The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-12-19
Fer the r. X NJ Household.
"Oh! its no use, Billy, You Can't
Hide IL I"
Poor viii. how he minded it.

! Poor viii! how he minded it
| His o,d grey breecheS powder stained
and PATCHED. his coarse raw-hlde boots
utterly cOncealing his small feet. his
coat too large, >unlurnt. threadhare and
decidedly the worse for wear, all Of these
| Inaccuracies of toilet combined did not
weigh on his mind as heavily as did that
large black horn button that fastened
the neck of his shirt.
| In the midst OF merrimcnt when every
one else had forgotten tie button-and
! how very easy it is to forget aIother's
woe !--Will's shapely hand would take
su,'d den hold of his coat collar and lift
ing it almost to his ears relegate the OBJ
nOXlouS button to obscurity.
That seem to comfort him. for fortu-
nately he was not conscious that al
most Immediately the various garments
settled back into their respective posi-
tions, and the great black disc would
again peep forth!
1t was after one of these Intellectual
struggles that a merry mischievous COM
rade, who was always finding and pier
cling joints in Wills harness said
markedly so as to draw attention to this
too foppsh man-at-arms. Oh. its no
use Billy. YOU can't hide it, This ef-
fectually paralysed Wills efforts. and
after that the mis- SCRABBLE button had its
own way. and occupied the for" front
of the battle.''
Cav. light-hearted Will how those
days come back when Hampton : cav
airy was camped on the hills around.
and your two comrades and yourself
would come so often to spend the even
ing with U.S. And merry evenings they
were! One | recall so vividly We
were on the porch in the moonlight.
and the gentlemen promisedit if we would
sing for them, and play upon the guitar,
they would each in turn sing solo. al
though neither of them was possessed of
a particle of musical talent.
Our part of the compact was COM
piled with, and then came their turn.
All at once Wills stentorian voice
broke away from him Chat is literally
the way to describe it. )-and wandered
about with the camp parody Of ''Sweet
Annie of the Vale His low-yOiced
comrade him of the merry eve. said i'll
an aside billy torgetS that he is not in
camp But ON went Billy
''As | sit III my shanty
NV ratlOnS are ScantS.
For erits are now the order Of the day :"
This sounding bass" silent. the
''tink ing cymbol' of the comrades low
voice took up a strain OF song. and reel
tation. He was modest, and deprecated
his own lack of ability. but really he
sang sweetlv. OF at least we thought 50
then.
Last came ye third relief but him
we excused, because they all with
one voice declared that he literally could
not turn 4 note.
He was one OF Hamptons chief of
scouts and such gallant soldier! His
life in the saddle had been brim full Of
adventurers, and yet he never made al
lusiCn to them or told any of his eN-
periences unless forced to TO SO. Ills
comrades were very fond. and proud
OF the light hearted soldier.
Archie, tell the ladies how near you
came TO being capture at - or
Ladies make Walter tell you Of the
time that he role into the --- New
York Regiment would invariably
bring protest and reluctant yielding to
the request. But the days i'll which t..ey
came and went passed by. Johnston's ;
army surrendered and the men scatter
ed to their homes. \ few years alter
wards two graves in Georgia held all
that was mortal Of poor Will and the
gallant scout The former died of yell
low fever. the latter in a frenzy, caused
by extreme illness ended his lite one fine
summer morning with one of the rcvoi-
vers. that he had worn throughout the
four years that he had served with such
distinction. The low voiced comrade
alone survives. dwelling under his own
vine and liz tree, and training up little
comrades in the way THAI obey should
90.