Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1867-12-26
'Thank fortune, I've enough left that /

phreu ioou ieit from tne STORE PROVIDED by
Nancys hand as he was about leaving home,
and of this he made well rclished meal.
II wonder what Nance has for supper, "
he mused to himself. "Wish was there to
get cup of her tea; such stuff as this isn't
fit for any body to drink
Still there was no particular point to the
wish, only a momentary pang crossed his
mind,as he recollected the warm cup Of tea,
well loaded and arranged board, and genial
smile which ever met him after days toll
was ended. R,3a
And the first night Of his soldier life pass
ed. To be sure, sleeping upon board,
with one thickness of blanket beneath him,
was not quite what he had been used to,
and seemed more and more painful at each
successive hour. But daylight came, and
Richard was early astr.
sBread and coffee, with some cold meat,
fol, breakfast" exclaimed tent-matc, en-
tering as the morning meal was announced.
"Ah, that will do very we'll" remarked
our hero, as, armed with cup and plate, he
sailed forth. v gNiif hH7
Coffee and cold corned beef were among
his favorites, and now that he was to make
the best Of the life before him, he felt sure
it would be comparatively easy task, could
he have such breakfast as now awaited
him. True, as be. walked back to the tent
again, he realized that neither the coffee nor
meat smelled as when prepared by bis wife.
But that was of no consequence; he must
expect imperfections. asAa
Seated in the tent, he placed portion Of
the meat in his mouth. It was Instantly re-
moved Whether it had long existed in the
form of meat is uncertain; but quite eyiden,
did it appear to Richard that its best days
were far past. Not even the prospect of
possible hunger before noon could induce
him TO make second attack. The bread
was somewhat better than upon the former
occasion, and after eatinga few mouthfus
he took a draught Of coffee. Waugh! 1t
was villainous compound, little resembling
the pure and palatable deeoction prepared
by his wife. Still he managed to drink a
portion OF it, and the numerous matters re.
quiring his attention during the forenoon
drove away thoughts of appetite which oc-
casionally intruded.
Dinner came, Bread and soup. Now
there must be something eatable, for nothing
could be simpler than soups in general. He
knew that his wife made them in multi
tude of different dresses,so that it must be
very easy matter. But surely his wife never
made anything like this The original
flavor, which might have been passable, had
been SO disguised by the generous scorching
1t had received that he could not distinguish
it. Beside II was inordinately salt, and the
small quantity he managed to eat kept him
drinking of the worse than Indifferent well
water with which the encampment was sup
piled. a4a 50 ~ s0sia afsAae
Day after day passed, and the bill of fare
was not varied very much, neither was it
essentially improved in quality Richard
had determined to be true soldier, and
one Of the first duties which lay before him
was to adapt himself to soldiers fare. And
although it required the full play of all his
philosophy and mental energy, he gradu-
ally succeeded in mastering appetite, and
ate whatever he could obtain as mechani-
cally as any machine would have perform
ed a piece of work. \
A year had passed, and Richard Nash,
with thousands of others, was upon II long,
weary march, half fstarved for the want of
rations, and utterly unable to obtain them,
as supply train intended for them had
been successfully "gobbled up, by the reb-
els. He would not have been fastidious
then, could food have been placed before
him. All no, for starving men are never
grumblers. AT length the column halted
for an hour, and while others were idly be-
moaning their hunger, Nash drew from his
haversack that which seemed treasure.
1t was merely small piece ofarmy bread,
water soaked and muddy, which he had
picked up in the road from beneathe the
feet of his companions. Not an inviting
morsel, surely, yet 1T was precious to that
hungry man. He ate it almost ravenonsly,
and then threw himself upon the grass, en-
deavouring vainly to sleep.
In few minutes the joyous cry went
along the column that the mail had not been
captured by the enemy, but had arrived in
safety. And soon aftorward letter was
placed b the hands of Richard Nash from
home. Zone sentence in that letter he read
and rel kead, as though nothing else had any
| iptprpgf fpr hin, pI ,l,ct
read -
81 am tired tonight, yet happy. Ellen is
to be married in two days, and have as
sisted in the preparatory baking to day.
such rows OF cake, and stacks OF pies! 1t
would do you good to see them. And
mother praises them, which takes off half
the fatigue should otherwise feel. How
we all wish you could be here to help us
devour them"
'.lf she knew what ate last, she wouldn't
write about wedding cake,' he laughed, at
length, in thought to himself ''But she
needn't hint SO strongly about her mothers
praise. I'd praise her, too. if were there.
| declare, l feel myself worse than dog
when l think how well she used to do, and
l continually finding fault. But never
mind. Ill make it all up if ever live to
get home"
Richard lived to get home, and the lesson
he had learned was not forgotten. Nancy
found that her efforts were appreciated, the
cloud was gone, and to-day she is among
the happiest of wives.
Higher Grade of Social Recreations.