Albert Sidney Johnston

“ A distinguished name in Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky.
Johnston is Scandinavian. Probably the most conspicuous and influential Scandinavian in the United States at this time bears that name. He is a native of Scandinavia. The most notable American of that race and name was the Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston. There are two pictures of him that will live in the popular mind: (1) As he stood, silent and absorbed, beside his camp fire on the night before Shiloh; (2) As he led that dashing and successful charge on the following day. A soldier worthy of his race. ”

“ Everybody take off their hats. Is that his horse behind? Yes, it is a horse that he sometimes rode, but the three stallions were killed. How mournful they come! Albert Sidney Johnston is dead, and Old Joe may die, he is so badly hurt—and Bee is dead, and Ashby is dead." Three women got out of an old carryall. "One of you men come help us lift the flowers! We were up at dawn and gathered all there were—"
The train from Staunton came in—box cars and a passenger coach. The coffin, made at Port Republic, was lifted from the ambulance, out of a bed of fading flowers. ”

“ You and the Sea Wraith were scarce a month gone when that grim old knight, her guardian, would have made for her a marriage with some spendthrift sprig of more wealth than wit. But Sidney, working through Walsingham and his uncle Leicester, and most of all through his own golden speech, got from the Queen consent to the lady's retirement from the court, and so greatly disliked a marriage. With a very noble retinue he brought her to his sister at Wilton, where, with that most noble countess, she abides in sanctuary. ”

“ The Illinois regiments fell back slowly, halting at intervals to turn and fire, and were not pursued. One of those Parthian shots struck General Johnston, cut an artery, and, no surgeon being at hand, he bled to death in a few minutes. His body was carried at once by his staff back to Corinth. General Beauregard, at his station at Shiloh Church, was notified of the death, and assumed command. Albert Sydney Johnston was a man of pure life, and, like McPherson, full of the traits that call out genuine and devoted friendships. He was esteemed by many the ablest general in the Confederate service. ”

“ No stain of personal or selfish ambition rests upon his noble character. The nation and the army felt that there was always hope while Sidney Johnston lived, and yet his death was not without a grand and crowning triumph. Well he knew the battle must be won; fully as well he knew, to win the battle, [Pg 24] that charge must be successful. The last vision which fell upon his glazing sight was the flying ranks of the enemy ”

“ His favourite haunts were the Mermaid, and the Falcon Tavern, Southwark. He was engaged in constant squabbles with his contemporaries, and died at last, in 1637, in miserably poor circumstances. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, under a square tablet, where one of his admirers afterwards inscribed the words,
'O rare Ben Jonson!'
Of his powers as a dramatist we need not speak, but present our readers with some rough and racy specimens of his poetry.
EPITAPH ON THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE. Underneath this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse,
Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother;
Death! ”

“ The partizanship of the Englishman is very amusingly brought out in verses 145-154, where we learn that the Scotch king had no captain in his realm equal to the dead Douglas, but that the English king had a hundred captains as good as Percy. A ballad which stirred the soul of Sidney and caused Ben Jonson to wish that he had been the author of it rather than [Pg 22] of all his own works cannot but be dear to all readers of taste and feeling. ”

“ Wesden and I are an old couple, and mayn't keep you waiting so long as you fancy, Sidney. It isn't much money, but——"
"That will do, sir," said Sidney, hastily; "I must support my wife, not let my wife support me. Harriet," turning to the daughter, with an impetuosity almost akin to fierceness, "is it not time to return to Camberwell?"
"Oh! ho!—do you hear that, Wesden?" cried the father.
Mr. Hinchford had forgotten the downfall of his son's air-built castle, in the happiness which he believed would make amends for it to Sidney. And if Sidney were content—why, he was. ”

“ These two men were strong, active fellows, and more to be trusted, perhaps, than the average native; they were employed on the station at times during mustering and shearing, or when the run was short-handed. They could both ride like monkeys, and could speak a few words of queer pigeon English. Alec was glad to see them there, for without the help of Murri he knew they could never find the Whanga gully. He walked up to them and said—
"You go drive yarroman" (horses) "in um stock-yard."
"Yohi" (yes) , "all um yarroman in um paddock?" asked Prince Tom. ”

