Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-07-22
HISTORY OF A SONG.
An Anecdote Which Ia as Touch
 ing as It Is True.

An Anecdote Which Ia as Touch
 ing as It Is True.
 How tho Veterans Wife Wearily Waited
 "Nyh.re the Willow M lakes . Shade "--
 Rhymes Wilton at tho Request
 of General Sheridan.
 The fact has been widely and truthfully printed that General William T. Sherman dlslikes to hear the tune of "Marching Through Georgia" It Is not that he is unmindful of the fame which his Georgian march made for him, but that on every oc- casion when Q band of music plays know ingly in his hearing they feel in duty bound to render Marching Through Georgia" :" and he has heard it so many, many times that it has become tiresOme. He listened attentively, however, the other evening to war song with the making of which he had had something to do, writes the New York correspondent of the Kansas City Star. There was once dinner at the Ohio Club, in Fifth avenue, and Generals Sher- man, Sheridan and Carr were there. Sto- ries of curiously wounded men were told, and one of the narratives was by General Carr, and it related to a soldier in the Sec ond New York Volunteers, of which Carr was Colonel at the outset. In battle . piece of an exploded shell struck the man on the head and gave him what would ordinarily have proved fatal wound. He lay insensible among the dead for several hours, nobody sup posing that he was alive. Those who went to him found gripped in one hand Q small portion of 8 letter from his wife. In this she spoke of furlough which had been granted to him, and which he was going to use for visit to his home, his health being poor. She wrote affectionately of their wedlock, reminding him of willow tree under which they had done some of their courtship, and told him that the day for his arrival she would meet him there. In the hurry and confusion he was left lying with this paper still in his grasp. Night fell upon the battlefield with the dead unburied and the living busy with the defense of themselves and care for the wounded. In the morning the bodies of the slain were hastily buried in 8 trench. ltwas supposed that our soldier was among them; but he was not.
 During the night he had revived and wan dered away. Word was sent to his home that he was dead, and this was regarded as beyond doubt, but as 8 matter of fact he wandered of to 0 distant hospital, re- mained there unidentified until his wounds healed, and was discharged utterly without
 ucAoTy OI Cuo past 4G udppcucu LNaU Q0 retained the merest scrap of his wife's let ter, but without name or place left on it. This he retained, and with vague knowl- edge that it was from his wife, who was waiting for him somewhere, he wandered here and there over the country for four years. Then mere chance or a shadowy recollection of his home led his tramp to the spot where his wife had promised to meet him. It was the willow tree close to his old home, and there he actually found her. The shock of joy and recognition nearly if not quite cured him of hls malady. General Carr told the story touchingly, and it made pathetic impression upon his hearers. One of them was a rhymster, and turning to him General Sheridan said "You ought to make verses out of that" "It should have music, too," General Sher. man suggested. ''It ought to make a splen- did song.n
 The rhymster promised to undertake the job and to get Q friend to compose an air. with the proviso that the three Generals mentioned should get together to hear it sung. The words that resulted were as fol. lows:
 The last flash of battle, the last glint of sun, Lit lurid 8 blood-trampled plain;
 But twilight was waiting, when carnage was done,
 TO throw pail O CT the slain. Midst them lay soldier nigh unto death, With agony bravely borne: Painting and bleeding, and gasping for breath, For shell h s head had torn. A letter he drow with strength all sped, And to read 1t an effort made. II will wait," his wife in the writing said, "Where the willow makes a shade" Though his mind was blurred and memory dead,
 Those words from his heart could not fade "l will wait" his wife in the letter said, "Wnere the willow makes 0 shade" On the day and the hour when the soldier held His fond distant wife letter fast, she stood at the tryst tree. nor feared he was felled,
 Till h:s time for coming passed. He lived, but to wander far and long. In his head 8 ceaseless pain, A sense of quest and of going wrong Half thoughts of 6 wounded brain. He knew that he sought 8 home aud mato By her call that his love obeyed- No name and no place-only: II will wait Where the willow makes . shade" | Though his mind was blurred and memory dead.
 Those words from h,s heart could not fade "I will wait" his wife in the letter said, "Where the willow makes Q shade" | Where the willow was dropping its leaves of Sat Q woman as et-a grave; Despsiring had followed the hoping of years But this hour to tryst she gave. A veteran came trampinR along the lane, And he walked as in @ daze; An instant-then in Q flash he was sane, And joy was his only craze. My wife!" he cried, with quick embrace, And with kisses of love delayed,
 "You have waited here." he said, lat tho place
 Where the willow makes shade" | Though his mind was blurred, and memory dead,
 Those words from his heart could not fade II will wait" his wife in the letter said, "Where the willow m akes shsde.' General Sheridan died before these verses were musically arranged General Carr underwent severe surgical operation some weeks ago for the removal of g can cer. It was in his apartment that 8 half dozen friends, including General Sherman, assembled to hear tho song. The singer was Q professional vocalist, who gave ef- fective expression to the story of the tramp