Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

90 Written for Burke’s Weekly. Is it Light ? “ Is it light ?” said a little suffering child, As she tossed on her bed of pain; “ Oh, mother, I wish it was always day, And it would never be night again. “ I do not mind lying here half so much When I know that you are near, But whenever I shut my eyes now, I sec Those horrid soldiers here. “ Mother, what made them treat us so, Take all our bread away, Would not even leave you a light to find Where your little sick child lay ? “ I wonder if one of them ever had A little girl like me, Who loved to run and jump and play, As I did, at father’s knee ? “ I think that one of them must have had, For when the men came in, he said: ‘Don’t hurt the child, I’ll lift her utf For the sake of one that’s dead.” “And then he took me in his arms, • Put his hand where mine was lying, And, mother, I really do believe That Yankee man was crying. ‘‘And then he begged the men so hard To leave us something to eat, But they wouldn’t listen, but took all we had, Even the last little scrap of meat. “ I do not care much about it myself, For /am not hungry, you know, But to see you looking so pale and thin, Does make my heart ache so. ‘‘ I’ll try and be patient, and bear it all, In the way that you say is right, But I cannot help thinking it’s mighty hard Not to have even a spark of light. ‘‘Now, mother, darling, come lie down here, And keep right close by me, And then I won’t mind its being dark, Or long so the daylight to see.” And the sick child’s weak little voice was heard No more on the midnight air, And when day came—light shone alone On the dead child lying there. Byrd Lytti.e. Warrenton, Va. Written for Burke’s Weekly. JACK DOBELL; Or, A Boy’s Adventures in Texas. A STORY FOR BOYS. CHAPTER YI. THE ATTACK-FIRING A “SCOPET”—THE CAV ALRY DISMOUNT-THE CARISE INDIANS— THE MEXICANS RETIRE-DIFFICULTIES OF OUR POSITION—RENEWAL OF THE ATTACK— THE SURRENDER OF COL. FANNIN. BIIE last chapter left Col. Fannin’s command halt ed on the open prairie, his cavalry all gone, and a large force of Mexican ireatening an attack, the Mexicans had ap vithin a half mile of ns, od their forces into three columns, one remaining stationary, the other two advancing, one upon our right and the other upon our left, but still keeping at about the same distance from us. While carrying out this manoeuvre, BURKE’S WEEKLY. our field-pieces opened upon them with some effect, for occasionally we could see a round ball plough its way through their dense ranks. When the two moving columns had arrived opposite each other, one upon the right and the other upon our left, they suddenly changed their fronts towards us, and with trumpets braying and colors flying, they came charging down upon us from three direc tions at the same time. When they had come within three or four hundred yards of our lines, our ar tillery opened upon them with grape and canister, with deadly effect. Still their advance was unchecked until their fore most ranks were in actual contact with the bayonets of our men. But here the fire from our rifles and muskets was so rapid and destructive, that they fell back in considerable confusion. When we were leaving Goliad, I had taken a “ scopet ” —a short light blunder buss used by the Mexican cavalry— which, in anticipation of a fight, I had charged heavily with powder and buck shot, and fastened to my knapsack by means of a leathern strap. I knew that it would kick equal to a Spanish mule, and I determined I would not fire it, except when constrained to do so by the most urgent necessity. So, when the Mexicans first came charging down upon us, it seemed to me that nothing could stop them, and concluding that I might as well be kicked to death as trampled into mincemeat beneath the hoofs of horses, I turned my “scopet” loose at the largest crowd, and the next instant I found myself extended at full length upon the ground, from which several of my comrades hastened to raise me, under the impression that I had been killed or wounded by the bullets of the enemy. I resumed my place in the line, but what became of the “scopet” I never knew, for to my knowledge I have never laid eyes on it from that day to this. Twice after this the Mexicans made daring and desperate charges upon us, for the purpose of breaking our lines and throwing us into disorder; hut each time they were driven back with considerable loss, by rapid and well directed discharges from our artillery and small arms. They formed again for the fourth time, but they were so disheartened that their offi cers in vain endeavored to bring them to the charge. Finding this could not be done, the cavalry were dismounted, and completely surrounding us, they com menced a fusilade at “long taw” with their scopets and muskets, but being bad marksmen, most of their bullets passed harmlessly above our heads. This was a game at which two could play, and for every man that was killed or wounded on our side, half a dozen Mexicans were stretched upon the ground by the deadly fire from our rifles. But with the Mexi cans there were one or two hundred Carise Indians, who were much more daring, and withal much better marks men. They boldly advanced in front of the main body, taking advantage of every little inequality of the ground and every bunch of grass that could afford them partial cover, and frequently’ the dis charge of their long single-barrel shot guns was followed by the fall of some one in our lines. Four of them, directly opposite to where I was stationed, had crawled up within eighty yards of us, to some bunches of tall grass, from whence they delivered their fire with telling effect. They had killed one man and wounded two others in my immediate vicinity, when Capt. I) , who carried a large old-fashioned Kentucky rifle, and who was known to be the best shot in the regiment, was called upon to silence these Indians. He rested his rifle upon the spokes of a wagon wheel, and after four discharges the Indians were seen no more. Just as he fired the last shot, his right hand was disabled by T a musket ball, which took off a portion of one of his fingers. When the Mexicans retreated, some of us had the curiosity to go out and examine the bunches of grass in which the Indians had secreted them selves, and the four were found lying in a pile, each one with a half-ounce bullet through his head. About sun-down the Mexicans drew off, carrying with them their dead and wounded, except about a hundred in the immediate vicinity of our lines. Our loss in this fight was ten killed and seven ty-two or three wounded, among the lat ter Col. Fannin, and most of them badly, owing to the size of the balls thrown by the “scopets” of the Mexicans and the shot guns of the Indians. The number of our casualties was extraordinarily small, considering the force of the enemy opposed to us and the duration of the fight, which began about 3 o’clock and lasted till sun-down. It can only be ac counted for by the fact that the Mexicans arc miserable marksmen, and that their powder was of a very inferior quality, so much so that at least three out of five of their balls were spent before they reached us. There was scarcely a man in the whole of our detachment that had not been struck by spent balls, which, in place of mere bruises, would have inflict ed dangerous and fatal wounds if the