The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-10-20
WAIT TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY.

BY Y. r. SCOTT.
,you mother you've always been saying
vat TIL tho clouds roll by and we've waited
and waited. cut tho clouds keep getting
thicker and thicker. and when they've nnally
rolled by You and ( Will be aid IN the grave
Not that that viii bo such a calamity Tor
srve about lived the allotted number OF years
nfmankind. but it's hard, mother yes, it's
hand 90 have to die IN the county poorhouso
ard ne buried as paupers It's more than we
We ve not got there yet. Silas. just keep
I'D hope. Wait till the clouds roll by. tor l
tcll you they will roll by. We're not driven
ir0u the old home yct."
no. but mother. Thursday OF 10 o'clock
The old home and all that wa have viii 60
under the hammer. and ConmlHsioner IuIP
saia wagon would be here % take us 70 the
Vel. Silas. it will he bard for MS TO leave
the old farm whore wo have lived or fprty
Years. where our children were Oorn ana
where three If Thorn lie buried. But Gods
viii be done. l still believe the clouds VIII
toll by .,
They can't mother there's nothing to roll
them bv. There's d. one left but 500 aid ].
] know you still think Stephen and Alice may
Boz alive but remoWber we haven heard from
~tpulerf since tie battle of Cold HarbOf. lie
must have been killed. or eyon IT taken
prisoner. died Do prison. It7 SIX years snce
tle war ended. AK wears since Alice ran away
with the lieutenant. Ho probably deserted
ler somewhere on North. and the poor girl
died among strangers. Just TO think that we
took the Yankee ia here wounded and nigh 20
death and nursed him back TO health, and
then that ho ran away with our Alice D"
IL often think Silas that probably If we
bad not forbidden Alice marrying him II
might have been much better.
'Aes. mother. may be- but couldn't bear
TINT Alice should marry man who fought
against the South and agAintt her brother,
llt had no idea sho would run away with
bun
Tie above conversation took place one
morning In June. 1871. between old Sias
Merritt and hs wife in their home on the old
plantation about nine miles from Martins
When the war had broken out between the
North and South 10 found them not wealthy.
but uncomfortable cIcumstnnces-the owners
OF several hundred sores Of land, few slaves
and in "a prosperous condition. Early II tho
struggle their only son. stephen, had enlisted
in Tie Confederate army Nor had they seen
him since they babe him gOod-by and left
home with his company They had heard from
him frequently until the battle OF Cold Har-
Dor since which time be had never been heard
from, and slas Lad long since given him up
IS dead
That part Of Virginia was right in tho path
O.. The hurricane OF var and tho planters who
renamed 40 home could DO but little toward
sustaining themselves. Their fences and
ll. d.ngs wero burned and destroyed. thor
eock run OF and killed bY hrst ono army,
then tho other and tho end of tho war found
chem with nothing but their naked land. and
ihat Probably heavily mOrtgaged. Nor did
ihe7 have means % fence stock and cult
fate II.
One evening ia the spring Of 1865 Silas and
BIS wife and daughter Alice were sitting ont
on tho pazIa when young man approached
The house from The direction of the creek
Which ran through the plantation. One arm
was in sling and was very bloody. lie was
pa.s and totte-od as he walked, and had the
Unt rm OF a aukee soldier.
We'll ankeo said Sllss, you got the /
worst q the skrmish. | reckon"
IL did sad tho Yankee leebly. and have /
nearly bod 90 death. can you do anything Tor /
mc
Why didn't Mosby take you along ?" said
condition prisoner and exposure would !
mean death"
You're young-lookng chap for a sol !
der said Sias. How old are you and |
what is your name"
5ly uam6 is James Howard. I'm O leuten-
alt in an Ohio regiment and twenty two years |
% age
well I'D take you in-that il. till get
Glance 20 transfer You to Mosby. Perhaps
Ye can ave your life
iAey took the wounded Lieutenant into the
house and Old Aunt Judy n faithful negroes.
helped bin 70 bed. and they nursed him back
g. health.
Alice used often to SIT at tho head of tho
ped aLd read 20 MIN and vet with cold water
lle towels on his wounded arm IL seemed
o. lim that tho touch OF her hand was more
gentle than that OF others. Somehow Sias
lever reported the wounded Yankee at his
house. Perhaps from tho fact that Alice said
+ O. DIV Pam The yxe L..
over now. the Lieutenant says. 50 don't repOrt
.ti fe is improving now. Let us keep /
Llm be might die wore he removed"
Yes, Siias. said his wife. let the poor boy
remain perhaps some Northern woman
may DO nursing our stephen
$50 the days passed By and tho Lieutenant
gained RAPIDLY in health and strength. and
e9.a ethnE elso Gained. too. H. was the spArh
% love hat had been kinded ia his heart by
no gentle minlstrations aud winning ways of
Alice.
40 length one morning the country was
startled with the news. Lee has surrend-
cred 10 found the Lieutenant still at the
nome OF oAas MERIT. And that evening he
lssed him Tor his daughters hand"
MA"t sad oAas, marry my Alchemy
mug liter and yous Yankee. on. no. never
J 70 90. what / could for an enemy IN dis-
uess. The war has ended now. Go. You
ne welcome but not 20 my daughter"
IAeA Alice came IN and pleaded her lovers
cause
40, Alice. this man is AZ enemy to the
s1o'tn. Your brother fought agains. him.
lhis can mover be-"
nat night Alice was crying in her mothers
arms IN the morning Lieutenant Howard
vs. gone md 50 was Alice. A note loft on
-eT bureau read
Dear fsther / cannot give him up. For
give ne. We will write YOU. A,rcr
n''ce had written. but for two years Silas
lag cast her lctters into the fro unopened
ana tAe had finally ceased 10 write. Not hear.
~ IRON h!s son and having 70 siyo him no
y oead only made IL harder for Silas TO Tor.
.ro her 10 marrying the lieutenant. And
w. D. hnally, some two years before. he had .
"nte 10 her. address Up his letters to tIe citr
ron which her letters had been mailed. his
ip.ssis had been returned. They had lost .
DON u their children.
oAiy their faithful Judy. who had nurssd