The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-05-04

Vi lIt OlLCcI lOlNl Iut woman that
there was man hanging dead short
distance down the road, and it was bet
ter, perhaps, he should receive Chris
tian burial. This was not unfreuuent
news in that locality, and nearly all the
men being in the army the sad work of
interring the dead and caring for the
wounded devolved upon the lone wom-
en-. And faithfully and tenderly was it
done, too, for they knew not but their
own loved ones were being cared for in
similar manner far off in some distant
State.
So the woman procured help of others
of her sex who lived in the heighbor-
hood, and together they proceeded on
their sad mission. As they approached
the corpse strange foreboding passed
through the mind of the woman who
led them, for there was something ia
miliar in that suspended form, even in
the midst of its unnatural surroundings.
The blood rushed back to her heart as
she neared it. Suddenly the breeze
swayed it round, and-oh horror! in
its distorted features she beheld the
lineaments of her idolized husband, the
father of her child, and she swooned
away in dead faint upon the ground
at the feet of him who in life was her
all.
Cruel was the blow that dashed down
with one fell stroke all her earthly hap
piness, and in her agony she prayed for
death, that she might join her murdered
love in immortality; but the plaintive
wall of her sweet babe aroused her to a
sense of duty, and she felt that she had
something to live for and protect
Tenderly and reverently was the sol
dier-husband laid at rest in his narrow
home by these sorrowful women, whose
sympathetic grief was his only burial
service. But the fairest flowers of the
field and the forest were gathered by
the grief-stricken widow and planted
upon his grave. In the sunny days of
summer she would make daily pilgrim
ages to the lonely grave, and sit with
tender memories while her child pratt
tied over the sod beneath which its
father was moldering away.
Ten years passed. And though time
had healed the wounds in her heart, the
love for him who had been the husband
of her youth was still faithful. Her
child had become a youth, and needed
the stern, restraining hand and expert
enced counsel of father She, too, a
weak, lone woman, was tired of fight
ing the battle of life, and yielded to the
SuppllcatiOnS of man who bore good
character. They were married, and
their lives blended into a happy, even
tenor of connubial existence. He treated
her kindly and affectionately, was a
father to her son, and an honest, indus
trious bread-winner for them all She
loved and respected him, and her future
seemed to her full recompense for the
weary past.
1t was seldom she referred to it. He
never. All he knew was that her hus-
band was a soldier, like he himself and
thousands of others had been, and that
he was dead, as thousands of others
like him were. He had taken his place
He did his duty. He loved his wife;
she loved him in return. 1t was all he
asked.
One day not long since-ah! it was an
evil day-an old acquaintance visited
him. They had in the years agone been
warm friends, for they had fought to-
gether under the banners of the sunny
South, and oft had shared the same
blanket as partisans-yes, guerrillas,
buShwhackers, if you like
Right glad were they to meet, and
the husband received him cordially for
old times sake, and the wife made him
welcome for the sake of her husband
One night, as they sat around the ruddv
| hearth after the evening meal, the two
men talked of the stirring scenes through
which they had passed, and, as old sol
diers will, g fought their battles Ter
again"
While engaged in dwelling on remi-
niscences of the war the husband re-
marked that he never knew how strong
were the feelings of affection a man
felt for his family until he himself had
married, and, placing his heavy hand
on his companions knee, he said,
mournfully and earnestly:
John, | have always been sorry that
| did not let that poor Yankee Lieuten-
ant see his wife and child before we
strung him up ten years ago"
His wife heard the remark and slowly
rose to her feet, with her face as white
as marble, and her distended eyes were
fixed upon her husband face with an
expression of intense horror. Twice
she essayed to speak, but failed Then,
with loud, unearthly, heart-broken
scream, she fell like corpse to the
floor.
When she recovered her conscious
ness, she had little to say. The light
of her life had gone out forever She
loved her husband, for he had been good
and true and kind to her. Perhaps he
was not SO much to blame that he killed
her first love. 1t was the fortune of
war, she supposed. But-but-she
could live with him 10 longer. 0 no,
There came picture from the halls of
memory that babe her go.
And taking her boy she went.
She got her divorce.
And the reader has this strange but
true story as it came from the lips of a
truthful man to BdzOO reporter
SedaliG mo-. BdzoO.
A Boston "SOciety" Item.