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About The journal. (Hamilton, Ga.) 1887-1889 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 1887)
YEARS! YEARS! Years! Years! -fio Icag the dread companionship of pain, ®o long the slow compression of the brain, Bo go Ion" the bitter famine and the drouth, J on." I've iiche for kisses on the mouth, fteo long ue straining of hot, tearless eyes, Iu backward loo Icing upon Paradise. So long tired feet dragged falteriugly and slow. So long the solemn sanctity of woe— Years! Years! —Richard Realf. TWO BROTHERS. | To the burghers it had ceased to be a I strike. They called it a riot. The work l inen no longer sought an increase of f wages and a decrease of working hours. they now wanted was a complete subversion of the established order of liings. The troops, called in haste from every point, were not sufficiently strong in I numbers to quell the disorders. The officers were uneasy, lest their soldiers, exasperated by such continued alarms, should lire without orders. In the day while on the march, at night at the mess, nothing was heard but talk which seemed to presage a terrible engagement the first; time the two forces would come together. Over one of the roads which cut through the “dark country,” thirty sol diers were going at quickstep, under an icy rain, beating full in tlieir faces, and increasing twofold the weight of their ; equipments. With a sub-lieutenant in / command, they had left the village to take charge of the Rebaux glassworks, which a gang of plunderers had been threatening since early mom. For three long hours they had been splashing along through tlnfC black, sticky mire of coal dust. Night came on, seeming but little darker than the gloomy day which had preceded it. On all sides were to be seen nothing but drenched fields, here and there a house of sinister aspect or a wretched hovel, which, though crura Wing to ruin, might, nevertheless, be the dwelling place of some human being. At times the road would rise up an im mense slope, and then even these sights would appear so dimly to the soldiers that they might have thought they were marching over an aerial road through the gray clouds. All of a sudden a gleam of light had appeared in the distance. * At first they thought it a signal of some kind, but it had increased and spread to so great an extent that they soon saw it was a con flagration. “Halt! H ie sub-lieutenant cried out, Then calling to one of his soldiers he asked, “\Vher e r-i that f i>t. The soldier looked around him for a moment to discover where he was, and then replied: “ Tis the glass works, lieutenant.” ' “The Rebaux glass works?” (, \es, lieutenant. And then like a shiver this sentence spited through the ranks: ‘‘The glass works are on firel ‘‘Forward! commanded the officer. Tlie men began their march anew, deeply moved by the new disaster. One only remained motionless at the edge of the' road. One of his comrades called out to him: ‘ Say. John, aren’t you coming?” “J am ’ answered John, catclimg up ‘ with tlie others. • ; He was almost a chUd, with a hand some young head on a body that was spM slender. Although not quite 20, he had already seen two years in the ser C !; H .' 3 la «8 hm S f f« waa ‘ that , day; his countenance bore ^ ■ op open Uces of uneasiness. He was worried by thought that his brother, his only relative, was a laborer somewhere that neighborhood, he knew not ex »' he T®- The brothers, as a rule, very seldom corresponded. nrany months would elapse rMe ‘ rmg news fro “ her. They were very much l attached At one to the other, however, and frequent ly, in the evening, John would reopen anil road the scarce letters of his brother. Now, dining the past year John had received two that had not a little dis turbed him. They treated of things he did not understand. The workman, in a string of declamatory phrases, which lie had evidently heard in meetings or picked out of Anarchist papers, conjured his brother, in the event of a riot, not to fire on the proletary, but to shoot at his own leaders. John’s very simple nature did not readily understand wdio was that pro letary that was to be spared, but was considerably shocked at the advice to fire U p 0n his superiors. He had burned these letters, deeming them too offensive and dangerous. been disturbing Since the strikes had th e country during the past month, the full meaning of his brother’s letters had dawned upon his mind. It caused him no little sorrow when lie reflected that perhaps Peter was enrolled in that army c f rebels. He bad written him kind letters replete with affection and artless advice, but had received no answers to them, the workmen having probably re moved to some other village. Since the campaign had opened the lit tie soldier, who would not have flinched