The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1882-07-05
A Tonchlng Incident.

"Do you remember writing letter
for John-of the Twelfth Michigan Vol.
unteers, when he lay dying in the Over
ton Hospital at Memphis, during the
spring Of 1868, and OF completing the
letter to his wife and mother after he
had died?
Mrs. Livermore replied that she wrote
so many letters during the war, under
similar circumstances, that she could
not recall any particular case.
The woman drew letter from her
pocket that had been torn into pieces
in the folds Of the note and was then
stitched together with fine sewing cotton.
"Do you remember this letter." she
asked.
Mrs. Livermore recognized her pen
manship and admitted her authorship to
the letter. The first four pages were
written to his wife and mother. at the
dictation of young soldier who had
been shot through the lungs, and was
dying of the wound. Then she had com
pleted the letter by the addition of three
pages written by herself, beside the dead
husband and son, in which she sought
to comfort the lonely and bereayed rela.
tiyes.
81 thought my daughter-in-law and i
would have died when We heard that
John was dead, but for this letter." said
the worn and weary-looking woman.
at comforted us both, and by-and-by,
when we heard Of other women similarly
afflicted, we sent them the letter to read
till it was torn in pieces. Then we sewed
the pieces together and made copies of
the letter, which we sent to those of our
acquaintance whom the war bereft.
But Annie, my sons wife, never got
over Johns death. She kept about, and
worked and went 10 church, but the life
had gone out of her. Eight years ago
she died of gastric fever. One day, a
little before her death, she said,
Mother, if you ever find Mrs. Liver
more, or hear of her, / wish you would
give her my wedding-ring, which has
never been Off my finger since John put
il there, and which will not be taken off
till / am dead. Ask her TO wear it for
Johns sake and mine, and tell her it was
my dying request"
" i live eight miles from here" con-
timed the woman, land when read in
the papers that you We're TO lecture here
tonight, ] decided to drive over and
give you the ring, if you will accept it,"
Deeply affected by this touching mar
ratiye, not particular of which she is
able to recall, Mrs. Livcrmore extended
her hand, aud the widowed and childless
woman put the ring on her finger, with
n fervently uttered benediction.
The Smartness" Of Worms and Fish.
81 have made some of my most in
teresting studies of nature in the morn
ing, " said Seth Green. "That is the
time TO see the insects mt their best--to
see the mud wasps stinging the spiders
without killing them, and packing them
away where they are kept alive for
weeks TO be used when needed. / have
seen small green worm hanging down
on web. An art stationed on tho
limb above, pulls up the web and, just
MS the worm comes within reach of his
tiny claws, down drops Mr.. Worm. The
amt pulls mp again and again the worm
let's out another reef and goes down.
This sort Of thing continues until finally
the ant grapples the worm and both
go down together in grand scramble,
in which the worm manages to shake
off the ant This leaves the worm on
the ground. His web is so strong that
the other end is still fastened tc sho
limb above What does Mr.. Ant do
Give it up? No, sir; have seen him
go up the trunk Of that tree, crawl ont
on to the same limb and go to work
again pulling mp the same web. Then
after another battle | have known the
ant to get the better of the fight and lug
the worm off to his hole, three rods
away.
"Why, talk about reasoning powers |
The perseverance, and instinct of these
little creatures is wonderful. People 60
out to fish. They splash around, stand
up in the boat, drop their lines three
feet away, and wonder because they
don't catch trout. They forget that
trout can see. Fish learn the tackle
and fish are, as rule, local in their
habitation. There are not rs many
gypsies among fish as among men. Any
man who will take the pains to study
ish-or who will remember 1.-THE Of
what he reads about them, can catch
them. They are smart, but our brains
will beat them. | remember once Of
fishing for salmon trout for long time
and taking nothing. Finally concluded
to get down and look into the water, and
so, throwing my coat over my head, |
got the required shade and peered down.
The salmon would sail up and look at
the minnow. Then, with quick dart,
he would close his teeth around one-half
the minnow and open them again like
flash. lIo did not attempt to eat the
and half of the severed body
would drop to the bottom. When it had
fallen to the bed of the lake the salmon
would go down leisurely and eat it. The
next time when / dropped my hook and
felt the quick bite of the trout let out
enough line to send The hook to the bot
tom, and the result was that when the
salmon went down for his meal he was
fooled and l had him. - Utica Observer.