“ If you can't respect her as you would any other woman, never come into my lodging!"
Sidney was warm with generous glow. He wrung Hewett's hand and stammered incoherent words.
John took new lodgings in an obscure part of Clerkenwell, and seemed to have become a young man once more. His complaints ceased; the energy with which he went about his work was remarkable. He said his wife was the salvation of him. And then befell one of those happy chances which supply mankind with instances for its pathetic faith that a good deed will not fail of reward. ”

“ He sat down, and Master Sandys said gravely: “Men need not be courtiers to have known of a lady of great wealth and high birth, a ward of the King's, and both beautiful and pure. I nor no man else, I think, ever heard aught of the Lady Jocelyn Leigh but what became a daughter of her line.”
A murmur of assent went round the circle. The Governor, leaning forward from his seat, his wife's hand in his, gravely bent his head. “All this is known, lady,” he said courteously.
She did not answer; her eyes were upon the King's favorite, and the circle waited with her.
“It is known,” said my lord. ”

“ Hewett, I won’t hear a word against it; you must and shall let me lend you something to go on with!’
‘I dursn’t, I dursn’t, Sidney! John won’t have it. He’s always a-saying: “Once begin that, an’ it’s all up; you never earn no more of your own.” It’s one of his fancies, an’ you know it is. You’ll only make trouble, Sidney.’
‘Well, all I can say is, he’s an unreasonable and selfish man!’
‘No, no; John ain’t selfish! Never say that! It’s only his fancies, Sidney.’
‘Well, there’s one trouble you’d better get rid of, at all events. Let Clara go to Mrs. Tubbs. ”

“ King was not to hear about it just then, for when Jasper rapped at his door, it was to find that his father was fast asleep.
"See here, Jasper," said Mr. Whitney, happening along at this minute, "here's a nice piece of work. Percy declares that he shall be made miserable to go back to college to-morrow. His mother is able now for him to be settled at his studies; won't you run up and persuade him—that's a good fellow."
"I'm going back to my work to-night," cried Jasper, pulling out his watch, "that is, if father wakes up in time for me to take the train." ”

“ Mr. King pushed into the house with his burden. “Don't anybody know,” he burst out, puffing up the stairs, and scolding furiously at every step, “enough to take better care of this child, than to have such goings on!”
“What is the matter, father?” asked Mrs. Whitney, coming up the stairs, after him. “What has happened out of the way?”
“'TWAS A NAUGHTY HORSE!'”
“Out of the way!” roared the old gentleman, irascibly, “well, if you want Phronsie racing off to the Post Office by herself, and nearly getting killed, poor child! yes, Marian, I say nearly killed!” he continued. ”

“ He had been ever a feeling man, and forgetting the past rebuff he had received—thinking, perhaps, that his cousin was in distress, he started at once in search of him. To do Maurice Hinchford justice, it was on the very day on which he had reached London, and before he had seen his mother and sisters. No assurance of his father that Sidney was in good hands contented him; he must judge for himself. ”

“ I want to see you before you start to send a message to Alec. It will be no use your getting there before evening. I must go now. Beffy, see that Mr. Yesslett has a good breakfast, he has had nothing to-day. And get something for Balchin at the same time." Saying this, with the letter in one hand and the little saucepan of beef-tea in the other, Margaret left the kitchen very thoughtfully.
"Yes, miss, for sure. I likes to see men eat well, and you must be keen, Master Yesslett. Draw up t' table—if y' likes to wait I'll get a cloth. ”

“ John sat with dark brow, his eyes staring on vacancy.
‘It’s right what Sidney says, father,’ put in Mrs. Hewett; ‘we can’t help it.’
‘You may perhaps have done harm when you meant only to do good,’ pursued Sidney. ‘Always being so anxious, and showing what account you make of her, perhaps you’ve led her to think a little too much of herself. She knows other fathers don’t go on in that way. And now she wants more freedom, she feels it worse than other girls do when you begin to deny her. Talk to her in a different way; talk as if you trusted her. ”

