Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-04-25
THE COLONEL'S STORY.
A War Incident That Taught Him
Lesson.


a Lesson.
"a man was with Solomon one day when
Azrael passed By the King in a visible shape.
Frightened by the look cast upon him by the
terrible stranger. he asked who he was; and
upon Solomon's acQuaintlng him that 1t was
The angel OF death: He seems to want me-
said he, wherefore order he wind to carry me
hence to India Which, being done, the angel
sad to Solomon: I looked SO earnestly at this
man out Il wonder, because l was commanded
% take his soul in India and found him with
thee in Palestine "A Legend from the Tai
mud
In the latter part of the summer of
1868 went up into Northern Ohio. re-
cruiting. had heard of a town where
quite number of young fellows were
ready to enlist and thought might as
well have them as another. They came
fiocking in, as soon as the news that l
was in the place got out Fine. stall
vart men. full of enthusiasm, longing
10 lay down their lives for their coun-
try Most of them were unmarried.
with no home ties to break. but among
them was a man named jackson, much
older than the others. He was mar
ried. had several children and owned
little farm not far from the center of
: the town.
jackson" said I. as he presented
himself, you let this business alone.
There are plenty of young fellows to
go to war, your place is with your
family"
The mans face fell. evidently he
was bound to be soldier. 80. that
will be all right" he said. I'VE can't
go without jackson. anyway" said
ono of the boys.
The neighbors are going to have
bee and get in his crops" said an
other.
There didu't seem much good in my
Directing. jackson passed good ex-
summation. and was speedily enrolled
In Company K,-th Ohio. confess
1t worried me. [ hated to take that
man away from his family, and sup
pose thought more about it than was
really worth my while.
Well, the day came when l must
take the boys away. l had engaged
some wagons to carry them a few
miles across the country, to a point
who we would strike the railroad.
As we would pass by Jackson's place
-oH our way. We agreed to take him up
from there. When We stopped for
him it was a bright. beautiful morning
/ remember, the children were hang
ing about the door. crying and taking
ON like a pack of looms Mrs. Jack
son chung to her husbands neck and
=sobbed aloud. and when the babies
SAY the wagons coming they caught
him by the legs and cried out that he
should not GO. Some of the neighbors.
half q dozen women or SO, who had
come to see the thing through, after
the manner of neighbors in the rural
districts, fell TO crying. too. and l can
tell you il was an uncommOnly un-
pleasant place to be in.
jackson made several attempts to
babies chung the closer and the crying
went on louder than ever. Suddenly
he made a break. ran across the gar
den. leaped over the fence and into the
nearest wagon and was of without a
final goodbye. The wife fell down. al
in . heap. on the doorstep. the children
cried and shrieked, the friendly women
pressed up to sympathize and console
while the band struck up martial all
and the wagons moved on.
dismounted and tied my horse
Somehow / couldn't bear to go or
without word of comfort to that poor
woman. The children came crowdine
around me to look at my uniform ant
ono little white-haired chap hit m,
With his chubby fist. calling me - bat
man to take his paw of.
The women had gotten Mrs Jackson
into the house and presently one o
them came to the door and callet
sharply to the children to Come AVA!
sd leave the gentleman alone" Nov
,vas my time. I stepped up and &C
4ops&ing the woman asked II l could Sc
1ar2 jackson for . moment Sh