Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-08-21

UvUO&SSe
MOWER Coz
solved to leave a place which could NJ
longer havo any attraction for hlm
} Edith neither confirmed nor denied tll
account. She was plainly unconscious
or smiliDgly indifferent, when the sub
ject was broached in her presence. In
deed, her apparent insensibility wa
too extreme to be regarded as alto getl
er sincere by those who had remarked
the interest, never disguised, will
which she had regarded the absen
young man.
Sandys never returned ; the stirring
events of the following months occupied
our hearts and minds to the exclusion
OF all local topics, and he was forgot
ten. In the fall We organized wide
awake associations and took part ii
torchlight professions. All winter lont
the gloomy anticipation Of war smoul
dered in our breasts, to be startled into
fame by the shock that reused th,
whole country. Our young men wer.
missed, first one and tnen another
from their accustomed places. ON
girls made havelocks and knit stock
ings and wrote innumerable letters.
As you know, I obtained position
as surgeon of volunteers. Edith anG
Laura, despite much opposition on thu
part of their friends, succeeded, a:
they generally did, in following thci1
own sweet wills, aud it happened thai
in June, 1864, they were acting a,
nurses under my direction, at the pava
hospital ut Annapolis. I confess thai
I at first doubted whether these young
girls had courage and capacity to fulfil
the trying duties demanded of them
but my doubt gave place to admirinf
wonder as I noted the unshrinkine
firmness; the grave, plying gentleness
they brought to the performance o
their work.
Our patients were mostly exchanged
prisoners in every stage Of debility and
loathsome disease. It is idle for me
to speak of the sickening horrors We
Witnessed, the indescribable suffering
We strove, too often vainly, to relieve
One day I was summoned to q new
case, hopeless one, Us I saw at the
first glance. As we afterwards learned,
the prisoner, as an officer of q negro
regiment, had been treated with more
than usual severity, and his release
had only been determined when it was
found that he was in dying condition.
Injured as Twas to such sights, yet on
beholding the ghastly figure I involun-
tarily shrank and shivered. NJ such
weakness was betrayed by the brave
girl who had reached the scene before
me. Tenderly as his mother might,
she lifted the matted hair and bathed
the shrunken temples, and strove with
anxious attention to gain some sign
that the poor patient realized that in
his last moments he was cared for by
friendly hands.
! Suddenly the drawn muscles of his
face relaxed; the mouth fell into
natural curves, the glazed eyes bright
ened, and in that momentary trans
fguration we recognized Robert
Sandys. Half lifting his head, he
gazed into the face of his purse.
Edith" he said; and almost in the
Inference he fell back on his pillow,
dead.
The next day we buried him. We
three who had once known him living,
snatched from our pressing cares q
brief time to follow his remains to the
grave. Edith wept silently as the
buriel services was read. Such tears
were but a natural tribute to render to
the memory of the man who had loved
her. Sand whom she had loved z"
cannot say that. Frank and gracious
as she IS ordinarily, she is also curious.
~ reticent on subjects which concern
her nearly, and not the dearest oi
friends might venture to put such q
question to her.
Well, our war experiences are so far
behind us in the past that sometimes
they seem to us almost like distressing
dreams which we do not willingly re-
call, although they will haunt us un.
hidden. Our village in externals is not
greatly changed. Good DR.. Abbott is
dead his place is filled by a Congre.
gational minister of the modern type
fonder of his horse than Of his book,
and much better at lyccum lecture
than doctrinal sermon. Laura is his
helpful and popular wife. From the
young doctor Ihave become the middle.
aged one, and my company is no longer
sought by the youths and maidens
but am invited to elderly tea-drink.
lngs, and expected to entertain spin.
sters and widows whose ages arc sup.
posed to coincide with my own.
Edith, she herself says, is an old
maid but she does not in the least
fulfill the conventional idea of one.
She is entirely her own mistress, and,
her means being not inconsiderable,
she might take any position she chose
in our small world, or crafty reasona-
bic aspirations in wider sphere. But
she has adopted what the gossips call
a singular and unaccountable course.
At her grandfather's old house she
maintains quite q colony of children OF
all compilations, from the purest eau
causian in appearance to the most
thick-lipped and wooly-headed of little
Africans, But the little waits have all
some portion of negro blood, and some
OF them were born in slavery. No fine
lady pets are they, but immortal beings
in training to lead useful and honora-
BILE lives lives.
s'What would you have me do7"
said Edith, in reply to some remon-
STRANGE. "All who have more money
than they know what to do with owe
some debt to the poor and helpless.
ct me pay mine in my own way"
10 me she said; my friend, I must
have some definite object in life, or
life isn't worth having. have no
genius, as you know; if 1 were an
artist or author my eccentricity, as
people call it, might find it's outlet in
other directions. As it is, nv work
suits me, and think I may hope am
doing some good in my day and gen.
eration."
=, And as she laughed and held out her
band to me with the old gay cordiality,
was silenced if not convinced.
But you thought all the time that
it was pity Miss Edith refused to
become happy and honored wife in
stead of clinging to her lonely estate
and her strange scheme for a life times
occupation and pleasure 3"
never said that " reioined the
doctor with some asperity - but see
my watch tells me that the dinner hour
is approaching, and my stomach sec-
onds the adnonition. Shall We 20
home 2"
Simultaneous Death Of Two Sisters.
The family Of MIR. John A. Mellow.
ell, OF Wilmington, Del, were sadly
afflicted on Wedneatlav- 9Th INST tw1,