Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1891-11-12
BRAVE BREVET WIDOWS.
SPlNSTERS WHO WOULD HAVE
BEEN WIVES BUT FOR THE WAR.

Single Women About Fsrty Years Of
Age ip This Country-story of Heroic
Girl Who Deserves a Ponsion.
Last week I went to see my friend the
colonel, n Vireinian, who was a dstin-
E,ished officer on the side of the south
Since the war his duties as consulting en-
gineer have taken him all over the coun-
try, and, being close observer, his opin-
ions are entitled to respectful conslera-
ton. AS we sat smoking on The wide pi
a1za and waite ling the growing moonlight
gradually discovering the grounds OF the
adjoining uansion, saw q number of la
dies looking eastward and heard them
commenting in low. melodi us voices on
the glories Of the night.
-Four maiden SISTERS" whispered tho
colonel, and they are the owners aud, with
the servants, the sole occupants of That Fl no
old mansion"
1T is evident that your wife has I'M
bounded faith in you" laughed, cor she
would not leNve you a. Jne in this neigh
borhood.
"She is a good friend of the widows and
buO lcclS LlI1N L dui iulbS StLG Win JIlc4il
within call" said the colonel.
"But thought you said they were maiden
sisters"
80 | did, and when / said widows
meant widows by brevet Those ladies are
now between forty and fifty years Of age.
Friends tell me that SIS girls they were very
pretty. They are tue best educated women
I ever met but they are neither pedantio
nor misanthropic They are above want.
But their husbands were killed.
"Their husbands killc1?' | interrupted
eyes, killed in the war; but all of them
may not know it, Let me explain North
and south there were killed ia battle or
died Of disease fully 800, 400 iren, not one
tenth OF whom were married. OF the men
at the front who bore the brInt OF battle
fully nine tennis were Uader thirty years
OF age. Now it i, a law Of nature that
every male must have his mate, and every
man who j killed or who dies prematurely
and unmarried forces some oman iusoine
place to remain siurlH. This subject in
tc"ests nc, and so | have made Il study of
it. ] started out with a theory to account
for the number OF single women over forty
whom | meet with unvarying regularity
in the south rs well as in the north, and
my theory is correct; that is why | call
them, not old maids, but widows by 5re-
vet
at is true that many Of the widows by
brevet may never have met the man they
III got have married had there been no war,
but in the great majority of cases they
knew the man, for they had been neigh
bors, friends and schDolInsCeS. | was a sin
gle man when in 1861 | took command Of
my troop at Stauntoll, Va. OF the 10 men
in the company there was not one mar
ried. | was then twenty-five and was the
oldest man in the troop. Our youngest
men We're about eighteen, but | was told
and | believe it, that from the captain
down every man who rode with us for
Bull Run that July morning had a sweet
hCHrt and was engaged.
"When the war ended checked off with
n friend the original muster roll Of that
company. Thirty-one survived. The rest
had gone down before the bullet or the
more fatal disease Of the camp. But thar
meant eighty girls in and about Stanton
whose sweetnrarts went away to die.
There never was Il soldier, worth the lead
that killed him, that didn't have some
woman at home, mo- her, sister or sweet
heart, oftener all three, 10 mourn hi,
taking Oft. The ballet seldom stopped IN
the brain or breast of the man it struck
down on the battlefield, but winged its
way over river and hill to find its final
resting place in wOmap's heart. But Of
all the people who have suffered by the
war, the brcvet widow most excite. my
symp8thies.
Il do not think regard her from the
standpoi 1t Of u sentimentalist: but felt
when congress was looking about for
=
been stroke Of states inausnip and an
evidence of chiyalry had tho Drevot widows
been uensioned. You laugh! viii you let
me cite case in point?
81 know ri Sht here in New York state =
lady who deserves II pension tOr her brevet
ccrdition far more than do many of the
doWs of fun rank. This lady was eli
pa2ed to he married to young man, "a
member Of the Seventh regiment, who be
lou.ed 60 good family, and who held Il
position that would lave IL tGc him rich IA
E Jew years had he Kept close to business.
The day set for H.. marriage was that on
which the regiment marched to Wasting
ton. He saw the lady the hight before
ard said ne would remain back and join
the regiment, she accompanying him, the
day after It's departure But her pride and
her patriots, a were rs stroug Is her love.
She said: we can Wait, Jack, but tbs dal
ger to the capital will not be post oued on
account of cur Welt.iat The Thought Of
standing by your side at the altar has been
in my mind by day and frightened NJ
dreams by nj gnt eyer since You asked D"
to be your wife, hVt feel, Jack, that il ~
your duty TO march win tAe ,e.iment,'
The ne&t day sac saw hiIl through hen
tear. at the head Of bis com "8uV, tor he