Page 96 - The model orator, or, Young folks' speaker : containing the choicest recitations and readings from the best authors for schools, public entertainments, social gatherings, Sunday schools, etc. : including recitals in prose and verse ...

the scent: is stiii as midnight, JNot a sound, not. a shout, not a distant
hurrah. The anxiety o f the group upon the lvill becomes absorbing
and painful, I,ooks ol' wonder, tit the sudden pa.ne o f the bottle,
flit from face to face, and then low wdhspers ate heard, and then m n iis
another moment: o f fearful suspense. It is followed by a. wild, rushing
sound to the south, like the shriek;? o f ike ocean wave.--, as they fill the
held o f the foundering ship, while it. sinks far inte the loneliness o f the

SO iiS.
Then, a pause, and again that unknown sound, and then the tramp
o f tun thousand footsteps mingled with a wild and indistinct miirmur.
Tramp, tramp, triimp, the air is filled with a sound, and then distinct
voice.-; break upon the air, ar.d the clatter is borne upon the breeze.
The boy turns to Ids mother, and asks her who has gained 1he day.
Every hear: feels \ ividly that the battle is now over, that the account
o f blood is near its close, that the appeal to the G od o f battles his
bf_c::? made. The mother turns her tearful eyes 1o the south; she
cannot answer the question. The old man, awakened from a reverie,
turn; suddenly to the maiden, and clasps her arm with his trembling
hands. His lips move, but his tongue is unable to syllable a sound
H e flings a trembling hand southward, and speaks his question w'd:
the gesture o f age. The battle— the battle— how goes the battle?
A s lie makes the i/eshrre, the figure o f a soldier is seen rushing from
o eri l i
the iTfi'it ir. the valley b e lo w ; he comes speeding round the bend o f
the road, he ascends the hill, but his steps totter and he staggers to
and fio like a. drunken man, l ie bears a burden on his shoulders -
is it the plunder o f tlie fight? Is it the spoil gathered from the ranks
o f the dead ? \ o !— no ! J bears an aged man on Ids shoulders,
Both are clad in the blue hunting shirt, torn and tattered and
stained with bi'-'od, it is true, but slid you can recognize the uniform
o f the Revojulmn. H ie tottering soldier nears the group, he iays the
a m d veteran di.vvn by the roadsiue, and then looks around with a
o »■
ghosllyfiice and a rolling eye, There is blood dripping fmm his attire,
his face is Ixrgrimed with powder and spotted with crimson drops. He
glances wildly around, and then, kneeling on the sod, he takes the