Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1864-01-12
THE SOLDIERS LETTER.
BY T. s. ARTHUR.

when did you hear from Thomas p
A young lady had stopped at the door of
I small house, standing at the outskirts o.
a >'illage 10 Penusy lvauia, and asked this
o,ss, 'qn OF woman who sat working on q
a., is m, re than two months since
h..,d. word from him. replied the wo.
mar, in n half tI'nnbled, half complaining
tone Then rising, ,'he added. 'WOn't you
come in, Miss Annie! u
The young lady accep ed the lnvitati9n
and as she took the proter.a char, said :
Two months is lob,c time DOT TO have
+ card from your son, Mrs. Rodgers "nere
is be?' Nv,
The last news had came from " u
liamsburg, just after the battle. lie Sc ~
me three or four lines, to sag he wasn't
hurt
And you've heard nothing sincef'
Nothing, Miss Annie. He NAV be
dead or prisoner, for all l know. Oh,
dear, dear! lis worrying the very life
out of me-
When did you write to him last ? in
quired the young lady.
Mrs. Il moved uneasily, and shame
| flush covered her face, as she replied:
i havD't taken q pen IN my fingers
these five years. They're all cramped
| with hard work, and couldn't write tit to
be seen.
"A single line from your hand, Mrs. R.,
bIotted and serawlel though it might
have been, would have corne to Thomas
in his far away camp as m'st welcome
visitor from home. Think of bis COM
rsdes getting letters by every mail willie
there came not gUrd or @ token for
him.
oh! bat Miss Annie, I've sent him two
pairs of stockings knit with my own hands,
and he's never So mach aslet me know that
he received them
"A letter should have gone with tbem,'
said the young lady. The stockings, if
they ever reached him, were but dumb
signs, loving sentence, even if he had
been obliged to sDell it out slowly from
among i'll formed, would have spoken to
his heart and warmed it with living
pleasure. Write 20 your son, Mrs. 4 =
HBthiGg that you can send hin will 90
Thomas half SO much good as q letter from
his mother. A single line will be pre-
ciOus. Don't let him any longer have the
feeling, among his comrades, that he alone
has no one to care for him, or send him
sweet remembrances.'
q don't believe can write, Miss Annie,
said Mrs. Rodgers.
Try. Have you pen and inkr
NO, Miss As told you just now. l
| haven't bad pen in my fingers these five
years; and don't believe could compose
| letter, even If L had che skill to write it
| CUT
'l'll be back again in little while, with
| pen, ink anG paper. Between US, Thomas
must have IettsI.'
On Annie's return With writing materi.
ale. Mrs. r. still reluctant to undertake
the unaccustomed task of pe1ning a letter,
sat down, half by force. aud made sundry
awkward attempts to form words and sen,
fences by way of practice, before essayiug
| the epistle, which her ardent young visitor
had made up her mind should be produced
and mailed to the absent young soldier that
day.
Very well donel Of course you can
write = said Annie, encouragingly as she
watched the efforts of Mrs. r. Now take
sheet Of paper, aud just think you are
talking to him. Write down what ever
you would like to say, just as much abOat
home, end what is going on here, that you
thiEk would interest him, as you call 10
mind. Take your time ~ it, and don't
feel hurried. I'll come round again in the
course of an hour, and see what you have
| done. Then we'll both 90 over it, and Ill
make all the corrections needed, so that
| you can copy it out fairly. My word for
| it, there'll be nice letter for Thomas, that
| will do nis heart good
In an hour Annie came back, as she bad
promised. Mrs. r. had filed two pages of
paper with rather bad spelled sentences,
but the matter was all right as far as it
went. Annie made all needed corrections,
and then waited until Mrs. Rodgers had
copied the letter, which she folded and d.
rected for her.
Shall mail 1t for your
IF you please said Mrs. Rodgers.
And the young lady went away, taking
the letter. Since learning that Thomas
Rodgers, whom she very well remembered,
bad not once received letter from his
mother, although he had been absent COR
over year, she had felt pity and concern
for the young man, whom she remembered
as little wild in his habits before he went
into the army. This had made Der more
urgent that the mother should do her du-
ty. The letter was as well as could have
been expected under the circumstances
Still, as Annie's thoughts went off to the
distant camp, and dwelt on the young
mans particular case, it did not seem to
her all that he needed.
Il will writs to himp she said, as the
case continued to dwell in her mind, pre-
sentad itself in stronger and stronger light
He was once, for q short time, my sch0l-
ar in sunday school, ami that will be my
warrant
So she wrote him brief but pointed and
earnest letter, touching bis duties as sol
der and man. Not in a superior, lectu.
ring tone, but 10 a kind, suggestive way,
and in language calculated to touch bis
feelings and arouse his better nature.
An officer sat in his tent, near Gaines
Mills, Va, three days previous to the as
sauIt on the right wing Of our army before
Richmond.