Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1880-05-07
z uetieal.
THE sERGEANTs STORY.
BY WYOMING KIT.

" tell YOU, pard, in this Western wild,
AS a general thing the dirt's jist piled
In rather promiscuous sort OF way
ON ton of a soldiers mortal clay;
An person'd think by that marble sha,t,
An the flowers wavin' above the graft,
That n Major General holds that tomb
Rut the corpse down there wore a privates
plume.
al remember the day they swore Mead IN;
He was pale Completed, an rather thin
He'd bin what they call a trampln peat',
An enlisted fur want o sumthin TO eat
It's ALWAYS the case that new recruit :.
Is the butt O. the tricks from the older iruit;
An the way the boys tormented the cuss'
Was real down wicked, an scandalous;
He took il all with a sickly smile,
AM said If they'd wait till atterwhile,
"TTl he rot fed up in some sort O. trim,
| II miphtn't he healthy to fool with him
An knowed by the look q the teller,s eye
Fur ali he was backward, an rather shy,
That behind his skeleton sort o breast,
| A heart like lions found nest!
"One night as the guard, at twelve O'CLOCK
| Relieved the sentinel over the stock,
| The corp'ral seen a kind OF glare
From toward the officers quarters, there!
The alarm was raised, an the big gun fired
An the soldiers, not more'n half attired,
Came a rushin' out on the barrack ground
With n wild an excited sort OF bound|
"The CO.onel's headquarters was all alire
An the flames a-mountin higher an higher
An what with the yells o men, an shrleKs
o. the officers wives, with the whitish cheek'
An the roar o. the flames, an dev'lish llgh
Illuminatin the pitchdark night!
| w. A, einl,t N q I've often tlOnpnI
You could see in hell, when its bilin' hot
"An' then, with wild despairln' yell,
The Colonel asked: My God! Where's Ne@I
His wife responded; She's in her pea
Then fell to earth like person dead
Tn through the roof the mad flames roared
An the blndin smoke in dense mass poure
Through every crevice an crack ,till theGi
Hung above like death -piack shro"u
III mipht'n be out o place 10 state
As kinder accountn' fur this Mead's fate
That Nell war an angel, ten years old,
With heart rs pure as the yirpT eur
An she haa a kind-ef-'o hospi'al thereD
OF roastis' IT was 'nough to raise the hair
ION the head Of n marble statute. There
Stood crowd Of at least two hundred men
None DARN to enter that fiery pen
Men that war brave on an Injun trail,
| Whose courage was never known to fail
But to enter that buildn' was certain death
They stood there starin an held their breath
"Then all at once, with an eager cry,
An bull dog look in his flashin eye,
This Mead rushed up to the wailin' band,
An paper thrust in the Colonels hand.
My mothers address, he said, an then
lie sort o smiled on the crowd of men,
An jist like IA fash o lightnin', shot
Through the door right into the seethin' pot
with II yell of horror the crowd looked on.
They felt with him it was Good bye, John,
But bali u minute after the dash
An upstairs window burst with crash
| An there stood Mead like u smilin' saint,
The gal in his arms In death-like faint.
lie yelled fur rope, an let her down,
To teri" frmy-wich means the groun'!
"Then he tied the rope to the winder sash
Fur to foller down-but there came a crash,
An the blazin' roof with fearful din,
Ihrowed the boy TO the ground as it tum-
| We carried him way from the fearful heat
A hopin' the noble heat still beat;
But the old post surgeon shook his head,
An said, with sigh, that Mead was dead
1t wasn't long afore little Nell
Got over the shock, an as soon as well,
She circulated among the men,
With sheet o paper, an ink an pen,
An axed each one fur to give his mite,
In remembrance o Mead's brave work that
night
An as the result this monument stands,
Among flowers planted by Nellie's hands
AN every evenin' she walks up here,
The boys all say, fur TO drop tear
An I've seen her, too,on her knees right there,
With her face turned upwards rs If in prayer |
You'll see that line up above's to tell
AS how the stone was Erected by Nell
An down at the bottom, there, you'll soc
Some Bible quotin'
HE DIED FOR ME-"