The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1886-02-11
"THE GIRL LEFT BEHIND ME-. !.
). M. S. in the Jonesboro (Ga.) News

NJ IN the spring of 1861 | was a
y year-old boy, going to school in +
" town OF Fayetteville. The war bno
er had been sounded, and every on
Is gaiused lawyer of that town w
re blowing off his eloquence tellino
y what noble thing it would be for
~ leilow to go to the front and he oh,
IS down on the altar of his countr,
Il now his name would be printed i
/ history, and what a hero he wonla h
y though dead, and if he should stav
: nome, when the boys came back h
l would be called traitor and a COW
ara After four years experience.
: nave decided that had rather he
iiVlng coward than dead hero. Bur
thelr eloquence had the desired Of
lect ON me. | wanted to die for soma.
thing, l did not know what. so I on.
rolled my name on the list of tho
rayette Grays. Of course, |, like all
ooys OF my age, had sweetheart a
nazei-eyed, brown-haired beauty. IF
there is anything | have weakness
Tor, 1t Is brown hair, and | don + know
black-haired woman on earth that
mas any use for me. To saw that |
loved that girl, does not express if
| actually loved all her relations. all
'he negroes on her fathers place. all
on account Of her. l used to 90 ber-
ry hunting, and would walk up and
down the brooks with her catherine
flowers. In fact / was all the time |
with her, and how she did sine and |
pay Tor me every night, and would
defSXibf5fif." al4fe.Au.-siIaa ins .sNo Ono
Joined the army, we both cried, but
she said she knew | had done right,
but it would break her heart to see
me 90, and made me promise to come
home often. We promised to be true
to each other, and when the war was
over we would get married and be
happy the rest of our lives. She
helped to make my uniform and get
me ready for the front. The day
came for our company to leave-the
saddest hour of my life had arrived.
| went to her to bid her good bye.
As | took her by the hand she fell
on my manly bosom and wept. | al
so wept. The scene was a very affect
ing one. Some of the oldest inhabit-
ants who witnessed it shed tears, also.
She said she loved me, and she didn't
care who knew it. | kissed her good
bye and tore myself away. cit was
no harm to kiss a girl during the war.
| sometimes wish the war was going
on now.) Twice week the mail
man would hand me nice little white
envelope, and in it | would find writ
ten on perfumed gilt-edged paper
words of love. After reading, |
would place them next to my heart,
and at night dream of her and the
happy meeting that was to come; but
the course of true love never did run
smooth. One day the ugliest and la
ziest man in our company was dis
charged, for what | never knew, I'M
less it was for ugliness. He went
home. He lived on an adjoining
farm, where my ideal lived. Soon
the letters began to get scarce, then
they ceased altogether. This | could
not understand. But one of the boys
who came from home explained the
mystery. She had married the fel
low who had been discharged. This
was an awful blow to me, but | mus
; tered up courage, got mad, burned
: her letters in the campfire, threw
her picture into the creek and SAT-
things of "the girl | left behind me.
e | did not commit suicide, as man,
would have done, but consoled my
q self with the idea that there was a
: good fish in the sea as was eve
b caught out of it. When | remember
s ed that the sea was full of fish of al
S kinds, remembered there was sta
fish, mullet, shad, whale, big fish
little fish, electric fsh-she was Q
u the electric sort, at least she CAV
/ me an awful shock. She is now tn
e happy mother of eight dirty-face
n boys, and her husband is bailiff Of hi
Ut district.