The Opelousas courier., 1893-08-26
State had met at this prairie celebra.

tAOus
They we're herders and ranchmen
now, bearing the hardships of frontier
life as bravely as they had borne those
of the old campaign days in the
South.
"Well done for Maine ~ shouted the
crowd. "Now clear the way for New
Hampshire!
And so the roll-call went on, there
being but few Northern States that had
not one or more representatives,.
These soldier representatives greatly
enjoyed their meeting, and greeted
one another as comrades, even though
thew now saw one another's faces for
the first time. They were natives OF
the same State, and had fought under
the same flag during the ever memor.
! able wears of the sixties. Who could
wonder at their enthusiastic greetingsS
When at length the roll-call was over
and Mariel was turning away with the
others, her attention was attracted by
a familiar voice, and she turned to see
q gray old man excitedly addressing
the presiding officer. -
Several times during the roll-cal she
had noticed this same individual dart
ing about on the outskirts of the
crowd, starting %negvously as each
State was called, and watching the
performance with childish eagerness.
He now approached the presiding
officer, and said, p%iteously:
ST, too, am a soldier, but I am very
unfortunate and have forgotten every
thing. I cannot even remember my
State and regiment. A shell exploded
| near nv head and I was taken to q hos
| pital. When / recovered l tried to
join my regiment at the front, but L
| could not find it. I have not found it
| yet, though I've sought long and faith
fully. People tell me the wal is over,
and that my mind is injured by my old
wound. It may be SO. l have forgot
ten, though I am always trying to re.
| member. What is it l I'm always try
| ing to remember"
He asked the question with plaintive
eagerness, looking at the officer with
| piteous, beseeching eyes, that moved
/ that good man strangely.
But before he could reply he was
| pushed eagerly aside, the old mans
hand was seized in two warm, white
ones, and q soft voice cried, brokenly:
"Papa, papa, it is I you are trying
to remember your little daughter
| Mariell Have you forgotten your
wife and daughter, and the cottage you
bnilt for them on your prairie farm?
You have been gone SO long, papa,
seeking for the front, but | always
knew you would come back. Oh, papa,
pfpa!'. ,
And she pressed his wrinkled hand
against her soft cheek, looking at him
with large, dewy eyes, very like his
own ere they were dimmed by sickness
and his strange hallucination.
He returned her look with confused
interest, p~iteously trying to grasp the
meaning of her eager words.
"Mariel," he said, slowly-"Mariel'
where have I heard that name before?
Did I really have a wife and daughter?
l have sometimes dreamed I did; but
then I thought it onlya dream. Where
is this cottage you speak of. child?
Take me to it, and then perhaps / can
remember"
Robert now came forward, = and
gently hurried the excited father and
daughter away to the pony pheton.
Give years." he repeated, wonder.
ingly-"after five years of helpless
wandering, to wander SO neal home by
accidentl 1t is a joyful surprise for
M~ariel.".
During the long drive home Mariel
tried to gain some idea of where his
strange hallucinstions had led him,
and how he had spent the five long
years OF his absence.
He answered her questions confused
ly, speaking now of great fields OF
cotton and cane, and of crowds of
people at work under a blazing sun,
and now of a large institution where
he had been sent for treatment, and
from which he had escaped as soon as
possible.
At length he despaired of finding
ttthe 'front.'" and feeling an instructive
longing for the North, had wandered
in that direction, seeking the prairie
now as blindly as he had formerly
sought 'tthe front"
just what he was looking for he
could not quite make out, though he
was always trying to remember.
Perhaps it was for a wife and daugh-
ter, as Mariel suggested. He had
often dreamed he had a wife and
daughter waiting for him somewhere.
But he had always dreamed of a little
daughter, not of one as large as Mariel.
Perhaps her mother and the cottage
would be more like his dream. That
would help him to remember.
When at length the pony pheton
drew up in front Of the cottage. the
returned wsnderer gazed about him
intently, but said nothing.
Mariel has hastened to inform her
mother of the joyful surprise in store
for her, and begged her to be calm.
The invalid was greatly moved, and
started from her easy-ehair with o
smothered cry. But when the gray
old man stood before her, and she
recognized in him the soldier husband
of whom she had been SO proud, q
great calmness fell upon her, and she
held out her hand in tender greeting.
"Johnf" she said, gently. "Wel-
come home again, dear"
It was the voice of his youth, and it
smote upon his sleeping memory,
sounding like long-forgotten music.