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Show WHILE "FACING DEATH aiflLS AT HOME ARE WELL REMEMBERED. RE-MEMBERED. What llan Uon for !. Taara tln In KiHIiIa VV h.n ( 1'lrwrn Clrmm.lanr.a I mlrr Which Mom. MmilM Wore Indited. When danger so encompasses a man that death stares him In the face at every turn, nil his thoughts might will be expected to lie of himself; but at such n crisis he generally thinks less of his own peril than of the wife or sweetheart whom he has left behind blm A graphic Illustration of what n man will do for love was given dur Ins the Knmr wars of half a centurr ago. A small advance party of while men wero cut off from the main body by a horde of natives, who seemed to grow magically out of tho adjacent bushes Ileallslng thnl they were In n death-trap, the alx men fired steadll Into the thick of the odvnnclng Kaffirs, but one by one they dropped dead, and finally a oung fellow named Dixon was tho only man left standing. While the air around him sang with the flight of assegais, he scribbled something In his pockctlxxik thrust the point ot spenr through tho leaves, and threw his message far out aver the heads of the Ksfflrs, When, five minute later, the other white men rode up and scattered scat-tered the natlvea right and left, they found that pocketbook on a rock and marveled that their comrade could have written such a message. It w a prettily worded letter to his sweetheart, sweet-heart, In which, after telling ber how much ho loved ber, he said that she was on no account to stop away from the ball for hi sake, "Leavo ono dance blank and I shall bo there In spirit to take It," he roncluded. Then came a few quiet words ot farewell to bis comrades, and 11 request that they would deliver the letter to the girl ot his heart. Kvcry year pathetic letters telling of disaster at sea are washed up In doxens on our roasts, but the stono bottle, found by a Yorkshire fisherman fish-erman last autumn contained lines of more Iban avcrnge Interest "Cheer up, sweetheart Hannah I was never good enough for you," said this curious curi-ous billet-doux, and It would appear that tho mariner had barely had time to finish It and cram It Into the bottle bot-tle befaro tho ship went down, for blr signature was broken off In the middle, nnd Hannah' address was not given at all. Tear sting the eyelids when one pictures tho circumstances under which that touching message roust havo been written. One can almost al-most see the rough seaman laboriously printing the words which were to con-toy con-toy the sad new to hi sweelbeart and patiently wetting his thick pencil so that the marks It mndo might not be easily washed nway, Not good enough for hcrl Why, a queen mliht take the hand ot such a fellow wna consider herself ennobled by the match. Proud Ilrltona are wont to wrlgglo In their chairs when Majuba Is mentioned; but they should bear In mind that, even In the midst of their humiliation, many soldier bora themselves them-selves gallantly A Pretoria man tells how one joung fellow, when disabled by wound In the thigh nnd the arm, ant down In full view ot tha triumphant trium-phant Doer nnd scribbled n letter. While hi comrades wero pelting past him to safety, be wrote endearing phrn-.s tu his sweetheart In England, and carefully prevented the blood which wn oozing from hi arm from falling on tho paper That letter wna picked up after tbo engagement, and would hav been dispatched to this country lony ago had the finder known where to send It; but the gallant gal-lant )ounK soldier was shot dead ero he had finished writing, and his mes-ngo mes-ngo was so trampled on by ruthless feet that It was scarcely readable Ono sentence, though, stood out plainly from tho mud that smeared the paper. It wa tbi "They'll down me soon, pet o (or my sake, look after the old mater; father doesn't care." Alas! that that pet and tho old mater should never have known how their beloved soldier laddie sacrificed his life In writing writ-ing to them! Illvnl. |
