Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1864-01-22
A Gift by the Wayside.


sweet fern in the pastures and the blue
wild grapes ripeniag in the woods, while
tbe poor,will sang sadly on the
mossy rails Of the broken down fence
that skirsed the ravine, ann the katyaids
chrped shrilly through the morning glo-
ry leaves above the window.
.Seyon O'Clock? ? echoed siiaa Miller,
lust as though he had not been watching
That slow creeping minute hand for the
Hast half hour. 'He viii soon be here
now-my boy will seen be here
What a strange softening of the rug
ged features, what an unwonted culver
lof the harsh voice there was, when he
uttered tbs two simple words my boy
Yes, i! was bis boy who was coming back
from the smoke Of half score OF battle
fields; no wonder that the thought seat a
tbrill through his iron nature. His sol
dier-his hero.
Surely ought to hear the stage norm
said he, feverishly pacing uP and down
the narrow path, whre the maple leaves
! lay Ike carpet of pale gold. Listen
, Sybil, don't you hear it 2
} Its too early yet, father
The light figure came stehIing out to
= his side, and both together leaned over
!, !, The Garden gate, gazing into the opal
gloom of twilight with wistfnl, searching
y gaze.
! She was not prettier than many anoth-
! er New England girl, yet there was a
delicate type Of beauty in her face and
, form that belongs as much to the "fro2en
north" as its pine forests and cliffs o.
eternal snow. Pale brown hair, viii
s aureata lights crossing its surface at tunes
. ewes like the blue larkspur, and lips tha
'e e had stolen the dewey crimson Of the wio
u rose. In pearls and blue Grape Sybl
~ Miller would have been beauty in hei
: dress Of gay gingham, she was something
y far better and nobler.
). Suddenly the old man started and ut
y tered an indistnct, glad cry.
.1rs he, sybil don't you Gee heyon
the elder bushes. Child, don't hold III
!. back let me go and meet my boy
: !; No, father, you are mistaken it is nc
as m Lawrence. Lawrence is shorter by bal
i. head, and that is not his quick buoy
o. ant step
j. Miller, almost petulantly. Why do thes
of vaerant soldiers go wandering by, giYin
~. honest folks such a start?
ID 4 suppose he did not know we wei
he watching fol Lawrence,' said oybll, SIN
N. ling in the dusk.
= 1t was only this morning that beg
gar, disgracing--I won't say wearing
~. the United States uniform, came by an
Nd had the nudacity to ask me for money.
me did you give him somethingT
md Give him sometbing? repeated Sia
ne, angrily, I'd seen him starving first
,n5 have no patience with these strolIins be
y. gars. Here's another specimen OF
an. kind, suppose. No, my man, you ne
rid not trouble yourself 20 reoite your p''ii
veil story.
For the tail figure, with hating st
and coat tbickly powdered with dust b
ION paused in front of the gate, and Sy
Ian could Just discern dark, piercing sy
D., to and a forehead curiously traversed ol
on crescent-shaped scar, apparently nea
rea' healed.
4 have nothing for you said 81
and sharply. i know what you would $
on't mt it's no use. If you are desery
man the proper authorities will 'ake care
ever Won. and if you are not, the county
has !. the best place for you. Don't tell
US about ,cant ; what have you done
we your bounty money and yopr pay II
urn are really what you pretend to be
o De soldier ?
: the Even through the dim twilight ;
'g to copld see the scarlet flush rising to
nave nave Scared forehead.
to do Sir, you are mistaken, did not be
want No, you'd prefer to play the bully
, and no doubt But I'm not proper sub
'Pins for Won. SO be about your business
'""N man.
lere's The soldier turned silently away
as on step more haltng perhaps and a h
zen a more depressed, and passed slowly
wa'' the gathering dusk
ind of Father whispered Sybil, reproacl
f she ly, had you forgotten that our LawF'
er IN too is a soldier 2
use o No returned Silas, abruptly, i
and l membered it, and it convinced me al
ligger more that man, paid and pensioned
our Lawrence, has no need to beg OIL
from public highways.
But, father, he did not beg