The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1888-06-01
An Incident of Decoration Day.

She was a stern-Yisagel woman, with
many lines craven deep on her face by
those two sculptOrs. time and care. Her
form was somewhat bent with the weight of
years, butt bore the uprightness of resist
ance yet. Her hair, drawn back under a
mourning veil, was as white as snow. She
did not look tender, loving and loyal, but
she was all three.
Acc )mpanied by a young girl, she moved
SLOWLY through tue cIUwded cemetery to
the lodge Of TIE old sexton.
~" are my two boys?!' she asked when
they reached him.
Her lips Quivered, and you saw then
that the luster had gone out of her
eyes forever, and that the little maid
whose hand she held was eyes for the
blind.
THE boys are all right, ma am, " said
the sexton with deep respect, they re safe
and tidy. I've put a bit of decoration
there myself, for | thought mebbe We
might not come to-day
"Wh n | do not come. it will he because
my feet are stayed here" answered the
blind mother. Il have the flags and flow
ers with me. Are their graves green?"
As green, ma'am, as June, which
1t nearly is. An the flowers a-grow-
in of their own accord as thick as
stars in a clear sky"
They moved together to the part of the
cemetery where the little tags studded the
grass above the boys in blue.
Here they are; just feel of them a bit,
ma am. The grass as soft as a baby's
cheek to the touch, ma am, l warrant"
TIE mother knelt reverently by the two
graves that were so exactly alike no eye
co Id detect the difference. She laid her
withe.ed face against the cool growing
grass, II remained m~otiOnless a long
time. And ii she were crying Il in re-
ballion in her heart, or If she were pray
ing, there were none to know, save God,
who could see aud hear. .
Boys, p" she called softly at last; boys,
mother S comet
Other mourners came bringing their
flowers and passed III. An old man whose
four soldier lads slept near stopped to look
at this lonely, crouching figure.
The sexton informed him in pantomime
that she was not in her right mind-out
Of her head.
''She doesn't know the difference, . he
said in an undertOne, ''but the two soldier
boys buried here ere not hers. They are
rebs. Ihey came north and died in the
hospital. They knew Of her boys, and
We're the first to tell her that they died at
Chattanooga. She was sick a long time
after that, and has never been right since.
When these two died of their wounds and
were buried here. she found it out and said
they were her boys and she's always be-
lieyed it. An 1t don't do her a bit Of
harm, as ! can see."
The old man turned away, shaking his
head sadly, while the mother arrange
the flowers on the two graves to suit her
sightless touch
When they were finished they were just
alike in their decorations, ever to the
two flags crossed at their heads. .tMy
boys murmured tire stricken mother,
''ny dear, dead soldier boys, whom God
hath liz His most holy keeping. Mother
will be with you soon: 1t Is almost time,
| cannot see your faces. or even your dear
graves, but He viii tell you that mother
is coming soon,
OH divine passion Of human
love and sorrow Who shall say
that Thou, too. hast not a miracle Of
transubstantiation for this mothers faith.
That while she wees by these two graves
wherein lie sleeping the two brave soldier
boys. GONE unknown mother may not be
watching her braye lads In some southern
bivouac OF the dead And that for this
day and hour, each was given to his own,
by order OF tie Great Commander, to
whom the soldiers Of the south and the
soldiers Of the north, the boys snsgray and
the boys IN blue, have alike Fsurrenderea