The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-10-20
A STORY OF THE WAR.

Coffee had just been served and the
room was filed with smoke and that
genial aftergiow of pleasant, remnis-
cent talk that always follows good
dinner, and especially dinner where
old friends have met, old friendships
been revived and old stories told.
These men had been comrades in war
and served under the same flag, held
the same political opinions and suf-
fered the same losses. All but one
had told his story, when our host
turned towards him and said:
"Well, Harrison, we are waiting
for your story"
Harrison smiled deprecatingly,
gazed into the fire, and then began the
following in his soft, Southern drawl:
Well, my story happened when we
were in Georgia, just outside of Ma
rietta, and our mess consisted of six
men-two Georgians, one Albanian,
Il Virginian, myself and Creole with
@ beautiful face and tenor voice
that would charm the birds from the
trees, named, singularly enough,
Orphee. We became a very tuneful
set under his inspiration, and ex-
changed musical information with
much generosity. Our favorite air
was that famous camp song, "Tent-
ing on the Old Camp Ground" You
should have heard us sing it. Or
phee's tenor, my baritone, and the
three other fellows Ginning in softly,
until the very pine trees stopped
whispering to listen, and the fire
burned softly in admiration, and war
somehow did not seem so hard and
cruel. Well, one dark night we were
sitting around the fire, discussing
with unwearied enthusiasm the pros
poets of the cause, when we heard ir-
regular footsteps outside, and paused
in our talk to listen.
"You can turn in here until further
ORDERS" said our Lieutenant's CHEEKY
voice, and a minute afterwards q
short thick-set man entered. He
made an apologize little bow, shook
himself like a dog, and, taking off his
large wideawake, disclosed a dark,
square face, with shy, dark eyes,
blue-black hair, and a wide, firm
mouth. He smiled tenderly, giving
an air of great sweetness to an other
wise sombre face. He sat down on a
blanket, Turkish fashion, quietly
hoped he was not disturbing us, and
then dropped his eyes meditatively
on the ground. Silence reigned. We
were too disconsolate to be polite,
and so listened uneasily to the slow,
indefinite STRINGS of the wind
through the trees, when suddenly a
new sound arose, as of stealthy, I'M
certain footsteps coming nearer and
nearer. The newcomer pricked up
his ears, and his face wore an express
sion almost approaching guilt. "a
spy" was my first illogical conclusion,
as l rose to my feet and waited ex-
pectantly.
The flap of the tent stirred slightly,
cautiously; the wind rose and swept
the darkened landscape; the rain
poured down with a rush, as if to
give a tragic significance to what was
about to happen, for-something did
happen-the flap was suddenly push
ed aside, and a goat walked in and
went straight to the stranger, who
received her with an indescribable
tenderness of look and gesture. GA
rum go" said the Virginian under his
breath.
We all agreed, but contented our
selves with staring at the strange
spectacle of a man and goat fond
ling each other with uncouth marks
of affection. After while we resumed
our old lazy positions and silently
awaited further developments. The
little man signed the goat to re-
mote spot, where she lay down, and
then, turning towards us, said as if
taking up an unrepressed thought:
you see, boys, could not help it if
Mamie would follow me. | have
been good to her, and she remembers
it. / had to leave home secretly to
escape her, and all through the jour-
ney | felt like a scoundrel, and now
well, here she is.
He stopped abruptly without wait
ing for comment, and lay down with
a short good night. l lay awake
several hours after the others. wonder
ing idly as to the probably tie which
bound the newcomer to the goat,
but arrived at no solution. From
that night Parsons and his goat be-
came a subject of never ending spec
ulation to the mess. He was very
quiet and unobtrusive, never resent
ing, although contriving to evade,
impairment questions, and bearing
everything with a good nature
amounting to stupidity. AS for the
goat, she became the hapless butt of
the whole division. We called her
derisively "Miss Anna," treating her
with an amount of mock considera-
ton that made Parsons eyes fairly
glisten with appreciation. The
second night after their arrival we
began to sing, as usual, when the
Virginian rose, and in a speech, the
delicate humor of which / shall not
attempt to reproduce, begged that
"Miss Annals rest should not be
broken by our rude chanting
/ shall never forget the broken,
tender, deprecating little reply that
came from Parsons, and how we con-
sented at last to sing. His face was
SO rapt as he sat beating time with
his forefnger and occasionally quav-
er;ng out an effective Dying Tonight,
Dying Tonight" we sang as if our
very life blood was ebbing away,
that began to realize the absolute
cowardice of ridiculing a perfectly
innocent, unconscious man. l began
to try and shield him from the fun
makers, and was finally Joined by
Orphee, who became and eloquent
partisan. As for Parsons, he grew