Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 09.djvu/202



Vol. IX.

At a Texas State Fair some four or five years since the President of the Confederate States was seen turning, with eyes bedimmed by tears, away from a picture at which he had been silently gazing. Shall we for a moment glance at this picture? It is one of McArdle's splendid battle paintings. On a canvas of five feet by eight is seen one of the wild charges in which the red battle banner of the South was borne on to victory. In the immediate foreground there is a pause in the rush; and the irregular lines to the right and left are sweeping past the magnificent group which arrests our attention. A stalwart veteran, with herculean strength, has just seized a gallant charger by the foam-flecked rein, and is turning the rearing steed beck to the rear. The mingling of emotion in the rider's mind is wonderfully depicted. The