Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1889-04-25
THE COLONEL'S STORY.
A War Incident That Taught Him
q Lesson.

"A man was with Solomon one day when
Azrael passed by the King in visible shape.
Frightened by the look cast upon him by the
terrible stranger, he asked who he was; and
upon Soiomon's acquaintlng him that 1t was
the angel OF death: He seems TO want me-
said he, wherefore order The wind to carry me
hence to India Which, being done, the angel
said TO Solomon I looked so earnestly at this
man out Of wonder, because was commanded
10 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 town where
quite number of young fellows were
ready to enlist and / thought might as
well have them as another. They came
flocking in, as soon as the news that l
was in the place got out Fine, stall
wart men, full of enthusiasm, longing
to lay down their lives for their coun-
try Most of them were unmarried,
with no home ties 10 break, but among
them was q 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 /, 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. 1--WE can't
60 without jackson, anyway" said
one of the boys.
THE neighbors are going to have a
bee and get in his crops" said an
other.
There didn't seem much good in my
Directing. Jackson passed good ex-
animation, and was speedily enrolled
In Company X, til Ohio. l confess
IL 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 | must
take the boys away. had engaged
some wagons TO carry them a few
miles across the country, to a point
whore we would strike the railroad.
As we would pass by Jackson's place
on 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 pack of looms. Mrs. Jack
son chung to her husbands neck and
sobbed aloud, and when the babies
saw the wagons coming they caught
him by the legs and cried out that he
should not go. Some OF the neighbors,
half 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 it was an uncommonly I'M
pleasant place to be in.
jackson made several attempts to
get away, and each time the wife and
babies chung the closer and the crying
went on louder than ever. Suddenly
he made break, ran across the gar
den, leaped over the fence and into the
nearest wagon and was off without a
final goodbye. The wife fell down. all
in a heap, on the doorstep. the children
cried and shrieked, the friendly women
pressed up to sympathize and console
while the band struck up martial air
and the wagons moved on.
l dismounted and tied my horse,
Somehow l couldn't bear to go on
without word of comfort to that poor
woman. The children came crowding
around me to look at my uniform ant
one little white-haired chap hit me
with his chubby fist calling me "a bad
man to take his paw of. J."
The women had gotten Mrs. jackson
into the house and presently one o
them came to the door and called
sharply to the children to Come away
and leave the gentleman alone" Nov
was my time. stepped up and &C
costing the woman asked if could SCI
Mrs. Jackson for a moment Sh'