Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1881-12-26


when a friend said to her:
I'VE long to have your husband live
that he may go from height to height"
The reply came in tenderly spoken
words but full of the woDdrous Christian
grace that sustained her through all her
terrible ordeal:
"He can not go higher than to dsceH
actM God and the angels IN Hearen."
wonder if the sky was as blue and
the sunshine as bright on that Septem-
Der day up among the New England
hills as they were in Tennessee 1t
seemed to my aching heart that the very
sky had taken on a clearer, lovelier,
more glorious color because the Heavens
had opened to admit the pure spirit of
our lnartyred president; the sunshine
seemed to be in tangle of joy as if
trying to tell US there was great rejoic-
ing among the angels.
On Cameron hill, which had drank
the blood of MANY brave man, flag
staff was planted by the men who had
assembled two were chosen to hoist the
dear old fag-the loveliest banner ever
unfurled in the morning light; one had
worn the blue and one the gray. but the
four hands pulled together and the stars
and stripes went gaily to their place,
amid the shouts of the brave men and
the booming of cannon. Only moment
did the flag float proudly from the high
place to which it had been drawn; with
a great sob in their throats; with heav-
ing breasts; with tear-dimmed eyes
with heads bowed beneath the heavy
burden of the nations woe. it was ten
derly lowered to half mast. Even the
winds-seemed in sympathy with US for
our great sorrow, for not breeze lifted
a fold of the dropping banner.
There were speeches made, greetings
exchanged. and feeling of good fellow
ship established. But the dream some
of US INDUCED in, that into that coffin
which was tenderly borne from Elberon
to the lakeside in Ohio. all bitterness,
all animosities, all the horrors hanging
around the past would be placed, never
more to haunt US like nightmare. will
ened for time; some hearts there be
which can never again become as harsh
as they once we're; but the political
strife will be just as vehement. The
men who. during the canvass of 1880,
proclaimed James A. Garfield liar and
bribe-taker, and afterwards held up
his life as an example for all men, will
say as hard things of the candidate in
1854 as they said in 1880. And the
saddest part of it is they will be be-
lieved.
In the north every manor, at least.
the majority of men-do their own
thinking. They may not all evolve
from their inner consciousness the prln-
ciples which they adopt as their own.
but they weigh matters before they ac-
cept them as facts; they sift the EVIL
dence and gather up the wheat; they
read and listen and discuss. | suppose
there is no place in Vermont where one
can get hundred miles from railroad.
There are plenty of such places in the
south, and you must bear in mind that
many of the country people never see a
newspaper. aud could not read one IT
they should. Their whole life-trainlng
has been one to make them take their
ideas ready made and to do so without
questioning their truth.
So, say, when in 1884 the presiden-
tial fight is again renewed, the people OF
the north must not expect to see the
white-winged dove flying northward.
bearing messages of peace from the
south. 1t is not according to human
nature. Don't let things 60 along slip
shod because you are anticipating an
easy walk over. for | assure you the
fight will be one which will test the
metal we are made Of
But | did not sit down to write OF
politics; nor did mean to tell you of
much beyond my wanderings for the
last two years; but there are SO many
memories crowding in upon me shall
not attempt tonight to sketch the past.
There is two weeks trip. IN buggy,
through the mountains of Tennessee.
want to tell you about; and some of the
beautiful things saw while in Cincin-
natl last November; and visit to a
sugar plantation in Louisiana which
made the day after Thanksgiving. So
YOU see | shall have to mark my story
ito be continued" and if you are not
'proper glad" to see me, why, III take
the hint and understand I'm to write
you no more letters. TRUFAx.
ALABAMA, Dec. II. 1881.