Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1889-06-28
NO. 81
~ Will Wait"
|. Y. Correspondence.

~ Will Wait"
y. Y. Correspondence
The fact has been widely and truthfully
printed that General William T. sherman
dislikes 10 hear the tune Of Marching
Through Georgia II Is not that he is un-
mindful of the fame which his Georgian
march made for him. but that on every oc-
casion when a 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
attent.vely, however, the other evening, to
a war song with the making Of which he
had had something to do
There was once a dinner at the Ohio
Club, in Fifth avenue. and Generals Sher-
man, Sheridan and Carr were there, Stories
Of curiously wounded men We're told, and
one of the narratives was by General Carr,
and it related to soldier in the Second
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 to him what would ordinar-
ily have proved a fatal wound. He lay in
sensible among the dead for several hours,
nobody suppoSing that he was alive. Those
who went to him found gripped in one
hand a small portion of letter from his
wife. In this she spoke of a furleugh
which had been granted TO him, and which
he was going to use for visit to his home,
his health being poor. She wrote affection
ately of their wedlock, reminded him of q
willow tree under which they had done
some of their eourtship, and told him that
on 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 battle field with the
dead unburied and the living busy with de-
fenses of themselves and care for the
wounded. In the morning the bodies of
the slain were hastily buried in a trench
1t was supposed our soldier was among
them. But he was not. During the night
he had revived and wandered away. Word
was sent to his home that he was dead. and
this was regarded as beyond doubt, but as
hospital, remained there unidentified until
his wounds healed and was discharged, ut
terly without memory of the past
1t happened that he retained the merest
scrap of his wifes letter, but without name
or place left on it. This he retained, and
with vague knowledge that it was from
his wife, who was waiting for him some
where. 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 very spot where
his wife had promised to meet him. 1t was
the willow tree close to his old home, and
there he found her. The shock ofJoy and
recognition nearly, if not quite, cured him
of his malady.
General Carr told the story very touch
ingly and it made pathetic impression up
on his hearers One of them was
rhymster, and turning to him, General
Sheridan said: "'Y on ought to make verses
out of that"
at should have music, too" General
Sherman suggested. 1t ought to make
splendid song"
The rhymster promised to undertake the
job, and to get 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
follows:
WHERE THE WILLOW MAKES A SHADE.
The last fash of battle, the last CLINT Of
sun,
Lit lurid ood-trampled plain;
But twilight was waiting, when carnage
was done,
To throw pail DER the slain.
Midst them lay soldier nigh to death,
With agony bravely borne;
Painting and bleeding, and gasping for
BREATH
For a shell his head had torn,
A letter he drew with strength all sped,
And to read it an effort made.
Il will watt his wife in the writing
said,
Where the willow makes a shade
Though his mind was blurred, and memory
dead,
These words from his heart could not
fade;
Il will wait, his wife in the letter said,
"Where the willow makes a shade
On the day and the hour when the soldier
held
His fond distant wife's letter fast,
She stood at the tryst tree, nor feared he
was felled,
Till his time for coming passed.
He lived but to wander far and long,
In his head a ceaseless pain,
A sense of quest and of going wrong
Half thoughts of wounded brain,
He knew that he sought home and mate
By her call that his love obeyed-
No name and no place-only, II viii wait
Where the willow makes a shade"
Though his mind was blurred and his mem
ory dead,
Those words from his heart could not
fade;
II will wait" his wife in the letter said,
Where the willow makes shade
When the willow was dropping its leaves
of tears
Sat woman as at grave;
Despairing had followed the hoping OF
years,
But this hour to tryst she gave.
A veteran came tramping along the lane,
And he walked as in daze;
An instant-then in fash he was sane,
Aud joy was his only craze.
my wifer he cried, with aquick embrace,
And with kisses of love delayed,
''You have waited here" he said, ''at the
place
Where the willow makes q shade"
Though his mind was blurred and his mem
ory dead,
Those words from his heart could not
fade,
Il will wait, his wife in the letter said,
Where the willow makes shade"
Amelia sends US some '.Lines on an
Empty Cage" addressed to Willie. Has
Willie broke jail'
In law suit in KENTUCKY the other
IL, - .ra1 hat N