The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1881-06-23
"AD ASTRA PER AsPERA."
by ONE WHO Has BEEN THERE

"AD ASTRA PER ASPERA."
by ONE WHO HAS BEEN THERE.
They had been married twenty-five
years by the town clock. 1t is true the
town clock was q sad affair, with its
four faces pointing to the four cardinal
points of the compass, and its eight
hands always at halfpast ten, never
moving forward or backward-as immu-
table as time itself. Why the artist did
not paint four great eagles, one facing to
the east, another to the north, another TO
tho west, and still another TO the south,
each bearing in ITS beak a pennant, which
bore the words, lad astra per aspera,"
so that when the passer-by looked up at
the court house stccple thrill would
have run through every fibre of his being
/ 10 think that he Was 0-citizcn of IlIel
proud young commonwealth, can only
be answered by him and the architect.
The wedding had been quiet affair,
and the young couple went to house
keeping on little-very little. Their
capital was, mainly, as follows; Two
warm, loving hearts, two expansive souls,
and two energies. But this is the kind
of capital that has moved the world for
six thousand years, more or less. The
wedding tour extended from the kitchen
to the dinlng-roOm of the log cabin and
back again; in fact, one more extended
would have been somewhat disagreeable.
About the only way to reach Kansas
City or st. Louis was in an Ox-team,
over the Santa Fe trail, or in the mail
coach, which was eternally behind time
or everlastingly water-bOund, or always
stuck in the mud.
Yet they managed to get along pretty
well and enjoy life, simply because they
could not very well help it. The young
wife sang at her work, and love made
the bread light, the dishes easy to wash,
: the broom sweep clean; while the young
husband whistled at the plOw as il
, turned over the virgin soil; at the
]. horses as they plOdded along in the fur
, row, and threw clOds at the thrushes,
who thought they had as much right 70
s whistle as he.
But ono morning in April, 1861. some
/ thing terrible happened. The news
] came that the rebels had fired on FOrt
n Sumpter, and the blood tingled through
his veins as it had never done before al
e the mention of the word flag. His flag
8 Our aag-yOur flag-had been insult6 d
s and he quickly aud firmly resolved tC
| have a GGfinoar in tho nia
:, One morning, shortly after, the yOunl
!, wife put her shapely arms around he
4 husbands neck, and with unmOisteneC
d eyes and in a firm voice bid him g
r forth and battle for the right. He coulC
v not look back, an half hour afterwards
J. into the room in which he had left her
II nor hear the low, pitiful moan, followed
by an April shower, as she prayed u
the God of battles for his safe return
"a But through the falling tears she saw
on the rude wall of that Kansas cabin
q the hand-Writing,-"Ad astFa per aspera,
:, and instantly the shower ceased and tn
:, hcoFic young wife arose to duty.
= On the 10th of August following GU
a hero stood near the banks of Wilson
creek, No.; saw puff of white smok
here, another there heard the deep boom
ing of the guns, the screech of the shell:
y the whistling of the bullets; saw me
, Jump two, three feet into the air and fal
:. like logs, to the ground; others throN
- up their hands and give q yell-a yel
" once heard never % be forgotten; other
drop their guns and limp away TO th
rear; others put their hand to their brol
" en- and useless arms, while great drop
- of blood battered on the leaves and grass
saw the heroic Union leader ride up j
x front of the Iowa troops and tell theE
;" he would lead them saw him fall frOI
no his horse as the minnie ball from th
he rebel ranks sent the Union Lyon to b
ne den, and nipped in the bu1 the mo-
&c promising leader On either side; sto0
OF TO his place through that long, sultI
ne August afternoon and saw our ranl
10 melting away until his heart almo
at failed him; when, looking through Il
TO white sulphurOus smoke, he saw, on Il
nd dark, crimson back ground of the battl
Ire field, in letters of blood, the words "a
he astra per aspera," and from that mome
err he knew the Union cause would trump
Thirty days afterwards he sat
lid side of his happy yet humble fireside, {
US there is more happiness in an humb
ty- home lighted by love than in a pala
ter amid hate and strife. But the war hi
six but fairly begun. More men we
ne wanted, and one bright September mol
ut! ing in 1862 he bid farewell to hon
md wife, everything he held most dear,
'lei try the hardships and uncertainties Of
Led three years campaign.
md Three months thereafter he receives
ten letter which.read as.follows: