The Shasta courier., 1870-07-16
A. Soldier Romance.

During the late war great many arti-
cles of clothing for the use OF the army
were manufactured in St. Louis Nearly
all the sewing was done by poor girls, hud-
died together in upper rooms of tall build
ings with but few windows. The work
was tedious, hard and the pay small
Greedy army contractors had no room in
their avaricious greenbackloving hearts for
pity OF poor sewing girls The city was
full of soldiers, gathered from all parts of
the West. The prospects for ever marry
ing, to many of those girls, often, no doubt,
seemed small. The temptation to exchange
the needle and want for shame and gild-
ed palace, to many of them was CREST.
Few Of them. however, chose TO make the
exchange. Bu1>his has nothing particu.
larry ~ Go with what We started out ;ei
write. One day in 1853, pretty girl,
employed in one of those cloth making
establishments, rather unthoughtedIy stitch
ed her name and address inside a grey
WOODEN shirt, which she had just finished,
in such place that when on soldier the
Letters would come Just over his heart.
The garment was passed to the foreman,
accepted as being all right, and placed in
a box with hundreds Of others to be ship
ped, and the fair worker of the name scarce
y again thought of what she had doue
until one unusually cheerful, bright day,
some four months af,erward, she received
letter. 1t was from the army, too from
a stranger, i'll strange regiment, from
orr h., i 4 Ixr,b. Il
mean. She didn't know who the writer
was, but III ide ~ her MUD no harm could
result from answering his letter, and con
sequently did 50. Many letters followed
The soldier WIS modest, aud elegant iu his
language, and The girl had r-asou to respect
hun. The sollier letters, after aw il :,
became very interesting, and were looked
for very anxiously by the sewing CIR
Ditto tn the sold er. He whiIed away
many an otherwise Il onofon Dui hour writ
lDg to her. Many an otherwise sad aud
lionel y evening she pleasantly passed in
scrbbling To- him Que .venlng, in 1854,
while on bis way home on re enlistment
furlou$h, the unknown writei called at the
humble home of the girl on Morgan street,
and introduced himself 1t would sound
story-ike to say that they both came to the
conclusion at the first meeting that they
loved each other, but such is the truth.
Tie stayed N St. Louis several days longer
than he intended. He came near forget.
ting he had mother, father, broth, rs aud
sl-ters, with prior claims upon his society
He hually went home, but when be return.
ed to the field he returned via ST. Louis,
and while there called again at the little
hoase away out on Morgan street. He
returned to his regiment at the proper
time. The girls letters then were the Joy
of his life. Without them, camp life
would have been unendurable. She was
quite as deeply interested in his efusions.
She would sit and sew for hours. and
wonder II he would not wear some of the
garments she was makin5-and think if
she were certain he would know how nice
she would make them. No use of length
enlng out short story Some such
state of affairs as described existed until
the hnal dlsbanding of the army. At that
time he did not return via the city, so dear
to him fol the treas ure it held He went
home first, and VIII, n he did go down he
brought away the sewing girl as his wife
Shortly after the ending of the ceremony
ne explained to his blushing bride how he
procured her address by showing her
piece OF coarse grey flannel with Julia
-, ST. Louis, No." upon it. He was
the boy as had worn the shirt, and she was
the girl as made it. He was an Iowa edi-
tor, and now lives in Polk county. The
same girl makes shirts for him yet, and
also fer five years old boy who calls the
two of them pa and ma -Des Moines Reg
lister.