Newspaper Page Text
w EDDED.
Some quick and bitter words we said
And then we parted. How the sun
Swam through the sullen rn’stof grayl
A chill fell on the summer day,
Life's best and happiest hours were done;
! friendship was dead.
How proud we went our separate ways.
And spake no word and made no moan!
She braided up her flowing hair,
That I had always called so fair,
Although she scorned my loving tone,
My word of praise.
And I! I matched her scorn with scorn,
I hated her with all my heart,
Until—we chanced to meet one day;
She turned her pretty head away;
I saw two pretty tear-drops start,
,, Lo! love was born.
Some fond, repenting word I said,
She answered only with a sigh;
But when I took her hand in mine
A radiant glory, half divine,
Flooded the earth and filled the sky—
! Now we are wed.
— Chambers'
A DRUMMER BOY HERO.
■>
On the first day of the battle of Cus
tozza, the twenty-fourth of July, 181?,
about sixty soldiers belonging to one of
the Italian infantry regiments, having
been sent to occupy an isolated house on
a height, were unexpectedly attacked by
two companies of Austrians, who, firing
on them from different points, barely
gave them them time to take refuge in
the house and hastily barricade the doors,
leaving fields. several dead and wounded in the
Italian soldiers After barricading hastily the doors the
ran to the win¬
dows on the first floor and began to
pour a steady fire into the assailants, who
circle, were gradually advancing in a semi¬
and replying vigorously.
The sixty Italians were commanded
by two subalterns and a captain, a tall,
old fellow, lean and severe, with white
hair and moustaches; with them was a
Sardinian drummer boy, a boy not much
more than fourteen years old, and who
scarcely appeared to he twelve; he was
small, with olive brown face and two
-captain sparkling little directing deep the black defence eyes. The
was from a
■window on the first floor, shouting his
■orders like pistol shots and with no sign
of emotion on his hard face. The drum¬
mer his boy, who was a little pale, but firm
stretching on legs, got his up neck on a table and was
out to see out of the
windows and leaning against the wall;
through forms the smoke Austrians, he saw who the white uni¬
of the were slowly
advancing situated through the fields. The house
was on a summit of a steep slope
and on the side towards the slope had
but one small window, high up, which
looked out from the garret; therefore the
Austrians did not threaten the house
from that side and the slope was clear;
their fire was directed only toward the
front and two sides.
• It was a hail of leaden bullets, which
on the outside cracked the walls and
■crumbled the tiles, and on the inside
smashed ceilings, furniture, window
frames, and door posts, filling the air
with splinters, clouds of plaster and
bits of pottery and glass; hissing, re¬
with bounding, crashing fit drive into everything
a noise to one mad. From
time to time one of the soldiers who
were firing floor, from the windows fell
hack on the and was dragged to
one side. Some tottered from room to
room, pressing their hands on their
wounds. In the kitchen there was al¬
ready one dead man, with a hall through
his forehead. The semi-circle of the
■enemy kept closing up.
All at once the captain, who until
then had been impassible, was seen to
show signs of uneasiness and to stride
•out of the room followed by a sergeant.
About three minutes afterwards the ser¬
geant came running back and called the
drummer boy, beckoning him to follow.
The hoy ran after him up a woodeu
stair case, and went with him into an
•empty garret, where he saw the captain,
who was writing with a pencil on a
sheet of paper, leaning against the win¬
dow; with a well-rope on the floor at his
feet.
The captain folded the paper and
looking with his cold, grayish eyes, be¬
fore which all the soldiers trembled, into
the eyes of the boy, said abruptly:
“Drummer boy 1” The drummer boy
-saluted. The captain said: lighted “You’ve got
grit.” “Y T The captain,” boy’s eyes he answered. up.
es,
“Look down there,” said the captain,
rushing him to the window, “in the
jplain, near tho houses of Villafranca,
where there is a glittering of bayonets.
Those arc our friends, standing idle.
Take this note, catch hold of the rope,
slide down from the window, run down
the hill, go through the fields and give
the note to the first officer you see.
