The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1875-12-01
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the ,Noyembersp Of l869,smuch the same a.

= - !!7z71 ~ 7'F=7sE7-T - ri Ii Il
i sthe, Noyember, pf 1865. much the same a.
she had sat there in the November of
four years before, and she wiped Tier
glasses, which Had crown dim with: the
II know it don't seem like Thanksgivin'
season. Deacon Brown answered sadly +;
"still we ought to be thankful for what
we have enjoyed .@
! sob, dear! oh, dear!'' cried Mrs.
Brown, breaking down completely, and
folding her arms upon the arm of the
rocking chair she laid her head upon them
and sobbcd. IL can't be thankful when
[ think our boys gone-all the one we
had left to love and care for us in our old
age. I try to think Of it, sometimes, but
| can't shut my eyes 'thout seein. him
lynn in the grass, dead or dyih'. Poor
boy! Poor jamie! know he thought
Of you an me, an Susan, and sometimes
| wake up in the night, thirkin' how like
as not he KEEP calm for us when he died,
an we couldn' hear nor answer him, an
| the poor boy had to die all alone, so fur
away from home. Oh, my bey!-my
boy!' and the sorrowful woman rocked
herself to and fro in her grief, as many
| another Northern mother has done, ave,
and Southern mother, too.
''lf he was fur away from US an his
arthly home,' Deacon Brown said, SOL
EMMY, ''he was jest as near to God as he
would have been here in the house where
he was born. 'Twan't but little WAYS
from that battlefield to his everlastin'
home. I'm, cemlorted to think o. that,
Rachel 4 : q ! -, = g. : Il ~
TT know all that,'' sobbed Mrs. Brown,
t'but--I!Iored HIM so!''s%Go1&I
z:Don't scry,mother.'' Susan got up
from the cradle, where she had Just laid
chubby, red.cheeked baby. down to
sleep, and came to Mrs, Browns side.
1--WE can't help having sorrowful
thoughts for James, and wishing that
God could have spared him to us little
longer; but there's one consolation-he's
better off than we are, and we shall meet
him in Heaven. When I think of that, I
can't help having thankful thoughts
| and she bent down and kissed her mother
in-law's wrinkled face.
Il know!' Mrs. Brown said, wiping
her eyes. .'If it want for that thought,
| don't know what Id do. miss him so
sometimes. So does father, though he
don't say much about it,
$50 do we ALL" said Deacon Brown,
| with far-oR look in his eyes. Perhaps
he was looking with eyes Of faith to the
land beyond the river, where he believed
his boy was waiting for the loved enes
II guess, on the whole, We had Better
do somethin' toward gettin' up dinner
to.morrer," Mrs. Brown said, half hour
later. s''rwon't do 20 let the custom
drop, you know; an mebbe twill 'liven
us up a little. she added, with sigh.
So they went to work, and ere long the
kitchen was FULL Of all kinds of savory
odors. You would have missed the old,
CHEEKY laugh of Mrs. Brown had you been
there. The shadow Of war lay over that
and where, OF old. laughter rang and hap.
py voices echoed, tears fell and weary
faces told of heavy hearts.
'There, the baby's walked up Susan
said, as growing voice came throug h the
kitchen door. ''llear him talking. to his
grandpa .-i
''Bess his dear little hearth Mrs.
Brown exclaimed, with quite as much
pride and tenderness in her face and tone
as there had been in Susan's. eve
shouldn't know how to get along without
him, should VIC? He's about ali the sun.
shine we've got left, now Jamie's gone.'.'
II think he looks more and more like
James, said Susan. .-.....
And so they worked, always talking
and thinking Of "Jamie." Did they make
pics or beat up cakes, Mrs. Brown was
sure to tell how much he liked them; and
if they spoke of baby, Susan was ready
to tell of some little trick or look or ges.
ture which reminded her of the husband
>he had lost. IT,.
Thanksgiving Day dawned beautifully
bright and clear. There were services at
church: as usual, and Deacon Brown har.
messed up old STEADY" and filled the old
red sleigh box Drumming full of hay; ''for
how he Al gued. ''could horse feel
thankful, standing out in the cold, if he
had nothing to eal?"
Susan could not help crying when she
remembered that other Thanksgiving Day
four years before. Now everything
was So changed. p. An -. unknown
grave held the brightest part Of
her life, and hopes that had been bright
and full of PROMISE had gone down with
the murky sun on that dreadful battle.
day when James Brown fell fighting in
his :country's defense. I am afraid there
were many hearts in ths congregation
that day full of such or similar sorrowful
thoughts as those which rose up in Su-
san S heart, or expressed themselves on
Nrs. Browns kind old facc--,for there
we're many graves in Baskerville ceme-
terry where soldier boys were sleeping,
and many, many more on the battle