The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1863-04-27

already comfort and competence for YOU
and yours, and better things in prospect"
ats useless talking. think was
not born under lucky star You were.
Mr.. Thornycrolt's son to begin with ;
young, rich, without a tie to fetter you !;
and of course the draft spared you"
"Without tie! Do you call that hap
piness?"
John Morgan's eyes fell beneath that
sad steady gaze of rrproach. He romeul-
bered then one WHO had died in March,
on whose grave tie lone one spring rain
had wept tears which sprang up again in
roses and violets--the gentle girl whom
Ash Thornycroft had loved so long and
well.
Forgive me-" said Mr.. Morgan, in a
low penltent tore.
The other went on:
think you forget yourself u little
when you repine Mt this stroke as if it
were the worst thing that could have hap
pened. Would you give up your wife,
or one of your children even, to escape
from the perils Of this war ?"
"Did you think ] was coward p and
the honest soul looked Indignantly out of
John Morgan's eyes. "lf l were to fall,
what would they doy ! have struggled
to shield them, so FIR as | could, from
want, care, or privation. How are they
fitted to tread the worlds rough paths
alone p
ono, 1 did not take sou for coward.
II had, should not have thought youi
life worth saving. think know how |
should feel in your place. 1t is a place in
which | shall never stand. j am going
to enlist, John. 1t is my duty, for have
nothing to keep ME at home. | am ready
to give all that | have to my country. If
| TALL, ] shall only 60 the sooner where all
my longings tend. What is to hinder my
sparing you to your happy fresiae? l
came to propose a4yselt a. se-ttf euasti--
tute"
at is rot--are you sure it is MOTTO
spare me2 Would you go in any case o.
John Morgan asked, with little doubt in
his voice.
"Do net fear that am going for your
sake. | made up my mind as soon as the
call came for volunteers. / ouly waited
for this very thing-the chance, ii
should not be drafted myself, of saving
some man who was, TO the woman who
loved him. / am glad it is you, John,
my good old friend, to whom | can rem
der this service"
John Morgan was man Of few words
of feelings which lay SO deep that they
seldom rose to the surface; but there was
something which Ash Thornycroft needed
no language TO interpre; in the hook Of his.
eyes, aud The grasp of his hand, as he
hurried out d The room.
Thornycrott WIS ose of Those men with
vein of tenderness in the midst of their
strength which always allies them more
nearly to women than to men. Left alone
with Mrs. Morgan, he said " hat he never
would have said 10 her husband Ii was
when she thanked him, with earnest
words, and sobs and tears Of JOY yet more
eloquent.
"There was one, Mrs. Morgan, who
loved me as well as you love John. You
do not need to thank me. All that ever
could do for any other woman, would do
for her sake. You have seen her you
know how fair and sweet she was but |
think no one save me knows all her puri
ty, her saint.iike goodness. | have had
only one hope since she died; that ]
might be fl to 60 to her. If die in this
good cause. think of me as happy with an
unspeakable happiness. 1t will BE- but
opening the golden gates the sooner. |
shall not see you again, so will bid you
good bye now"
llcr tears fell upon bis hand--her lips
touched 1t. She whispered brokenly her
blessing, the blessing of one who owed to
him more than her life and SO, annoiut-
ed for his work, us it were, by those holy
tears and prayers he went away.
The girls at the door saw his face in the
moonlight, while yet radiant and tender
They ran in to their mother, asking their
childish questions
What made Mr.. Thornycroft look SO
What was he here for
Gather is not going away, Mr.. Thor.
nycroft 10 going in his stead. We shall
keep father at home"
And then woman like, she fell to hug
glng them and crying over them and
jus, then John came back, and took the
three altogether in his strong aruis-
1t was one of the supreme moments of
life which. whether of JOY or grief picture
themselves clearly to our mind and need
no description.
Ash Thornycroft walked away with
firm tread. He turned aside when he
came TO the church. with tho old burying
ground in the rear full of grass grown
mounds. He went in there, and knel,
beside grave on whose head stone the
name Of Constance Ireton CLEANED white
and clearly out in the bright moonlight.
"Oh, my dazzling, my darling ]" he
cried with his lips pressed to the sod
If the dead could hear, that still heart
beneath should have throbbed again to
the accents of such love. Many a night
had he talked to her there, as now with
strange sense OF nearness--A full belief in
the communion of their souls.
"You are not here, know, and vet /
know you hear me. am going away to-
morrow, Gods soldier and yours. Give
me your blessing, Constance, and pray for |
me, you who have already seen the
Fathers face. that | may do nv work |
without faltering, and the end may come