Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1881-12-26
"AFTER MANY DAYS"
ESPECIAL oonnx.rosDrsor OF rnrnos1ron.I

gathered up my patchwork to 60 visit
ing among the readers of the MONITOR.
| hardly know if have any right to
expect anything better than that the
cold shoulder will be brought out by
way of welcoming feast. But if to
many | am of the forgotten past. recent
brief letters. bearing the dear old Yer
mont post-mark. assure me that there
are yet few who will not be sorry to
see my once familiar signature. Be-
cause of them | am writing to-day;
writing, with the bright sunshine
streaming in through my windows and
playing hide and seek with the shadows
on the walls; writing in my whilom
abiding-place, leagues away from the old
home nest to which my memory SO often
turns. Some people are blessed with
the power of forgetfulness; l am not.
l would were. Having known an in
dividual once I never forget. and the re-
suit is such trooping of faces through
my memory, | sometimes feel as if my
brain was merely an aggregation of men
tai photographs.
So | never get. mentally. very far
away from "home." My thoughts 60
around on pilgrimages while my body
remains behind. When sorrow comes to
the hearts of my old friends | mourn
with them; when JOY fills their hearts
with gladness l rejoice. In spirit
have stood by many open graves, and
have longed to utter comforting word;
and with every blessing that has come
to your home [ have wished it might be
multiplied an hundred fold.
But the days drift into weeks and the
weeks into years. and l can hardly note
their going. save by the onward march
of events which are marked by stones
we cannot fail to notice. When last |
wrote you Gf [ remember right the
great convention was in session in Chi
cago-the convention which placed the
name of James A. Garfield on the ban
ner of our party. In the months which
followed | was far from idle, but there
was no need of work from me in dear
old Vermont. She never had trailed
her banner in the dust; | knew she
never would. But there were other
places where every hand was needed.
every voice must make itself heard. and
in the weeks which. with my husband. l
spent among the beautiful lakes of Wis
consin; in the months in which [ tar
ried in queer old Boston, did my level
best, and, like Oakes Ames, put my
work where it would do the most good.
After Boston there followed, for me,
few brief weeks in Washington. Weeks
are always brief for me there. I'm sure
there are never more than five days in
any one of them.
Then came Chattanooga, down in
Tennessee; the city at the foot of Look
out mountain, famous in history, and
never to be forgotten by many man
who tried to stop bullets in the late
war. Chattanooga was not much be-
fore the war, but became most impor-
tant strategic point on account of rail-
roads centering there. The large GEM
etery where men from the east and from
the west lie side by side tells in sad ST.
lence of the struggle it cost US to get
possession of it. 1t meant fame for
some, it meant grave for many. To-
day it is rapidly growing city. 1t
has, believe. some sixteen thousand
inhabitants, and another decade will
show twice that number. The great
Cincinnati Southern railway, which is
as near an air line as road could be
built through such mountainous coun-
try, has brought to Chattanooga capital,
enterprise and vim. Coal and iron are
abundant in the vicinity and furnaces
are rapidly increasing. One of these
days there will be cotton mills, rolling
mills, iron furnaces and kindred enter
prises enough to furnish employment to
all the population Chattanooga can have.
So many railroads center there-some
six or seven. and others in view-it can
never settle down into sleepy hollow,
as it struck me Lowell, Mass, had done
when last was there. There, too. the
variety of enterprises infuses more en-
ergy than it is possible to arouse where
all the people travel in rut, and all
the ruts tend in the same direction.
Chattanooga was, last September, the
scene of memorable reunion between
the ex-confederate and the Federal SOL
diers who fought in the battle about
there. Arrangements had been made
for grand holiday; everybody was ca
ger for the day to come. 1t came.
Thousands were there. but the great
shower of Gods swift sunshine which
crept into every crevice and lighted ev-
cry darkened corner, could not sweep
from the hearts of the sorrowing multi
tude the heavy pail which rested upon
them. For their leader lay dead Chat
tanooga had been an immortelle in the
wreath of fame wrought for Gen Gar