The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1864-11-10
watch in the battered. Shattered old wall.

v }
tian ?'' taltered the preacher, as he knelt
there on the dark floor.
The white lips Of the death stricken
man trembled, but made no sound
Then, with the agony of death upon
him, he rose to a sitting posture. For the
first time he spoke:
"Christian ~ he echoed In deep tone
which thrilled the preacher to the heart,
"will faith give me back my honor? Come
with me-with me, far over the water
Ha we are there This is my native
home. Yonder is the church in which I
knelt in childhood-yonder, the green on
which | sported when boy. But another
flag than that waved wnen [ was child.
And, listen, old man, were [ to pass the
street as passed when child, the babes
in their cradles would raise their tiny hands
and curse me. The graves in yonder
churchyard would shrink from my foot
steps, and yonder flag would rain a baptism
of blood upon my heart"
That was az awful death bed. The
minister had watched the 'last night"
with hundred convicts in their cells,
and yet never beheld a scene so terrible as
this
Suddenly the dying man arose. Hc
tottered along the floor. With those
white fingers, whose nails are blue with
the death chill, he threw open the valise.
He showed a military coat, trimmed with
silver, an old parchment, and piece Of
cloth, that looked like the wreck of a bat
tie flag.
"Look ye, priest, this faded coat is
spotted with my blood ~ he cried, as old
memories seemed stirring at his heart
planted the stars on Ticonderoga. That
bullet hole was pierced in the fight at
Queoec,-now am a-let me whisper in
your ear"
"Now, help me, priest" he said, in a
voice growing suddenly tremuloIs, 'help
me to put on this coat of the blue and
silver For You see," and CHASTITY smile
came over his face, "there is no one to
wipe the cold drops from my brow; no
wife, no child must meet death alone;
but I will meet him, as I met him in the
battle, without fear
While he stood arraying himself in that
worm eaten coat Of blue and silver, the
good preacher spoke to him of faith in
Jesus. Yes, of that great faith which
pierces the clouds of human guilt, and
rolls them back from the face Of God.
"Faith." echoed the strange man, who
stood there erect with the death light in
his eye, "faith can it give me back my
honor? Look ye, priest, there, over the
waves, sits George Washington, telling to
his comrades the pleasant etory of the
eight years war-there, in his royal hall,
sits George of England, bewai!ing in his
idiotic voice the loss of his colonies. And
here am TT, who was the first to raise
the flag of freedom, the first to strike the
blow against that king-here am I, dying
like dog =
The awe stricken preacher started back
from the lock Of the dying man, while
throb-throb--be the death watch In
the shattered wall.
"Hush silence along the lines, there"
he muttered, in that wild, absent tone, as
though speaking to the dead; ''silence
along the lines Hark you, Montgomery,
we will meet there In victory or in death
Hist! silence, my men, not a whisper, as
you move up those steep rocks! Now on,
my boys, now on! Men of the wilderness,
we will gain the town. Now up with the
banner of the stars up with the flag of
freedom, though the night is dark and the
snow falls! Now-now," shrieked the
death stricken man, towering there in his
blue uniform with his clencEed hands
moving in the air-''now, now one blow,
and Quebec is ours ~
And look. His eyes grow CLASSY With
that word on his lips, he stands there
ah what hideous picture of despair
erect, livid, ghastly. There tor moment,
and then he falls! He is dead All!
look at that proud form, thrown cold and
stiff upon the damp floor. In the CLASSY
eye there fingers even yet horrible energy,
sublimity of despair.
Who is TIE strange man, dying here
alone in this garret, this man who, in all
his crime, still treasured up his blue uni
form and faded flag
Who is this thing of terrible remorse-
this man, whose memories link something
of heaven and more of hell !?
Let us look at that parchment and that
flag.
The old minister unfolded that faded
fag--it was blue banner, cleaning with
thirteen stars.
He unrolls that parchment. It is
ColcncPs commission in the Continental
Army, addressed, BENEDICT ARNOLD!
And there, in that rude hut, while the
death watch throbbed like heart in the
shattered wall-unknown, unwe2t, IN all