j u the presence of a foreign enemy, was n prey to the horrid fear that some day might unwittingly fire upon that brother, the idol of his affections. It W as this thought which made him so a i ix i 0 us and kept him away from Ills comrades during the hours of rest, which put an end to liia usual childish gayety, w liich had caused him to stand so mo tioiiIes8 in contemplating that distant conflagration, listening to the indefinite noises ixirne along by the wind, and ask i U g himself, with an anguish which seemed ready to choke him, whether Ids brother would be there. The soldiers had started off, quickening their step. For a moment the ranks were thrown into disorder by that black mud, which at times formed real pools in the middle of the way, compelling them to around it, in single file, along its border, for 100 meters or so. Tlie road would then be leading over the top of one G f these high slopes planted with wasliing young trees to keep the earth from awav altogether. reformed John When the line was was missing. His name was called, but he did no t answer. The men began whispering to each ether: some knew tlie uneasiness c f the young soldier, and immediately supposed that he had taken to flight sons no t to be compelled to fire upon tha workmen. The sub-lieutenant swore furiously on account of bis desert ion; but it was no time to think of pursuing the runaway, In the darknes8 hiding wag „ easy that it would losillg timBj besides, the platoon was in a great hurry to reach the glassworks calling After him once agahi, the sol diere resumed their march, and soon the of their footsteps was the otily noise breaking tbc Kt illness of the night. The young gddier had not deserted, While his companions were calling him he waii l h u „ CO nscious at the foot of the declivity, across the top of which the hiirhwav ‘jol.nVas ran 'thunderstruck when, on re gaining ^ his sensei, lie found himself lying lerc benumbed and covered with mud. How faad bo sH IIo w lad he rolled dovrn there? He listened, but heard no sound. His mU8t not have seen him fall. He remembered tiiat lie had been a , itt!e way ^bjn,! tbe otb(T3 , M d reflected that in "the face of so blinding a rain it waJ5 ite ^ bIe tbat his faU migbt h „ n notieed TTptrtol t.<> g vet nin^liim un hut an atrocious ^ ^ w^ to b£ to the ^?ai earth. “ erlmo^n W likc cauJfhim a oHead ^'cry^ul it , ^ he got frightened on thinking that he was wounded and all alone inthat black country. Were they going to aban don him there? He had raised himself ^ upon one elbow, but let himself fall back heavily. Hia shako had caught on to something dur ing his fall, leaving him bareheaded to the cold rain, which drenched bis short, curly, fair hair, of which he was so proud. Poor John! Who would have recognized in the unfortunate lieing stretched at full length in the mud the dainty little soldier* always so tastily primped up, and who invariably caught the eyes of an die womeh on the prome nadc? He suffered so atrociously that he did not have courage enough to examine himself and try to find out the extent of his injury. Ilis whole left leg felt as if it hail been ground up in a mill And, still, it might not lie so serioiw. He re xnembered that, once upon a time, heliad felt that same feeling of general sore ness, caused by a violent blow from a stick. It might not amount to anything, and yet he could not remain there, lying in tlie mud anil water, shivering with cold. Tie would eventually go to sleep, and the next morning they would find him there, dead! He did not wish to die! What! lie found there, in the mud, like a dead dog. * * * Cost what it may he had to get back to the road and wait till some one came along. In uliort, it was not such a great undertaking, only ten meters to go! What a torture those ten meters were to him, ns with the aid of trees, roots and rooks, dragging his lifeless leg along, ho tried to get up to tlie road at the top of the slojie. Twenty times he came near giving up; twenty times he was on the point of lying where lie was and wait* even for death! But his youth rebelled against tlio idea; love of life seemed to urge him on, and at length he the road. His strength was failing fast, and all he could hope for now was that somebody might come along before it was too late. Time dragged on so heavily for the wretched man that seconds seemed him eternities. Fever kept him awake, his foot were frozen, his head as if on fire, all his body shaking with a shiver which caused in sufferable twitches to run through his h-g. lie no longer had strength enough to cry out. and he could only give vent to his sufferings in low moans. All of a sudden, while under the in fluence of a kind of nightmare, he heard voices singing. He listened. It was sal vation, it was life, because they were coming his way. Oh but how slow they seemed to walk! At last, he could dis tinguish in tlie darkness the forms of five w alkm S ™ ln «“- wben wl ^* n a few steps , of where Jo P<h 1 singung. So muehtha better, they quite wol ‘ W near, 1,rar lie . Uim cried ca ' L out. V f l,en he them “Help! IIclpl »» The men stopped. The astonished 1*! one men le again. went up to him, an '.' on « ; K f lc,n(f ‘*“ claimed: ‘ Hello! it is oneof t|ioee soldier hounds that lias got Ins dose. ’ cr '^.