The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-11-14
The VILLAGE GIRL.

IT07sidted from the S'oedish Of Rsmebero.
me sun went down and evening came IN,
quiet Summer even ="
''i'' ssr 9d glowing S purple lay between tn,
larns ana heaven;
hard labor done - ""s
AiTeo and contented. toward their homes the,
"ended one by one.
Iheir work was done, their harvest reaped. f.,
Roodly harvest truly
well appointed band 81 foes all slain =,
NJ uaMn against this armed band they had
A., gone forth 70 fight,
anu az AZ had closed in victory before the faI
Olose by the field, where all day iongthe hard
hot strife was raging
cottage by the wayside stood. half desolats
and ageing - =
AND on its worn, low steps there sat a silen,
girl and unused
And watched the troop come slowly l,, a.
weary line confused.
She looked like one who sought a friend. she
M, scanned each mans face nearly.
hlgh burned the color in her cheek loo higb
- Tor sunset merely;
enc sat so quiet. looked 50 warm, so flushed
IL seemed she listened as see gazcd. and felt
her own heart beat
nut as she saw the troop march by, and da tx
ness round them stealing,
10 every me, 70 every man, her anxious eye
Seemed muttering in n sIv di stress a ,,res,ioD
without speech,
More silent than a sigh itself too anguished to
beseech.
But when the men had all gone MAST. ana NOT
word was. spoken, -
The poor girls courage failed az last, ana al
her strength was broken.
She wept not loud, but on her hand her weary
forehead fell,
And large tears followed one by one as from
burning well.
why dost thou weep? For hope may break.
just where the gloom is deepestl
o Daughter, hear thy mothers voice, a need =
less tear thou weepest;
he whom thy eyes were seeking fcr.t whose
face thou couldst not see,
lie Is not dead, he thought OF love and still he
lives for thee.
He thought of love. counseled him to shield
himself from danger
taught him how TO slip the fight and leave
them like a stranger;
By force they made him march with them.
but weep not, rave not thus,
know ne VIII not choose to die from happy
life and u.s."
shivering the maiden rose like one whom aw-
ful dreams awaken.
ASH some grim foreboding all her soul in her
had shaken;
She fingered not, she sought the place where
And stole away and swiftly fed and vanished
out OF sight. W
An hour went by, another hour, the night had
closed around her;
The moonshot clouds were silvery white, but
darkness hung below them.
she fingers long, o daughter come, thy toll
is all in vain,
To morrow, ere the dawn is red, your bride
groom's here againW
The daughter came with silent step she came
to meet her mother,
The pallid eyelids strained no more with tears
she fain would smother;
But colder than the wind at night the hand
that m2ther pressed,
And whittier than a Winter cloud the maiden's
cheek and breast.
8 Make me grave, o mother dear; my days
ON earth are Overt
The only man that fed to-day, that coward
WAS my lover;
He thought of me and of himself, the battle
field he scanned
And then betrayed his brothers hope and
shamed his fathers land.
When past our door the troop marched by.
and their ranks had numbered,
wept to think that like a man among the
dead he slumbered,
IsoiTowed, but my grief was mild, it had no
bitter weight,
would have lived q thousand years to mourn
his noble fate.
% mother, have looked for MIN wher'er the
dead are living,
But none of all the stricken Bear mis- features,
calm in dying;
Now will live no more on earth in shame to
sit and sigh,
He lies not there among the dead, and, there
fore, will die"
-Co1nkiH Wagasine.