“ I would go on if I hadn't a crumb of bread or an ounce of flour," said he, with his old determination; "but I promised mother that I would look after you, and I will."
"Look after me, of course you will, and I after you, you jolly old goose; but go back, I shan't. You may if you like. I shall go on with Murri. I am not afraid."
"Do you mean it?" said Alec, eagerly, and with a glad light once more shining in his eye. "Yes, you do, I see. ”

“ You ought to take her to the Hot Springs, Sidney."
"She's going to Biarritz this summer," said Sidney stolidly, reluctantly withdrawing himself from the plover.
"I wish I could, but Johnstone likes to sit on the edge of a stream back here in the woods and try and hypnotize minnows. We only took a flying trip abroad last fall; it's terrible to have a naturalist for a husband!"
"I thought Astry's taste ran to curio hunting," said Dr. Macclesfield. "I fancied him like the man who pickled a rattlesnake in peach-brandy and brought him home in his wife's hat-box." ”

“ Hansell, looking around the old kitchen. When her glance reached the big box, and pile of bundles scattered about, she clasped her hands and burst into tears. "It's too good to be true," she cried; "I can't believe it."
"Why, the box is there. See it," and Mark unguardedly hopped to his feet, ran up to it, and slapped it triumphantly with a resounding thwack.
"There—Mark Hansell, I've got it!" He turned to see Matilda, too excited to keep still, waving the letter, and hopping from one foot to the other. ”

“ Johnston's family consists of ten persons, though all are not constantly present. He is himself a native of the county of Antrim, in the north of Ireland, his father having possessed an estate at Craige, near the Giant's Causeway. He came to America in the last presidential term of General Washington, having a brother at that time settled at Albany, and after visiting Montreal and Quebec, he fell into company with the sort of half-baronial class of north-west fur traders, who struck his fancy. ”

“ Whitney, "she's always so pleased with them, father."
Mr. King pushed away his coffee-cup, and pulled out his note-book.
"'Punch and Judy,' down that goes," he said, noting it after "phonograph doll." "What else?"
"Can't we have some of those boys up from the Orphan Asylum?" asked Polly, after a minute in which everybody had done a bit of hard thinking. "Phronsie loves to hear them sing when she goes there. Oh! they are so cunning."
"She'll want to give them her best toys and load them down with all her possessions. You see if she doesn't," warned Jasper. ”

“ Sidney, too, had his promptings of obstinate humour. When he distinctly recognised Hewett’s feeling it galled him; he was being treated with gross injustice, and temper suggested reprisals which could answer no purpose but to torment him with self-condemnation. However, he must needs consult his own dignity; he could not keep defending himself against ignoble charges. For the present, there was no choice but to accept John’s hints, and hold apart as much as was possible without absolute breach of friendly relations. Nor could he bring himself to approach Clara. ”

“ King turned away with a mild snort, and then not finding any words to say, picked up the newspaper, and Phronsie, full of her new happiness, looked out the window as the cars sped along.
"There's Thomas!" cried Jasper, at sight of that functionary waiting on his carriage-box as he had waited so many other times for them; now for the jolliest of all home-comings.
"And the girls," finished Polly, craning her neck to look out the car window at a knot of them restlessly curbing their impatience on the platform as the train moved into the station and—"why, Mamsie. Oh, Jasper! how slow we are!" ”

“ He started forward.
"Father," cried Jasper, darting after him, "let me get you a chair over here by the table and some books to look at."
"I want no books," said the old gentleman, now thoroughly determined, by this time looking in the open window of the private office. "Good-morning, sir," stiffly to the middle-aged gentleman sitting before the desk.
This gentleman looked up, nodded carelessly and said, "Excuse me, but I am at present engaged."
"I am Mr. Jasper King's father," announced the old gentleman with extreme dignity ”

“ We are unlucky beggars; everything seems against us; you nearly killed by the myalls, Prince Tom robbing us of our stores, and now all of us to be burnt up alive. There isn't a creek or a pool that we can get into, and the fire is quickly marching up to us. There! Didn't you smell the burning fern just then?"
"Yes; by Jove! it is coming near; but don't be so despondent, Alec. It isn't on us yet. Don't you think that by pushing on to the north or south, as fast as ever we can make the horses go, we might reach the end of the line of fire and head round it? Let us ask Murri." ”