River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-12-25

exitement about his dream. / bathed
his face and hands, brushed the cluster
ing hair, and told him meanwhile that j
was going to take care of him for day
or two, and was amply paid for it by
his delight and grateful happiness.
"And now" said /, lets hear that won
derful dream"
"You see" he began, latter you left
me last night went right to sleep, and
thought was somewhere else, only /
didn't know where it was, but / could
look up and see the stars in the sky.
1t seemed to me there were never SO
many before. And they kept twinkling
so that / thought that something must
be the matter, and found out some
way that they were all very angry be-
cause the moon had been coming up so
early the last few nights.
"Then, all of sudden, while / was
thinking about the stars, there was my
cid drum lying by my side. Where it
came from didn't know, and didn't
care, either. Oh, but / was glad to see
it once more!
II picked it up, slung the strap over
my neck, and began to play to see if it
was all right. 1t sounded just as it
used to, and there wasn't single thing
broken or wrong about it. You can't
guess how good it seemed to be at it
again
"Then 1 thought I'd see if / could re-
member all the different calls i be-
gan with the Assembly, and I could
play it just as we'll as ever 1 could, and
/ beat and beat and forgot everything
else, till L looked up a minute, and
then, what do you think?
"The SKY was just as full as could be
of shooting stars. l couldn't imagine
what it al meant; but / watched the
stars, and / saw, pretty quick, that
they had heard the drum call and were
hurrying up from every direction, and
falling into line just like soldiers.
"The biggest stars were the generals,
the next biggest were the colonies, and
then came the observation-disclosures and
the majors, the captains and lieutenants
and the sergeants and the corporals
and the littlest stars of all were the priv
ates.
well. when 1 saw what they were
doing, 1 kept right on at the Assembly
until there was a great army of stars
drawn up right across the sky. I didn't
know what they were going do, but l
guessed they were getting ready to at
tack the moon, and drive it back out of
the sky.
"And so, when every star was in its
place and the ranks all dressed, sound
ed the Advance and the army moved off
Just like veterans. There wasn't single
break in the line. When they had
marched mp pretty near to where the
moon was intrenched, / beat the Charge,
and the brave little stars rushed right
up into the face of the enemy.
"Then thought there was a terrible
battle. But before long began to see
first one poor, pale little star, and then
another, and another, fall back and
drop down, down, down through the
sky, until they were lost out of sight,
and 1 thought, Oh, the poor fellows,
they must be the killed and the wound
ed and the missing.
"And all the while the moon didn't
give way at all. Pretty soon my poor
stars began to fall faster and faster,
until thousands and thousands went
dropping, falling down out of the sky.
And l just couldn't stand it any
longer, for you see, l was on the stars
side, so l beat the Retreat as hard as
could, and then the army began to fall
back But there were great gaps in
the line and hundreds of stragglers.
Every little while some poor star, that
had been wounded and couldn't keep up
any longer, would go sinking slowly
down out ofsight.
90 lieutenant! How sorry l felt for
them. And [ noticed that the night
had grown darker, and [ thought, that
is because so many bright stars were
killed in the fight, and because the
ewes of the rest are all full of tears for
their lost comrades and their defeat.
"Then they, all looked so tired and
sleepy that sounded Taps at once, and
the whole army putNout their lights and
turned in and went to sleep right away.
pretty soon thought it was sunrise
and / jumped up and beat the Reveille
and while I was rafting away L thought
part of Gen. Shermans army came
marching by. There>were the cavalry,
with their jangling sabres, and the ar
tillery, with their brass guns as bright
as gold, and then thousands and thOus-
ands of infantry, with their muskets all
at right shoulder shift And thought
there was one splendid drum corps.
The flies sounded out loud and shrill,
just as they used to, and the drums
there must have been twenty-five Of
them, and the rat-tat- tat of the snares,
and the boom, boom of the big bass fell
lows fairly set me crazy.
ooh, | was wild to be marching along
with the rest They were playing
When Johnny Comes Marching Home,
and / struck right in with the old drum
and played my very best. / don't know
what it was happened then, but l think
the drum must have got wings some
way, for it rose right up in the air, and
| with it, and we went up over the roofs
and chimneys, and the woods and the
hills; but all the while L could hear
that splendid drum corps playing
when Johnny Comes Marching Home,
though | couldn't see the troops any
more. So kept ON beating away foi
dear life, for | was little frightened
at first when / saw how high up we
were.
"But soon the flies and the drums
began to sound fainter and fainter, and
at the very moment when / couldn't
hear them at all-only think of it, ]
looked down, and right there under us
was the very old schoolhouse where ]
used to go to school. And then there
was old Deacon Ingalls,, who lives down
close by the swimming hole, You know
just beyond was the saw-m mill and
Charley Browns house and the Metho-
dist Church, and then, 0 lieutenant,
there was home and mother and the
children and Carlo, all looking up al
us.
And then,-oh, the dear, sweet,
sweet mother II was down in the yard
like flash, with my arms round her
neck, and she laughed and cried and
kissed me over. and over again, and
called me her dear, brave soldier boy.
Il cried just like a baby, l was so
happy. 1t seemed as if / never could
love her enough. And when l looked
around to speak to the children, the
neighbors were coming over from every
direction, and they all seemed to be
singing When Johnny Comes Marching
Home. And there was the dear old
drum beating away all of itself, just as
hard as ever it could, When Johnny
Comes Marching Home
Isn't it too bad, lieutenant, that twas
only dream? Oh, if the good God
only knew how | want to see my moth