Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1892-12-03

tie tomorrow, and somehow | am nn-
pressed with the belief that the fates
have marked a certain bullet with my
name. Always before this l could see
into the future-that is, | could fancy
myself doing Il thing tomorrow or next
week. Tonight / can't; SO III the few
moments have ! sit down to pen these
words. l can't feel comfortable to think
! have left them unwritten.
l have all your letters in my knapSac6,
and Of them have penciled a request
to have them buried with me. They
have been a great comfort 10 mel
great pleasure. | used 10 think that
some day l should know you. and make
you Ike me rs well us l like you. I've
never seen you, or even your portrait,
but love you as If l had. I've written
the truth now love you fondly. II
seems TO me that have read your heart
aud soul in your letters. If | should
never write again-if l should fan to-
morrow, as / believe l shall-remembyr
that my last thoughts were of you-Of
you whom l have thought constantly of
late-and think sometimes of me. Good
by-perhaps good-by forever. l wish
l could have known you better.
And l ended with my name.
The next day l was in the midst of
the worst fight l had ever been in. l
can't rmember much Of it, but l know
that it vas terrible. / saw more than
one poo. fellow I knew drop at my side,
but some one else took his place. AT
last it was my turn. A crash, an agony,
a thought hat my forcbodings had prov
ed true, and l knew nothing.
When l came to myself it was in u
hospital tent, and l found that l had
been there many days. My right arm
was gone, and they fancied then that
the rest of me was going after it; but
l was young, and l rallied.
l didn't want TO. Life looked very
dark. l couldn't e much hope in It
And then it was l began to take some
interest in novels and in poetry and tn
feel us the rest felt-wild TO get hold of
any book or paper Kind people brought
to us,
one day / was p'ading a love story,
and crying yer it, too, like a girl, for
| was not much stronger than the weak
est Of them are, when the chaplain stood
at my cot, "A letter for you,'' he said.
1T has travelled u good way after you;
it's in & lady's hand too" l took The
little white thing with my heart beat
monloantybCthbdoDXg
ing like a Sledge hammer, and / turned
it over and 9 er again. l couldn't bring
myself to open il at first. KNEW whom
it came from. l had heard from home
only the day before.
At last l broke the seal and this is
what l read within:
Dear Paul-Dcar friend, / have heard
of your misfortune. l have grieved
over 1t. For awhile ! thought l was
grieying for one dead. i have been
very happy since l heard that you would
live. They tell me you win be at home
soon; when YOU come we win meet. If
my letters have pleased you, as you say
they have, it would he wrong TO keep
my name a secret any longer. / began
the correspondence in mere sport. as
did the rest of us. 1t is sport no longer.
You have been writing to one you knew
to Rachel stockton.
TO Rachel Stockton. ! gasped for
breath. / felt faint and giddy. Could
it be a hoax? l answered No mt one.
1t must be the serious fact unless l was
quite mad, and then she must have liked
a little in those Old times when l be
came a soldier for her sake.
If | had known that perhaps ! might
never have left Hay Hill.
And now, instead Of marching home
with uniform and epaulets, / must take
my empty sleeve back to the farm, and
be not half as useful or rs happy as I
had been. i did not regret what had
done for my country, but l had quite
lost Rachel. If / had been afraid to
WOO her before, how must it ba nowt
/ hid my face in my pillow and the
letter g my heart. The sudden
knowledge that had come upon me
frightened me. Before next morning /
had come to a resolution.
Day and nigtt l studied to learn TO
write with my left hand, for 1 could
conide in no one, and at last thr first
scruwl was completed. In it told her
all-hOw / had loved her; how, knowing
myself not her equal, l had thought to
win q name she might be proud to bear:
how the transcript Of her soul had NJ
faced the image Of her beauty, 50 that,
as the writer Of those letters, she had
been her own rival, and how, now that
1 found myself no officer crowned with
honors, but only a poor, disabled pri-
yate soldier, / knew that All ! had hoped
must he remembered only rs a dream,
but that ! suu must love har-loye her
while / Iyed-tenderly and passionate
ly and truly, as though ] had the power,
as 1 had tLe viii, to WOO aud win and
cherish her.
The letter went. / thought it the
finale Of my love tale. But there was TO
be another ending. ! bad grown better,
and was at home All the little world
! was busy, ANA / SAT Oh the old
porch In the trembling shadows Of the
vine Laves. There ! heard "a step bee