Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-25
" Uncle Gales" Pension.

| IL was pleasant spring evening, and
/ the loafers who were occupying the out
| door benches IN front of the country post
| office of a little agricultural town in
| Penobscot county, Me-, looked up to see
| who was uttering such thanksgivings. An
/ OLD man, with long, thin, gray hair, was
/ coming out through the door, holding in
his bony hands an envelope and several
papers bearing the official headlines of
| the United States Pension Office. After
nearly twenty weary years of waiting, old
| Caleb Woods, "Unele Gale" as he was
Familiarity called by the Younger resi-
| dents, mad at last got a pension for his
lost son and the documents were in his
possession.
Away back in the sixties Uncle Gale
was a prosperous farmer. who owned
string of land running back from the
Penobscot river towards the east. In adj
ditiOn to lands, buildings and real estate
he had nice family of three daughters
and son. He thought more of these
last than he did of money. and when his
only boy came home one night and told
him he had enlisted in the Second Maine
Regiment and was going to the war. the
old man encouraged him with words of
praise until he was gone, and then went
into his little room and vowed that the
light Of day and life itself were gloom to
MN untll his safe return. An then came
NAN NttttAh@s obAnuy vas du dtLlNe. liz
telngent young man, and soon won his
way TO commission. He went through
the nrst Bull Run and the arduOus PENN
sula campaign under Mcclellan, without
scar and untouched by the fatal hand of
sickness, that in those days killed more
than bullets. The regiment enlisted for
two years, and when it had served out
that time Johnny and his comrades went
to Washington to be mustered out and re-
turn nome. III while WAITING hara for
his discharge that an officer at the War
Department, who had become acquainted
with Johnny in Virginia, requested him
TO become bearer of dispatches to the
Army of the Cumberland. Johnny con-
scented, drew his pay-sOme $300-deposit-
ed 1t in bank, and Lieut.. Woods started
on a mission from which he never re-
turned. Just before one of the large bat
ties that were fought at that time he
wrote a letter to his father, saying his
duties would end in a few days and he
would come home to the old farm to stay.
And that was all that was ever heard of
him.
The father waited, he did not come; he
wrote, they could give no information.
The time passed, as time will pass, no
matter who lives or dies; the DAYS ran
on into weeks, the weeks dragged bv to
months, and the months, with their storms
and Gains, passed into years, and Uncle
Gale watched at the doorway and visited
the post Office IN vain. No tidings came,
and all but the old man had given up the
boy as one of the dead long ago.
The war was closed and Grants first
administration was drawing to an end,
when the father received a letter from
the cashier of a bank in Washington stat
ing there was sum of money deposited
there payable to the order of his son, and
asking what he should do with it. The
boys death could not be proved and the
money was withheld. All this time the
old man was growing feebler and less
able to carry on the farm. His daughters
had all died but one, and she had married
a poor man, who could i'll afford to sup
port any one outside his own family. OF
late years Uncle Gale had rented his
large farm house to summer bOarders, and
the money he made from this, with what
little hay he could spare, were the sinews
that enabled him to contend with APP
preaching poverty.
Among the migratory birds of pleasure
that sought out this Name farm house for
retreat last summer was one Mrs. Ness,
middle-aged lady from Eastern Tennes-
see, who had come North for the purpose
of trying the effects of the climate on an
invalid daughter. The simple, old-fashiOn-
ed ways of the old man, with his child
ike prattle, were something new to her,
who was accustomed to the artificial cant
Of society, and he interested her so much
that in short time she knew his whole
story. When he told her how johnny had
gone away to the West on a mission to
Sherman's army and had never returned
she became deeply moved and asked him
how his boy looked and what his rank
was. AS the father went on with his tale
he took out faded photograph from his
old leather wallet and showed it to her,
saying:
THAT'S Johnny's picture; he had it
taken just before he wrote his last let
ter"
She looked at it for a moment with
puzzled gaze as if she were trying to re-
call old memories; then she passed it
back to him.
81 was with him when he died." said
she, mechanically.
After the surprised father had become
quieted little, she told him the story
Her husband was fighting in the Con-
federate army and she was at home with
a few servants. One day some negroes
brought a dying Union soldier to her
house. They had found him lying uncOn-
sciOus by the road side. From. the deliri-
Gus offerings of the sick man she judged
that he was trying to escape to the Fed
eral lines. On the next he died, and she
got casket and had him decently buried
on little knoll at tie side of her house.
Neither from his talk nor from any pa
pers found upon his person cOnld she
learn his name or home, and she had
numbered hun as one of the unknown
dead, and the incident had nearly passed
from her memory, when one glance at the
photograph recalled his fresh, boyish
features back from the sad past and
caused her to remember the scenes she
had struggled to forget.
Acting on the suggestion of Mrs. Ness
the old farmer set about establishing his
claim for the money, at the same time
making an application for a pension.
The proofs were sufficient, and the same
mail that told Uncle Gale that his penslo
was allowed brought him a check, pava-
BILE to his order, for the money that John
ny had deposited, together with interest
for all the intervening years. The neigh
bOrs were all glad for the old man. The
money would enablejhim to live without
work, They came in to congratulate him.
and told him he ought to be happy now
and take things easy. But somehow or
another happiness didn't seem to come.
Perhaps it was the responsibility ofahav-
ing to struggle for living, and perhaps it
was the lingering hope that his
soldier boy was alive that had
held him up, and make him
in measure cOntented to wait and work
through the long years. Whatever it was
he had been cheerful even when all around
were sad. Now when his prospects were
so bright it seems strange that he should
not try and ENJOY himself more. He was
not sad, but the old acting business-like
way of doing things was gone, and he
acted like a person who walks in his
sleep. He did not try to work any, but
yet he had a horror of spending the
money. Whenever he bought anything
he would say that he had sold his boy to
the United States twenty years ago and
had just got paid for him.
"He brought a good price and | can't
complain, but L wish hadn't sold him.
1t seems too bad to spend the money!
said he to grocer Of whom he bought a
barrel of flour.
Away back in war times he and his
girls used to get together in the twilight
and sing the tunes that were then popu-
lar. They did this nearly every evening
all through the war, and did not quit it
altogether until the young folks got mar
ried. Soon after the old man received his
money he began to sing again. and would
go about the house warbling NV hen john
ny comes marching home again. in his
quiyering voice from morning until
night.
As times went on his stern, Puritanic
face began to change its expression. His
cheeks became flushed and plump, like a
chIld's, and his eyes were brighter than
they were wont to be. This look caused
his dauuhtpT. so much anxiety that she