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HUMA..,,\ITY IN WAR. ] 03
3. War does not always harden th e soldier's heart,
or crush within it feelings of humanity, even toward
his enemies. Nothing in history is more curi ous, or
more creditable to human nature, th an th e readiness
with which enemies become fri endly during a truce,
or even in an accidenta l lull in th e fighti ng.
4. In the American Civil War, a party of Northern
soldiers -came face to face with a troop of South ern ers
in front of a farmhouse. When the order to att ack
was about to be giv en, a little girl, seeing her pet
kitten in dang er, rushed from the farmhouse to a tree
in th e line of fire, and called out, " Kitty, kitty, come
down !" The soldiers pau sed, then they laughed, and
then they cheered ; and from both sides several men
ran forward to help th e girl , and to warn her of the
danger she was in. After that, fighting was out of
the question. Northemers and Southern ers were soon
exchanging tobacco and sharing th eir rations in the
most friendly way.
5. After the battle of Inkermann , a Russian and
a Frenchman, both severely wound ed, found themselves
lying side by side. As th e cold incr eased with
the advance of night, th ey drew nearer to each other.
Soon the Russian , in spite of his shivering, fell asleep
from sheer weakness. " Then he awoke towards morning,
he found himself comfortably wrapped in a second
overcoat-in addition to his own-s-while his French
friend lay beside him, dead: needless to ask whose
was the second overcoat. Th e Russian carried a
button of that coat in his pocket till his dying day.
6. At Waterloo, a Hi ghland soldier, seeing the
colour-sergean t of his regiment fall with the flag,
rush ed forward in the face of a cavalry charge to save