Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-08-11
us THE GUNNER WELL ?"

AT the Ioot OF the narrow path bor-
Tered by crooked apple trees. which led to
he farmhouse, the postman made his APP
heralded by the hoarse cackling
If the geese, which stretched out their long,
saunt necIs as if to bar his approach.
"A letter from our ladw exclaimed the
farmers wife, from within, as she peered
through the door to see what had aroused
the wrath of her feathered guard. The
head which protruded through the half.
open door was covered with coarse cotton
cap, which encircled face spotted with
sores, and Drowned with wind and sun, but
which at that moment was radiant with
"A letter from our ladr The Joyous
shout of the farmers wife was re-echoed
throughout the house. All guessed at
once from whom the letter came. 1t was
from Divide, the eldest boy, and the soldier
of the family. So the father, coming in
from the stable, his pitchfork under his
arm, asked the usual question:
MS the gunner well ?"
The gunner was far from well, as the
letter showed, and in the few lines written
in trembling characters, the poor boy,
who ordinarily penned his four pages in
a bold, handsome, running hand, was
actually begging permission to return and
be taken care of in his fathers house.
owe must send him money and have
him hasten home at once p said the moth
er, unhesitatingly.
The father, on the impulse of the mo-
ment, aequiesced in this decision, but the
next day and the next elapsed without
any message being sent to the sick one, and
at length they concluded that they had
probably been too hasty in becoming
alarmed. The soldier-boy spoke of bron-
chitis. Undoubtedly he had merely
cold. caught during the dreadful winter,
in which the sleet, the snow and the ice
had not ceased from November to March,
chilling every one, large and small, in the
village, even to the animals in the stables.
"Ovide was more effeminate than the
Others, that was the whole amount of it."
they persuaded themselves, and even adj
hitting that he was worse than they sup
posed, would he not recover his health
more quickly in the regiment, with the
attendance of such capable physicians as.
there are in the army, than he would at
home, where no doctor ever came but the
veterinary surgeon? Moreover, in the
army he had all his medicines for nothing
or, rather, he paid for them with his
time, his fatigue, and-in case of war
with his blood, perhaps. Why, then,
should he not get them from the Govern
ment, which owed them to him?
Wisdom decidedly pronounced in favor
of leaving the soldier in the barracks,
merely for his own sake, and the proof
that the poor child would not otherwise be
refused welcome was that he should be
permitted to come, in any case, very soon.
Yes, indeed, at harvest" declared the
farmer with precision. 'tHe will help us
along with it, and will take the place of a
hired man."
SAT harvestw With what an aching
heart the young soldier received the news
What revelation to him was the selfish
ness of his parents, who were not unfeel-
ing. however; in fact, who might be called
even compassionate, but only towards real
evils and tangible misfortunes. Oh, how
lonely and abandoned he felt
A sharp bitterness seemed to tighten his
throat, profound detection overwhelmed
and crushed him into kind of prostra-
ton as intense and invincible as that of
the condemned man who listens help
lessly to his sentence of death; for he
knew only too well that he would not be
allowed TO return until the time appointed.
although April was only drawing to
close. And what an April rainy, lev,
with almost continual squalls. Through
the dim glass of the hospital window
Divide often watched the headlong course
Of the clouds scurrying across the sky be.
fore northern gale, while enormous hail
stones beat fast and furiously against the
pane.
During such dark and mournful DAYS
the sick boy did not arise. Wrapped in
his blankets, he gave full play to his
reveries, and fleeing in spirit from the I'M
slightly hospital ward, SO monotonously
dull IN its crude barrenness and lugubrious
whiteness, he imagined himself again at
home, lying in his own alcove, tracing the
vines on its old-fashioned curtains, and
listening to the gentle voice of his little
sister, who sat by his pillow, industriously
patching, while in the corner by the
hearth the house-dog slept with his nose
between his paws.
Everything about him-the exhilarating
sounds of labor the sight of robust health
all improved him speedily. Through
the windows, now opened to the breath of
spring, came the sweet odor of flowers, fill
ing his weakened lungs with new vigor,
and he finished the lestful days of CON
valescence in the meadow, stretched upon
the fragrant grass and starry daisies, luiled
by the gentle chirping of the linnet and
the blackbird's mocking whistle.
But, oh! the cruel awakening from
those happy day-dreams, when he found
himself in reality in the barren dormitory
OF the hospital when, to the joyous twit-
terlngs OF birds, succeeded signs, groans
and death-rattles, mingled with the noisy
clatter in the stable-yards and the impa-
tlent neighing of the horses. Instead of
the fortifying odors of the young sap. of
the fragrant roses and the azure-hued lu-
Germ, his feeble breath was stifed with the
sickening mustiness Of the fever-laden air.
with morbid and nauseating exhalations.
and with the acrid moisture of the perspir
alton emanating from SO many unwhole-
some bodies.
BY contact with such miseries, and in
the contagion of such an atmosphere,
would he ever recover?
But the sun began to shine warmly upon
his narrow cot, and his twenty summers
miraculously to its benign inHu-
ence. In less than fortnight he was once
more able to stand. Although unsteady
as vet on his feet, and obliged to muffie
himself carefully, he was able, neverthe-
less, to walk in the hospital garden, and
busy himself a little therein without IA
tigue, while hisspirits and courage steadily
revived.
The time he would have to wait before
to the family nest would not be
30 tedious after all, thought he, and MAY.
which seemed so interminabIe and disa
greeable in the beginning, was slippinp
away less lowly than he had feared.
And now, above the withered lilac
bushes, the golden punches on the ebony
trees were beginning to grow pale on the
roadside the spikes Of the chestnut tree
'howered their leaves at the slightest
breeze, while in the orchards which sur
-oun1ed the town the fruits were taking
0rm so fast that one could almost see
hem grow.
Anon, in the depths of the woods. in the
shadow of the thickest foliage. had disan-
oeared the virginia. whiteness of the ape-