Chuck away your belt and knapsack.”
The boy took off liis belt and knap¬
sack and put the note in his breast pock¬
et; the sergeant threw out the rope and
grasped one end of it with both hands;
the captain helped the boy to pass back¬
wards through the little window. “Take
care,” he said to him, “the safety of the
detachment depends on your courage
and on your legs.”
“Trust me, captain,” replied the
drummer boy, swinging himself out.
“Stoop as you go down,” said the
captain hold again, helping the sergeant to
the rope.
“Never fear.” >
“Godhelp you!” the
In a few minutes boy was on the
ground; the sergeant drew up the rope
and disappeared; the captain sprang to
the window and saw the boy flying down
the hill.
succeeded He was in already hoping that he when had
five six little escaping unobserved, dust
or clouds of which
rose behind from the the ground warned both that before had and
boy him he
been seen by the Austrians, who were
firieg at him from the top of the hill.
Those little clouds were earth thrown
up by the bullets. But the hoy contin¬
ued to run at a breakneck pace. All at
once he fell.
“Killed!” roared the captain, biting
his fist. But he had scarcely said the
word when he saw the hpy get up. “Ah!
only a fall!” he said to himself, and
breathed again. In fact, the boy began
to run again as fast as he could, hut he
limped. the captain. “A sprained ankle, ” thought
A few more little clouds of dust rose
here and there around the boy, but they
were always farther off. The captain
gave an exclamation of triumph. But
he continued to follow him anxiously
with his eyes, because it was a question
of minutes; if he did not get down
there as quickly as possible with the
note, which requested immediate re¬
lief, either all his soldiers would be
killed or he would have to surrender
and become prisoners with them. The
hoy ran swiftly slackened for a while and then
limped and his pace, and then
broke into a run again, but he seemed to
become more and more fatigued, and
every little while stumbled and paused
for a moment. *
“Perhaps he has been hit by a glanc¬
ing shudderingly bullet,” thought watched the captain, his and he
all move¬
ments, and encouraged him and spoke
to him as if the boy could hear him; he
measured incessantly with keen eyes the
distance interposing between the run¬
ning boy and the glittering of arms
which he saw down there in the plain in
the midst of the wheat fields, gilded by
the sun. And meanwhile he heard the
whistling and the noise of the bullets in
the rooms below, the imperious and an¬
gry cries of the officers and sargeants,
the groans of the wounded and the
crashing of the furniture and plaster.
“Up! courage!” he cried, following with
his gaze the distant boy. “Forward!
run! he he has stopped, curse him! Ah!
is running again.”
An officer came, out of breath, to say
that the enemy, without ceasing their
fire, were waviug a white flag as a sum¬
mons to surrender.
“Don’t answer!” re¬
moving already his the eyes from but the boy, who was
in plain, who was no
longer dragging running, and who appeared difficulty. to be
himself along with
“But get on! run!” said the capta'n,
grinding his teeth and clenching his
lists; “kill yourself, die, scoundrel, but
go on!” Then a horrible oath burst
from him. “Ah! the infamous coward!
he has sat down!”
In fact, the boy, whose head till now
he had seen projecting above a wheat
field, had disappeared, as if he had
fallen. But in a moment his head came
into view again; finally he was lost be¬
hind the hedges, and the captain saw
him no more.
He then flew down stairs; it was rain¬
ing bullets; the rooms were encumbered
with the wounded, some of whom reeled
about like drunken men, catching at the
furniture; walls and floors were spat¬
tered with blood; corpses were lying
across the doors; the lieutenant’s arm
had been broken by a hall; everything
was in a whirl of smoke aud dust.
