Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-09-24

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row rolled baca Upon her, and she
sark beneath i. |: wa' SAD. sad
lay.
warlc.e, ajyu. thu house ike one
who Borrowed wi:&ou. hope. / lad
read tie blessed wcrds, " liraviress
eniuretA t)r night. bat Joy cometh
il tie morning How ll,tie d.l |
dream tha. before the setting Of the
sun they were % he literally fulfilled.
In Tie afternoon | was walking IL
the front yard. Idly r!uckiag a flower
here and there. tAinSing what 3
m0cEerv seemed the bright sunshine
and the twilteriug OF a bird near by
There was 4 hawthorn ledge around
the place, AID looking through the
irter5tces, saw 4 soldier il gray COM
ing towards our gate.
The sun was il ny eyes. ard tue
first thing l noticed about him was
that he was extremely ragged. Then /
saw that .e had long, tawny beard,
the like Of which hal never seen be-
; fore.
As he drew nearer, lis face seemed
familiar: those hcnest blue eyes-what.
did my eyes deceive N :--could 1t be :
But the next moment all doubt was at
rest, as he fairly lifted me OIL my feet
and caught me to him, exclaiming:
why, my little coz how you have
grown ~
1t was the old familiar voice of AL
len Edmandson. l have always been
proud that ] neither screamed nor
tainted; but chung to him with such
white, frightened face, that he became
alarmed.
My mother-is she we!l?' he ex-
claimed.
"Yes, yes gasped; "but we
! heard you were killed
"I was left for dead on the field, y
said he, gravely; but Northern SOL
der picked me up and saved my life,
though his comrades insisted that l was
dead, and should be left where had
fallea. l was sent to the hospital, ex-
changed as soon as was well, got
furlough from my colonel, and here l
am, only needing little petting to set
me up again"
knowing that Aunt Sarah must not
be told too hastily, I left Allen in the
sitting room, with the injunction not
to stir until my return, and ran up to
her room. But L had 40 idea OF the
difficulty of the task had undertaken.
| / blundered at it with the calm conf
dence of my years.
"See what beautiful flowers, Aunt
SARAH said I, in lively tone.
She was sitting by the fire, in an atti-
tude of utter detection. She took no
notice either of me or the flowers.
30 dear y thought 1; what can l
say next?,'
1 remarked" it was about a man whom
everybody thought dead for more than
twenty years, when all of sudden up
he came, alive and we'll"
No reply; SO planted myself where
Aunt Sarah couldn't help looking at
me, and seeing that my face was as
bright and rosy as the flowers I held,
she said:
"How soon-how soon the young
forget!' And she shook her mead
drearily.
go no, they don't" cried; 4" but,
Aunt Sarah, didn't you once tell me
that truth was stranger than fiction p
"What do you mean, child?"
"Why, I'm thinking of Cousin AL
len," blurted I, never heeding her VIC.
lent start at the mention OF his name,
"and wondering if he was really killed
after all. In war times one gets great
deal of information that is not reliable,
I went on, with a certain satisfaction
that I was rounding my periods prop
| ou1~v to cko,~
who says he saw Allen month after
Mr.. Pennett says he was killed."
Then saw transformation. Aunt
Sarah had been sitting by the fire. 8
haggard, broken old woman-face, eyes
and expression dull and dead. She
sprang up, color and light flashing into
her cheeks and eyes, the vigor and
erectness of youth restored to hel
shrunken and bowed figure. Before ]
could utter another word, she had
swept past me and gone down stairs.
In my haste to overtake her, slid
down the balusters, and reached the
sittin groom in time to witness the
meeting-too touching for words to de-
scribe--between mother and son.
We feared the shock would be toe
much for her, but Joy does not otter
kill. In few minutes she was lying
on the sofa, her hand clasping Aliens
, her face radiant as an angels, while We
were all gathered round, listening t.
the wonderful stories he had to tell.
So our Christmas party was better
after all, than we had anticipated. Rutl
, sang all her patriotic war-songs, San
executed a war dance, and as for tn,
, supper-well, we all promised never t.
tell how much our soldier. boy man
aged to stow away under his gray jack
ct; but gran'mammy said, with {
[ chuckle:
J Mighty lucky dar was gwine to be
party in de house Don know
how else Mars Allen would a go
enough to eat"
Happy and thankful were thos,
Southern hearts that blessed night; ant
the prayers breathed from each one o
, them, I hope may meet the eye of hin
, for whom it was made, whose face W.
, have never seen, whose name We hav'
! never known, but whose memory shall
! live with US forever.
4 "God bless the Northern soldie
) who picked up the dying Southerne
on the battlefield, and thus saved th
nreoiorc 1ifa {ba az will hoor ayorlo a.; y,