The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers, Series 2Newell, R. H. (Robert Henry)
History
The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers, Series 2
Newell, R. H. (Robert Henry)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction
Then did the matchless genius of Villiam Brown arise to the full
demands of the breathless occasion, in one of those subtle appeals to
human nature's great undercurrent which leads men as children often are
led. In the rear of the Confederacy's work was the slanting side of a
precipitous hill, and to this hill-side he had secretly dispatched the
paymaster of the _corps_, by a circuitous route, with a package that
looked as though it might contain Treasury Notes under his arm. Just at
this awful juncture, when the fate of the day hung by a hair, that
paymaster made his appearance on the hill-side above the mud-work, and
put on his spectacles to make himself more plainly visible.
"Comrades," says Villiam, pointing to the celestial figure, "yonder is
the disbursing genius of the United States of America. Charge baynits,
and let us be paid off."
Though the whole Confederacy had been in the way at that moment, my
boy, it would not have delayed the charge. Forward went Company 3,
Regiment 5, with mercenary celerity, capturing the hostile work with
great success; and finding therein a Confederate letter, stating that
the Confederacy could not so far demean itself as to fight a force
whose leader had not been educated at West Point.
There is a point, my boy, _beyond_ which the Confederacy cannot hope to
offer successful resistance to our arms, and recent events would seem
to indicate that it is West Point.
Yours, formally,
ORPHEUS C. KERR.
LETTER LXXIII.
MAKING MENTION OF ANOTHER MEETING OF THE COSMOPOLITAN CLUB, AT
WHICH THE TURKISH AND RUSSIAN MEMBERS READ THEIR STORIES.
WASHINGTON, D. C., October 8th, 1862.
At the meeting of the Cosmopolitans last evening, my boy, N. E.
Ottoman, the Turkish chap, related the tale of
THE SULTAN'S FAVORITE.
"In all Circassia, there was no woman to be compared with Zara, for
beauty. Her eyes were like the stars, her hair was threads of gold, her
teeth were pearls, her complexion more white and pure than the marble
of Patras, and her form was like those of the houris, whom Allah has
locked up in paradise, for the benefit of all true believers.
"The father of this beautiful girl was a mountain chieftain, much noted
for his physical strength, bravery, and insatiable avarice. His wife
died in giving birth to Zara, and upon her child he lavished all the
affection which his iron heart could nourish; but gold overcame the
finer feelings of a parent, and Nemyl beheld the bud of childhood
bursting forth into the soul-subduing woman with thoughts in which
there was far more speculation than love.
"'You shall be sold to the Sultan,' said he to her, 'and he will soon
become your most devoted slave. You may make him do what you will, and
I shall become respected and rich, as the father of a Sultan's
favorite.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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