“Courage!” yelled the captain. Stick
to your posts! Relief is coming! Cour¬
age for a little longer!” had drawn yet,
The Austrians nearer
their contorted faces loomed through
the smoke; above the rattle of the firing
rose their savage cries, insulting, de¬
manding surrender, threatening slaugh¬
ter. Occasionally a soldier, terror
stricken, retreated from the window;
the sergeant drove him back, but the
defenders’ fire was slackening; their
faces showed discouragement; it was
impossible Suddenly to prolong the resistance.
the firing of the Austrians
slackened and a thundering voice
shouted, first in German, then in Italian:
“Surrender!”
“No!” howled the captain from a
window.
And the firing began again steadier
and fiercer on both sides. More soldiers
fell. Already more than one window
was without defenders. The fatal mo¬
ment was close at hand. The captain
was muttering between his teeth in a
broken voice: “They’re not coming!
They’re not coming!” and he ran furi¬
ously about, twisting his sabre in his
clenched hand ; resolving to die, when a
Sergeant, coming down from the garret
cried in a loud voice: Tney’re coming'/’
“They’re coming,” the captain re
peated with a shout of joy. At this all
shout, unhurt, wounded, Sergeants and
officers rush to the windows, and once
more the resistance grew fierce. A few
moments after a sort of uncertainty and
beginning of disorder were remarked in
the enemy. Immediately, in grea. haste,
the captain formed a small company
down stairs, with fixed bayonets, ready
to make a sally. Then he flew up stairs
again. He had scarcely got up there
when they heard a heavy tread, accom
pan led by a formidable hurrah, and from
the widows they saw advancing through
thei smoke the two-cornered hats of the
Italian carbineers, a squadron dashing
along sword at blades full speed brandished and the the flashing de- of
in air,
scending on the heads, shoulders and
backs of the enemy. Then the little
troop rushed out of the door with low¬
ered bayonets; the enemy wavered, be¬
came disordered and took flight; the
ground remained cle ir, the house was
free, and a short time after the height
was occupied by two battalions of in¬
fantry and two cannons. his remaining sol¬
diers,rejoined The captain, with regiment,fought again
his
and was slightly wounded in the left
hand by a glancing hall, in the last bay¬
onet charge. The day ended in victory
for us.
But the day after, Italians the fight having
begun again, the were resistance, over¬
whelmed, superior in spite numbers of a brave of the Aus¬
by the of the 2(ith
trians, aud on the morning
they were compelled to retreat sorrow
fully toward the Mincio. although wounded,
The captain,
marched on foot with his soldiers, who
were tired and silent, and toward sunset
reached Goito on the Mincio and imme¬
diately sought out his lieutenant, who
had been picked up, with who a broken had arrived arm,
by our ambulance, and
there first. He was directed to a church,
where a field hospital had hastily been
installed. He went there. The church
was full of wounded, reclining on two
rows of beds and mattresses stretched on
the floor; two doctors and various as¬
sistants were going and coming, and
stifled cries and groans were heard.
On entering, the captain stopped and
looked about him, in search of his offi¬
cer. Just then he heard a faint voice
close by balling him:
He turned around: it was the drum¬
mer boy; he was stretched on a trestle
bed, covered up to the chest by a coarse
window curtain with little red and white
squares, with his arms out; he was pale
and thin, but with his eyes still spark¬
ling, like two black gems.
“Are you here?” the captain asked him
in an astonished hut stern manner.
“Bravo! You did your duty.” the
“I did what I could, ’ answered
drummer boy.
“Have vou been wounded?” said the
captain, looking around for his officer
in the beds near by. have?” said the
“Wbat "would you
hoy, who took courage to speak from
the proud pleasure of being wounded for
the first time, and without which he
would not have dared to open liis mouth
in the presence of the captain. “1 had
to run like a hunchback, they saw mo
immediately. I should have arrived
twenty minutes sootier if they hadn’t
hit me. Fortunately I found a staff
captain directly to whom to give the
note. But it was hard coming down
after that lick 1 I was shouldn’t dying of thirst, there,
kept thinking that I get
and was crying with rage to think that
every minute’s delay some one was going
to the other world up there at the house,
Bah! I did what I could. Iam con-
tented. But, allow me, captain. Look
at yourself. You are bleeding.”