‘ ,u ‘; '> ell, let s finish him. With these words lie raised tlie tool. °," '. ,e f h ’° 1,,a ‘ T '' c ’' |mown voice John , ha i‘ cr,e ? ° ut 'v.MIy. •-a. The T 'c pickax had f.dlei, however^ f? Uie , f 8 exclamaUiu liad aiused the ^ ow to ^ , ev,at; ‘ : nevertheless Uie l>omfc iff the pickax stnxk the lwlplew soldier » °P1““8 a B a pmg ^misJ m his svde name-caltai T1, ° m “’ .^‘“*1 m.-t so snddenly by.«h«t mt m mo-l tueh us a ?**< dar ,‘i tunate soMior "J‘° , f ""‘' in £ to the earth. H» surprised eom P* 1010118 ^ understand; but tbeir instinct them that something was going on. At last Peter down, and the soldier s liead with his trembling ha '?, Ja ’ b*™® 1 ““ I aca so as to get a ^ , “It is John! These words came hoarsely from out his panting breast Had the ground opened in front of him it would not have stiqieJied him so much as did the sight of that bleeding man lying there in the rood before him. Then ho seemed to come to himse! I again; ho rapidly passed bis liand ov« » his brow, and then, with the incwttouch iug care. Ik; raised the body in his her* culenn arms. As lie was ulxiut to arise to his toot, his companions stepped up r * if to assist him, when* with a look, he stopped them, saying in a hoarse voice: *1 forbid any one to touch him!” And, paying no more attention bur- to them, lie stalked off with life heavy den. The nearest village was alxiut a quar ter of an hour’s walk from where they were. Peter wont over this long di tance without resting, going along slowly, now and then atopjsug when the plain: * of the wounded man became too paint u. The rain had ceased, but the brow of tb * striker was lx?ailud with perspiration, r.i 1 each time ho stopped the cold winter wind would cause his wet clothes to slit to his body. works Jj, the distance the glass st i burned, sending up great tongues of fin ^ the gk> ’ ftcros8 w liieh great B mres if , c ; 1 . with tho betoof c i OU( ps. tU village and kick in- ° at tlie dooru called for assistance. streets* ,j^ )C were deserted- many per¬ h4d that morning after a frn v - n }d)0ut t wentv men had l« oitIier or Avimtnled. V.^e win nMliainiH | j md t,a rr i c;u ied their doors ur I preteI1( i et i n< , t t o liear. Th( , m iscrab!e man was bitterly wcq big; ’ ho seemed to hear the death rattle i i tll0 thnKlt of \ dn p ro thcr, who was sthl |osin , r ft ffrcat denl of , Wi j llst fpU hig strength giving wav, ’sized on n conM , r> | 10 wlw a irooil building, through the half opened door of which a dim light was streaming. He entered it. : Ifc h-tw a large unfinished and unfur¬ nished schoolroom, with whitowashr 1 walls reeking wltli dampness. All tlie killed and wounded in the morning fray had been taken there pell-mell. About twenty human bodies were st. etched out on a pallet of straw, AH the faces seemed bo ghastly under the dim light of the distinguish twp coal oil lamiw that it was hard to the dead from the A physician and two sisters of charity were going anil coming, dressing lb wounds, and reviving the spirits of tlie bounded with words of comfort. Tliey hurried to (he wounded man brought in by Peter, fixing a place for him on this straw. As one of the sisters luid brought u lamp, the childi h fnec of jioor John seemed livid. His dull cy< . were half closed, and Ills lips were cov ared with blood flecked foam. The doctor tipped Iiis coat and thirl, a^poeing hia fair white ekin to view. Tlie shajic <ff his txxly seemed bo youtli so delicate, fliat it was painful to see Idm thus uncovered, a gaping wound in his side. At first Peter had drawn near, holding his breath, his even wandering from the wounded man to the doctor, Mcanning the IatWr’s face as if lie w» hed to re:id t.’iero. hr advance, the dt«i*»ion aliout to be pro¬ nounced. But when, by means of tho dhn lanqifl^ht, the miserable man i>ei celted the hruwedfledi of Ids brotlK*r, ho gave a moaning Cry and dropped to the sobMhg in the ment heart rending kivmnet. A*werd from the doctor nearly crazed latnt “The wound in fhe leg is nothing.” aoki lie; “ ’tis simply a fracture; but the wound in the side is t cry dangerous. ’ ’ Ho, perhaps, his brother was going killed to die, and it would be he that had him. He sprang to his feet, exclaiming: ^ not it? It ^ not p^blo ^ J( , 0b ^rhort. terrified. Not that ho feared being urrcbted if ho betravi-d h»»^
