The day has been
clear. The mountains, decorated by the artistic fingers of Jack Frost, loom up in
the sunshine like magnificent, highly-colored, and beautiful pictures.
The night is grand.
The moon, a crescent, now rests for a moment on the highest peak of the Cheat,
and by its light suggests, rather than reveals, the outline of hill, valley,
cove and mountain.
The boys are wide
awake and merry. The fair weather has put new spirit in them all, and possibly the
presence of the paymaster has contributed somewhat to the good feeling which
prevails.
Hark! This from the
company quarters:
Her
golden hair in ringlets fair;
Her
eyes like diamonds shining;
Her
slender waist, her carriage chaste,
Left
me, poor soul, a pining.
But
let the night be e'er so dark,
Or
e'er so wet and rainy,
I
will return safe back again
To
the girl I left behind me.
From another
quarter, in the rich brogue of the Celt, we have:
Did
you hear of the widow Malone,
Ohone!
Who
lived in the town of Athlone,
Alone?
Oh!
she melted the hearts
Of
the swains in those parts;
So
lovely the widow Malone,
Ohone!
So
lovely the widow Malone.
SOURCE: John
Beatty, The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, pp. 78-9
