Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1891-11-12
BRAVE BREyET WIDOWS.
GPiNsTERs WHO WOULD HAVE
eEeN WIVES But FOR THE WAR
One Reason why There Are So Many
Single Women Abs.t Forty Years Of
Age In mt. coaatry-s,ory ot a Heroic
oiri who D...rve.s r.nsios.

oiri Who Deserves . rsnsion.
Last week won't to SEQ my friend tho
colonel, virginion. who was distln-
TIlahci odlccr on the side of the south.
E.nce the war HE duties n. consulting en-.
queer have taken him all over the coun.
~, aud. being close observer, his opin
ions aru entitled 70 respectful considera
ton As 10 sat smoking on the wide pi
nzfA and watching the growing moonlight
grldually discovering the grounds VI the
adjoining mansion, saw % uumucr Of IA
dief looking eastward and heard them
commenting 10 low, mel0dious voices on
The glorigs Of the night
"lour maiden slttsrs.n whispered tho
colonel. and they arr the owners aud, with
The servants. the soic occupants u that line
old mansion"
ut is evident that your wife has un.
bounded faith In you." laughed, 'or shs
would not leave you alone Ia this neigh.
borhopd."
''she il GOOD friend Of the widows and
aho feels that an quite safe with them
within call. ." said the colonel
nut thought you aid they were maiden
slstersf"
$50 ala. and when said 'Nidows'
meant widows ~ brevet Those ladies aru
now betwecn forty and hfty yeau 81 age.
Friend. tell me- that a. girls they were very
pretty. 1hsy are tho best educated women
lever met, hut they are neither pcdautic
nor mionihropIc They arc above want
But their husbands weru killsln---
"rhdr husbands killedir interrupted
ayes, Killed In the war. but all Of them
may not know H. LIT me explain. North
and south ther were Killed In battle OF
died u disease fully 10000 men. not onc.
tenth Of whom were married.. OF the men
At the front who bore tho htunt OF battle
fully ninctenthA were under Thirty years
Of age. Now u Is law of nature that
every male must have his mate aud every
man who Is Killed or who dies prcmatufcly
aud unmarried forces some woman IA sona
plsce 10 remain single THIS subject In.
tcrcsis inc, and 10 have made study ui
H. started out with theory 10 account
for the number Of single women over forty
whom | meet with unvArying regularity
In the south ~ we'll a. In the north, and
my theory IL correct; that l. why I call
them, not ola maids, but widows by bro.
yet'n
1T Is tue that many Of tho widows by
breyet may never have met the mAn thoy
might have married bad there been no war,
but Ia the great majority Of eases they
knew the mau, for they had been neigh
bor., friends and schoolnates was sin-
glo mau When ia 1901 I took ommand Of
my troop a. Staunton, Va. OF the ITO men
In the company therr was not one mar.
RED. was then twenty-five aud was the
Oldest msn In the troop Our youngest
men were about eighteen, but was told,
and J believe u, that from tho captain
down every man who rode with us for
Hail Run that July morning had sweet.
heart aud was engaged.
"whrn the war GUIDED checked OF with
sfrloud the original muster roll Of that
esnpany. Thlrtyone survived. The rcst
had gone down b-foru the bullet or tho
more fatal disease Of the camp. But that
meant eighty girls In aud about staunton
whose sweethtsrts went away TO die.
There never was n soldier, worth the lead
that killed HIN, that didn't have soma
woman At home, mother, sister or sweet
heart. oftener all three. TO mourn his
taking Of. Tho ballet seldom stopped in
tho brain or breast of the man Il struck
down on the battlefield, but winged II.
way over river aud hill 10 Ind H. iinal
restlpg place In wonan's heart. But Of
all Tao people who have suffered By the
war. the breve, widow most txeites my
sympaihiss.
~ Do not think regard her from the
standpoint o. y sentlmentallst. but felt
When congress was looking about fof
something 70 pension. that IL would have
been a stroke Of stAtesmanship and an
evidence Of ehivairy had tho broyet widows
been psnsiontd. You Taught WIN you le,
me cite a case IN paiuti
II know right hero In New York state
lady who deserves = pension for her hrrve,
samlNfluu IlN Nha. La ~ ~
widows Of mil rank This lady was en-
Rssed 10 be married TO young man, .
member OF the Seventh regiment. who be
Logged TO good family, and who held
position that would have made him rich In
n Few years had he kept close TO business
The day hrt for his marriage was that on
which the regiment marched 20 Washing
ton. He saw the lady the night before
and said he would remain back and inin
the regiment, she accompanying him. the
day nftsr H. departure Hut her pride and
her patriotism were ms strong "a her love.
She salii We can walt Jack, but the dan.
ger TO the capital will not b. postponed on
account Of our wedding The thought u
standing by your side At the altar has been
In my mind by day and frightened my
dreams by night ever since you asked m.
70 he your wife. but fool, Jack, that II l.
your duty 10 march with the gglinsnt.'
"rhe next day fhe saw him through hen
tears at the bad OF biz company. foi he
was an officer. marching down broadway,
up which he was mover 10 return. Jack. as
viii call him, was offered u higher CON.
mission In a new regiment before the three
months for which the Seventh had gone
out had expired, aud after consulting bis
hanccc aud getting her consent he took H.
. . al. L.. a.
ington a. nurse. This was Certainly q
great sacrifice, but doubt II tho eolonel o.
the nurse looked at It In that way, they
simply saw their duty aud Aidit.
Before the echo Of tho guns had died
out at shsrpshurR, or Aniletain, as your
side calls Il, tho nurse was In chnrqe " q
hospital that had been established In the
village. Among the very first Of tic
wouuded brought 10 that hospital was
Jack. lie had bullet IN his brain, and 10
did not recognize his betrothed wife Ia the
nurse, aud ~ she vat by biz cot holding bis
baud that night be- died
"'The lady nuurd on tlll the end OF tho
war, when sho ietnrneh home, aged aud
heart bnrdcned al twenty live. The war
that made her q bievNt widow innoyer.
ished her father, Whose business bad been
with the sohth. but she set hraycly 10
work "a help him, and was his principal
support an he, too. died, another victim OF
tht contest
"a present the lady, now In her fiftieth
year, lives IN little lat with her helplei,g
old mother, SHE teaches drawing aud
writes chArminRly for juvenile publlra'
tions She wears no medals, has no pollti'
cal Influence aud seeks no nOtDrlety, yet
who Will say that that gentle old maid,
that brevet widoW, n not morn heroic
character and has not done more 10 prove
y than half OF tlo men who have been
living on their record since the warf IL 1