detroit Free Press. It was about 8:30 in the morning, and Bell and myself were about to extinguish the fire so as not to attract the attention of friend or foe for we felt in Old Lady (who is a little nervous on the railroad)—Well, I'm safe for six hours any way.—New York Weekly.  In that camp I heard for the first time