The Saline County journal., 1879-06-05

Lieutenant Hay had baby at home.
Try hard tack softened in water be
said. Poor little fellow! poor little
fellow! Know any of his people, Jem!'
mo. But they'll DO after him in the
morning, of course
I But they did not come after Tom in
the morning. OF all the places in which
Uncle David aud his wife, and Aunt
Lois would hunt for the lost baby, the
camp was the most unlikely and tho last
to be thought of. By ten o'clock that
morning orders came.
Jem looked in at tho chubby little ba.
by, kicking up its legs on the oil-cloth
blanket, in despair. 4 kent leave him,
and no more ken take him!'
The other men shook their heads.
There was no laughing now. The little
fellow had kept them awake hall of the
night, but they seemed to have grown
fond OF him for that very reason. Most
of them had left babies at home.
He misses his mother. they said,
when no cried, looking at each other,
and some of them felt the tears coming
to their eyes.
Jem looked out of the tent at the
battlefield, at the halt. buried bodies, ly-
ing still in the sun, the troops of dogs
securing tho outskirts of the camp. All
tho houses within miles of the camp had
been deserted the day before.
So Jem took the baby. He was not
man particularly fond Of babies, either.
He wondered often at himself that he
did it wondered that he bore 90 patient.
ly with all the worry and work that
Tom gave him in the months tramp.
He did not know that the dying woman
had put Tom in Gods hands. God was
on the battlefield, and on tho long road,
as we'll as in the sun-lighted room, whore
Polly's mamma had left her little g,rl
and boy, and Jem only worked as God
would have him work-just like tool
in the builders hands.
Two years after this, an old lady and
gentleman in Quaker dress, were visit.
ing, one sunshiny morning, an orphan
asylum near Cincinnati. There were
some Protestant ladies who took care of
the little children there, who dressed in
q suit of gray, like the good Sisters Of
Charity.
The old lady and gentleman walked
slowly through the clean, bright rooms
with one of the Sisters, stopping to talk
to every little child they met. They
had little girl with them, who carried
q basket of candy to give to the orphans.
She wanted to stop and play, and the
children would have been only too glad
to have her, as she was such . happy
little thing. The old gentleman, too,
had his pockets full of mute, which he
gave to the boys with wink, while
the Sister was not looking.
Il am afraid thee will be very weary,
said the Quaker lady to the Sister. Il
cannot help but stop with these dear
children. We never had any of our
own, IS the reason my husband and
are so foolish about the little ones
The Sister put her hand on tho little
girls head. 'She is not yours ?
NO. My sisters child. But God has
given her to u.s.
'She has happy home. fancy said
the Sister, laughing. The kind faces Of
the old people lighted up tho whole
house as they passed. along, and made
everybody feel happier.
They came in the ward where the
very little children were-babies in era
dies, and tiny boys awaggering about,
who could hardly hold themselves M by
the chairs.
Tell US their namcs,' said the little
girl.
So the sister called them up, Will, Joe.
and Jenny, one BY one, and very soon
they were swarming around the old peo.
pies knees.
Here is one with an odd name,' she
said, after while, as q sturdy little fel-
low about two years old, came up, look
ing into the Quaker ladys' face with q
brown, resolute eye. We call him Hard
Tack
Something in the baby's face made the
old lady lift him suddenly to her breast.
why does thee call him that, my
dear?'
He was left with me during the war.
[ was in Nashville then, in an army
hospital. The child was literally son
of the regiment. The soldiers had had
him IN charge for two or three months.
One left him with me, stating when and
where he found the child. IN case he
should ever be claimed. He was very
fond of him, actually cried whom he lett
him But, curiously enough he forgot
to tell me on what he fed tho child.
gave him mill, ,tapioca, ,arrowroot every
thing that babies usually eat, but be
would have none of them. There he
sat and cried, q pitiful, hungry cry, day
after day, positively starving, growing
and paler, till used to feel as
if my heart would break over tho child. |
One day one of the soldiers came IN
with o piece of hard tack in his hand,
Ind the baby crawled to him, took il
from him, and began to chew it 10 an
ecstacy Of delight. SO we called him
Hard Tack, and the name has clung to
him.
The Sister noticed that the old lady
was strangely agitated, and she and her
husband we're looking into the baby's
face with strained eyes, examining his
shape and build with trembling fingers.
ASK her-David, said the old lady,
will the let us sec that paper! We
ost baby-PoIly's brother here. abou,
hat time
The Sister hurried out, and came back
with q roughly-wri,ten paper. Tho 9th
A