Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1877-01-26
RlcHARD DOUsLED,CE.
BIZ CHARLES DICKENS:
lcoSrrvrEp FROM YESTERDAY


raise his head "Tauniou My preserv-
er, my guardian angel, my witness! Dea'-
est, truest, kindest of human beings
Taunton For Gods sake! ~
The bright, dark eyes-so very. very
dark now in the pale iace-,miled upon
him; and the hand he had kissed thirteen
years ago laid itself tondy on his breast.
"Write to nv mother. You will see
home again. Tell her how We became
friends. IL will comfort her, rs il COM
forts me-"
He spoke no more, but family signed
for moment towards his hair as it Hui
tered In The wind. The ensign under
stood him. He smiled again when he saw
that. and gently turning his face over on
the supporting arm as il Tor rest. died,
with his hand upon the breast in which he
had revived soul.
No dry eye looked upon Ensign Rich
ard Doubledick that melancholy day. He
buried his friend on the q I'D. and became
lone, bereaved man. Beyond his duty
he appeared to have but Two remaining
cares In hfe--onc, to preserve the little
packet of hair lie was 10 give To Taunt"n's
mother; tho other TO encounter that
French officer who had rallied The men IN
der whose fire Taunton fell. A new le-
gend now began To circulate among our
troops II WAS that, when he aud the
French officer came face 10 face once
more, there would be weeping Ia France.
The war went on-and through IL went
the exact picture OF the French officer on
the other-unlil the battle OF Toulouse
was fought. Ia the returns sent home ap
peared these words :--"Severely wounded
but not dangerously, Lieutenant Richard
Doubledick.
At midsummer time In the yoar 1914.
Lieutenant Richard Doubedick, now II
Drowned soldier seven-and thirty years oil
age, came home to England invalided.
He brought the hair with him, near his
heart. Many a French officer had he
seen since that day; many dreadful
night in searching with men and lanterns
for his wounded had he relieved French
officers lying disabled; but The mental
picture and the reality had never come to-
gether.
Though he was weak and suffered pain
he lost not an hour in getting down To
Frome In Sonersetshire, where Tauntou's
mother lived. In the sweet compassion
ate words that naturally present them
selves to the mind 10 night, "he was the
only son of his mother and she was
widow"
:. 1t was Sunday evening, and the lady
sat at bet quiet garden window. reading
the Bible; reading to herself, in u treni-
bling voice. that very passage in 1t, as
heard him tell. He heard the words,
Young man. say unto thee, arise
He had TO pass the window; aud the
bright, dark tyes OF his debased time
seemed to look at him. Her heart told
her who he was she came TO the door
quickly, and fell upon his neck.
He saved me from ruin, made me a
shame. o. God forever bless him As lie
. will. He will r
'.He wiiir the lady answered. II
know he Is In heaven !''
Never from the hour when private Rich
ard Doubledick enlisted at Chatham had
the private, Corporal, sergeant, serges =
major, ensign or lieLt, nant, brealhed his
right name, UT the name Of Mary Mar
shall, or word of the story vi his lite,
inlo any ear except his reclamer's. That
previous scene IN his existence was
G ,sed. He had firmly resolved that his
expiation should be- to live unknown; TO
di turb no more The peace that had long
revealed, when he was dead, that he had
striven and suffered. and had never for
gotten; and then, ii they could forgive
him and believe him--weil. IL would be
lime enough--time enough.
But that night, remembering the words
he had cherished for two years, Tell her
how we became friends. 1t will comfort
her, as it comforts me-" he told every
thing. II gradually seemed to him AS il
In bis maturity lie had recovered moth
err; it gradually seemed to her as il In
her bereavement she had found u son.
During his stay in England, the quiet
garden into which he had slowly aud
painfully crept, stranger, became the
boundary OF his home; when he was able
to rejoin his regiment in the spring. he
len the garden, lhinsing was this indeed
the frs; time he had ever turned his face
toward the old colors with "a womau's
blessing.
He followed them-so ragged. Scared
and pierced now, that they would hardly
hold together-to Qlatrre Bras and Lig-
ny. He stood beside them. in an await
stiffness OF many men, shadowy through
the mist and drzzle OF wet June fore
noon, on the field of Waterloo Aud
down t0 mat hour The picture IN his MUD
of the French officer had never been coui-
pared with The reality.
The famous regiment was in action
early in The battle, and received its first
check 10 many an eventtul year, when he
was seen to tall But II swept on to
avenge him, and left behind il no such
creature 10 the world OF consciousness as
Lieut.. Doubledick.
Through pits Of mire and pools OF
rain; along deep bitches, once roads, that
were pounded and plowed to pieces 10y AZ
tiliery. heavy wagons, tramp of men aud
horses, and the struggle vi every wheeled
thing that could carry wounded soldiers
Jolted among the dying aud dead. so di,-
Inquired by blood aud mud rs TO be hardly
recognizable for humanity; undislurb.d
by the moaning Of men aud the shriekiny
oil horses. which, newly taken from the
peaceful pursuits OF life, could not endure
the sight of the siraggIers lying by the
wayside, never TO Resume their lujlsone
journey; dead rs TO any seuti, Mt life III At
was In il, and Yet alive--,he form that
had been Lieut.. Doubedlck, with who's,
praises England rang. was conveyed to
Brussels. There il was tenderly laii down
IN the hospital; and there il lnv wax