RECREATIONS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 150, 12 January 1872, Page 6

RECREATIONS.

No». VI.-—A CHAPTER OF BLUNDERS , • / : . .-MISTAKES. u i ■?.-, ;„,:•. i" t ;.j:. f;

(Concluded frtiin bur Idst.J

MISTAKE AS TO PEBSON. ■. ,A mistake that had neajlyied to much. .> more serious consequences is mentioned: ? by Sir C. W. Dilke was out West in one of the rude frontier towns, where horse-stealing has to he carefully guarded against. - A man riding down the street on : ja male, heard a shot behind,him, and afc • the same instant his hat fell off into the mud. On picking it up, he found that a J bullet had gone through it, leaving a small round hole in each side of it. . Looking 4 round him in horror, he beheld a gaunfcl miner, revolver in hand, who said, grimly, —"T guess, stranger, that's my mule!"

The " stranger" politely explained when, and where the mule was bought, whereupon the miner professed himself satisfied —with a " Guess I was wrong, stranger let's liquor!" During, the civil war in America, Confederate General Polk made a still more narrow escape, owing to one of those mistakes which frequently occurred from the pale blue of the Federal uniform and the bluish grey of the Confederates being so much alike. Polk thus described the adventure to Colonel Fremantle:—

" Well, sir, it was at the battle of Perryville, late in the evening—in fact, it was. when Liddell's Brigade came into action. -jShortly after its arrival I observed a body of men, whom I believed to be. Confederates, standing at an angle .to this brigade, and firing obliquely at the. newly-arrived;tr ! oops. My adjutants being, allaway with messages to different parts, of the field,, I put .spurs to my horse, cantering up to the colonel of the regiment that was firing, asked in angry tones what he meant by shooting at.our own.men. " He said, with surprise, '.I don't think there can be any mistake. I am sure they

are the-enemyl' " * Enemy !' I exclaimed, ' I have just left them myself. Cease firing! your,name, sir ?' ." 'My name is Colonel A— , of the Fifth Indiana'. And who, suv pray, are" ' your "Then, for the first time, I discovered* with, a start, that, he was a Yankee officer and that I was in rexir of the enemy's lines* > I saw there was nothing for it but too brazen it out. My dark blouse; and the increasing, obscurity, befriended me, so; r shaking my fist in:his face with the words 7 "' I'll soon show" you, sii*, who I tpred down the line, shouting in an authoritative tone to the Yankees to stop firing." As I did so, I experienced a sensation, like screwing,, up my back, expecting every moment a rush of bullets after-me. I was afraid to increase my pace until I got to a 'small copse, when t put in my spurs, and galloped back to my:. men."