In fact, from the captain’s badly
bandaged palm a few dtops of blood
were “Do trickling down his fingers.
captain? you Hold want to tighten the bandage,
it out a moment.”
The captain held out his left hand,
and put out his right to help the boy
undo and retie the knot; hut no sooner
had the boy raised himself from the pil¬
low than he grew pale, and was com¬
pelled to rest his head again.
looking “Enough, him enough,” said the captain,
at and drawing away his
bandaged hand, which the boy wished
to keep; thinking “take care of yourself instead
of of others, because even
slight they things can become serious when
The are neglected.”
drummer hoy shook his head.
“But you,” said the captain, looking
at him attentively, “you must have lost
a good deal of blood, to be as weak as
that.”
“Lost much blood? -> atl8We red the
boy witi a smiIe- “More than blood.
Look!”
And with a jerk he pulled off the cov
er ; D (f
r j' be captain but’one stepped back, horrified,
The boy had leg; his left leg
had been amput ated above the knee and
the 8tump was bandaged with rags
which were covered with blood,
Just then a fat little army surgeon
p a g S ed in his shirt sleeves,
“Ah, captain,” he said, quickly, nod
d ; n g a t. the drummer boy, “that is an
unfortunate case: one leg which could
bave beell saved easily if he had not
f orced jj j n that mad way; a cursed in
fammation; it had to he cut off at once.
Q bi bu j. a brave boy t assure; bedidn’t
shcd a tear noi utter a cry! On rnv
word of honor. I was proud he was an
kalian hoy, while I was operating. lie
came of good stock.”
away.
The captain frowned and looked in¬
tently at the drummer boy while draw¬
ing the covering without over him again; it, then and
slowly, almost knowing
still looking at him, he raised his hand
to his head and lifted his cap.
“Captain!” exclaimed the boy in sur¬
prise, “what are you doing; captain—to
me:”
And then the rough soldier, who had
never said a gentle word to au inferior,
replied in voice: an inexpressibly soft aud af¬
fectionate
Then “I am but threw a captain; himself you with are a hero.”
he open arms
on the little drummer boy, aud kissed
him three times on the heart.— Cosmo¬
politan.
Agricultural Hands in Mexico.
The Pabellon National newspaper has
agricultural been exposing laborers the ill-treatment haciendas to in which
oil re¬
mote parts of Mexico are subjected. It
says that in some districts of the State
of Chiapas the indigenes are ignorant of
the existence of hats, since they never
cover the head. These wretched peons
hire themselves out as beasts of burden
to whomsoever desires to lease them.
The arrangement is made on this basis:
Wages $4 per month, with from $25 to
$30 in advance. The obligation of the
Indian draught animal is to fetch and
carry on his hack the load committed to
him, whatever may be the distance. Still
more, they are sub-rented without right
of receiving any excess of payment. As
the poor Indian is never able to discharge
the debt which he has incurred through
the amount advanced him, he is always
a serf. If he dies his children must
work out his obligations. Many hacien
dados of Tobascoare sub renters of these
Indians.
Metallic Sap.
Curious incidents cocur in this land,
and one of them is sufficiently so to ex¬
cite interest. Mrs. Andrews, who lives
live or six miles from town, brought re
cently to the drug store ol Mr. 1 or ter a
quantity of a certain metul resembling
what is known as babbitt, or pewtei,
hut which, on being struck with a piece
of steel, gave forth a clear ringing
sound, as of silver. Mrs. Andrews ac
count of the metal is as follows; < me of
her sons, during the cold snap, had cut
down a tree and put parts ot it ou the
life f°r fuel. Presently, when the tire
had well burned, tins metal began to
pour from an opening in the stick of
wood, falling on the hearth in trout of
the fire. 1 his metal was gathered up m
the shape it had taken on the hearth,
while among the ashes particles of the
same metal were found. lhe quantity
was supposed to be several pounds, and
all pronounce it of queer origin. —
Oftensboro (N.C.) 11