The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1863-04-23


Wont you jss write on pieth Of paper
Lottie, so he'll know that it is m,neG Do
please do, mama urged Lottie?
The mother wrote, "For Lottie's brave
Charley" will that do? o yes, and she
clapped her hands with tinp shout, and
then wrapped the Pie in the paper.
The box was nearly full, but over and
among it all she pa aked lot of entertain
ing books and LoYAS p,pers, and then he
could read and lend them out among bis
company. For Charley had written her
saying, "All our reading matter consists o
torn volume of Nicholas Nickleby, and
there are twenty ahead of me before it come,
my turn to get it. 1t has gone the rounds
so much that in our mess we could patch
out verbatim rehearsal of it. Send US a
reinforcement of books for the camp fires "
Mother, here Games papa to dinner, said
Lottie with childish gravity, because the ia.
BILE was not spread yet.
There, John, you nail up the box and I'll
get the dinner on the table in twinkling.
John, good natured fellow, went about il
and seemed to strike every nail with o
short emphatic click that said plainly, I'm
in earnest in this.
The table came cut with fright about
Wheel" there was little Gathering Of dish.
es, and then the dinner was ready.
Nary, said John, my blood fairly boiled
to-day, for heard that c,ntenptible cop
perry candidate for-'alking to knot oil
half drunken men about resisting the draft
hate these home secesh thousand fold
more than Southern rebels, and, heaven
knows hate them bad enough. don't
care if he is our neighbor, shall dcspise
him as long as he AMI live. can't bear
these fellows now as well as oaqll before
Charley enlisted. They want to aullify
every effort of our army Well, he took me
in minute or two, and'says blandly, Wha.
do you think of the times? holding out his
hand, which I did not take
Well, if you are ready to be drawn and
quartered, as you say you will b., rather
than submit to the draft, all have got to
say is, I am ready to be in at the quarter.
ing any time.
Something made him in great hurry tC
get home for he slept off very fast.
PEEP NO. IT.
The telegraph quivers, and the dispatch
gives sherman's late retreat from Vicks
burg.
The mother left her untasted breakfast
and went about her daily imperative duties
but oh the look that told what anxietie:
were tugging at her heart
"There were no murmurs no, it was
simply, "How fares it with my first born p
All that day, and the next, and the sue
ceeding, the struggle Of mater 1al tenderness
surged and walled through the chambers ol
her soul, where the image of her boy had
dwelt, but there was no word that meant
ieace on any terms, no word that meant ar
mstice, nothing but loyalty. Then came
that cruel correspondents letter: "Fred
erioksburg over again; our badly wounded
left on the field" No murmur still, but th'
pale lips move, and from between the al
most closed teeth come the fervid words:
"Oh my God could but stand in hi,
| stead, and bear all his wounds and suffer
ings, how gladly would do i'll Child
home and country are all thy gifts, ust
them as thou wilt" The Soldiers And So
ciety saw her in their midst the next day
plying her needle with quiet dignity and
energy. Her countenance was settled by
firm control. only when random mention
was made of the Illinois Legislature, and
then hey eye flashed, and her lip cprled
with soorn for men that could be so recrean
to their country in her hour of need.
Three days more wear their weary round
when the mail bring her tidings. 1t is in
her boys own hand writing. She break.
the seal, and the words meet her eye "Al
right, mother we embarked IN the night
safely, bringing off all our wounded"
PEEP NO. II-A PRIVATE.
had known him only as teacher may
know pupil, when they see them day by
day, meeting the thousand and one little
tests that try their character, and ! hac
marked him always as manly sou!-that
much-a manly soul is q large inheri
tance,
Ages he stood among my school-roou
group as ole of high resolve, one with toe
eagle eye and the strong wings of purpose,
to scale the clouds even, if obstacles were ir
his way. The FIRST promise OF manhood
mantled his young face, and such manhood
it was, so transparent, so truthful, SO ingen-
uous and noble, as was written in his clear
star like eyes. It was impossible to think
be would not take good position, and
stand nobly by it, among his fellow men.
He was the son Of an obscure Scotch
farmer, who had made his chosen home in
our State.
1t was said the blood Of the ancient Earls
of Hamilton ran in his veins, but it matters
not, since it is he who honors them, and not
they him. His lore Of country was as
broad as the American domain, and amona
its people he felt as sovereign as the best
II he voted, he meant to defend.
The social altitude of real manliness may
sometimes dazzle the eye, as does the tor
rent finding its birth under the snowy car
of lofty Ben Nevis, leaping its first cataract