The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1864-07-29
A Life Tragedy:

A Life Tragedy:
Parting scenes are seldom pleasant to wit
ness or to describe. John Hillyer's farewells
with his family certainly had no joyous ele-
ment in them. And yet there we're f-w
words, little display of feeling. He was q
silent man, habitually, his wife no talker, and
their children, as children will be, were under
the spell of their quiet home. And yet
there were aching hearts there-one throb-
bing with heavy, passionate pain under the
soldiers coarse blue coat, another with a
mortal thrill of terror in the poor wife's bo-
som, and the children were sad, but not So
long in being comforted.
John Hillyer, marching away, turned once
at the corner for his last look, ,and his wife saw
this, but checked the cry that rose to her
lips. Scarcely for life itself would she have
uttered it" Come back, oh ! John, come
back to mel!
He was gone, and then-oh! the desert
loneliness that fell on that little home all
the greater that it was felt, not spoken, per.
haps, it gathered round the little family
whose past seemed suddenly blotted out, and
who from that hour began to live intensely
in the present. Almost every day brought
them tidings, any hour might bring them
evil tidings.
Mary Hillyard in all her troubles had q
strange thought of joy-she had not said
one word to discourage her husband when he
told her he thought it right to enlist. 1t was
not her way to arrsy herself in opposition to
her husband. Whenever he announced that
be thought thing was right, she assented
without parley. She had done 50 now
She knew that he made q heavy sacrifice
why should she make it harder to bear and
to consummate by any weak, womanly lam.
entations?
John had not resolved to become soldier
from patriotism alone. Men seldom do act
upon unmixed motives. There is much al
10y of selfshness in their best deeds, their
charities and their seeming sacrifices. John
loved the country which had become Lis by
adoption; he was grateful for the protection
of its laws, and for the freedom from all
kinds Of oppression that he had experienced
here. He firmly believed our country to be,
at least theoretically, and in his own particu
ular case practically, the best government in
the world, and he was the enemy of all who
undertook to subvert it. Still he was poor
man, and l think he would have remained
with his family, to care for and support them
had he not, like thousands of others, been
thrown out of employment by the financial
revolution that followed and grew out Of the
opening incidents Of the rebellion.
A soldiers pay, bounties, and lavish prom
ises Of ample care for soldiers families from
the authorities, decided him to put an end to
his enforced idleness by enlisting. And
these motives, though mixed, were surely
not unworthy ones. They were such as
doubtless turned the scale with thousands Of
others who have made brave soldiers, though
but for just such inducements they would
never have offered themselves in that capac'
ity. Most men with average sensibilltles
would prefer sharing poverty and destitutiou
with their families, to leaving them to en-
counter those evils alone, or to poor depen
dence upon unorganized charity. And ma
nv an one full of enthusiasm for his new life
has yet gone away with a terrible pang a
the thought that suffering might come te
those he loved best through him.
But the poor have not much time for re-
pining. John had always been able to keel
his family in comfort. They had brough
with him from Engl substantial plensh
ing for his small home, and it had been Ma
rvs pride to preserve this in good order
and for the rest Johns wages had easily sup
piled the wants, and left small but gradu
ally increasing surplus But this had bee
drawn upon during the time he was out 9
work, and much reduced, and there was bu
a small amount remaining when he wen
away.
This, with his bounty, was carefully hu
banded, and, with the aid Of the relief funt
received in small weekly sums, Mary Hillye
resolved to supply the family wants by he
own earnings. Burdened with the hous
hold work and the care of her children,
was ot much truly that she could do. b.
= she was unwearied in her efforts, and caref
in her expenditure and size had not 81
croached upon the sum in bank until II
y long illness of her daughter Alice, in Il
winter following Johns enlistment, compe
ed her to do so. Alice was convalescsnt at la
and then, before she was able to be of Il
y least assistance to her mother, the other ch
. dren tell ill, simultaneously, Of some cont
geous disorder to which they had been e
~ posed at the school they attended. F
- months then the mother was unable to a.
y anything to their means Of subsistence
" her own efforts. The fund wasted away
quick degrees, and poverty stared them
the face.
10 The children at last recovered, but NJ
= Hillyer, worn by unceasing efforts, felt h'