Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-08-29
A DOUBLE GRAVE.
How Two old People Lost Their Hives O,
 the Battlefield.


 and by night brought n strange silence. Cannon and musket ceased to echo and | regiments and brisades to march, and that made silence, but yet that silence was broken by continuous sound such as you must hear with your own cars to understand It was like the murmur of a mob of men coming from n long way of. It was the cries and groans of wounded men-thousands of thcm-left on the field between the two armies Mingled with their cries were the pitiful groans of wounded horses as they tried to get on their feet, or. being already up, limped painfully about.
 Men left wounded on n field of battle do not cry out or shout. They Rroan and curse or pray. Sometimes they arc silent. as if dumb. They have looked into the eyes of death, as 1t weru. and feel awcd and stricken. The noise which comes up to you of a battlefield on the air of night has no flcrcencss about it-no harshness- It is n sobbing. murmuring chorus com ing from lips parched with thirst, and you pity them and curse the very name of war as you listen.
 At 10 o'clock we 0t Company A were pushed to the <Sent hs pickcts. We scat tered along the edge of a eOrnfield and crouched down. On the other side of the field, and hardly pistol shot away, were the pickcts of the enemy. We had come up as n rc-cnfOrccmcnt just at dark and had not looked over tho ground and did not know of the farmhouse a few rods dis tant. At II o'clock, when the men on the battle lines were asleep and muttering As they dreamed, heard footsteps in the darkness. Some one was coming along down the edge of the cornfield- I chal lengcd, and the footsteps ceased chal- lengcd again, and the voice of n woman called to me through the darkness:
 "Plcasc let me come. want to speak to you"
 She came forward and stood close beside me in the gloom. I saw that she was old and gray and bent, and that she leaned heavily on n stick. The farmhouse was almost the center of battle. From noon to sundown 1t had been exposed to every missile of war, and that 1t had not been burned as well ns rent and shattered was . wonder. No one lived therc except an old man and his equally aged wife, and no time had been given them for flight For hours their lives had been sparcd while hundreds of others hnd been taken, but ns the sun hung low the poor old mnn re- ceived a mortal wound and died in her arms. She had hobbled down to me past the dead and wounded to ask help to bury him. She would 20 away If we would as sist her, but he must be buried first
 passed the word back, and n corporal and two men wcrc sent forward. They had been aroused from sleep, and feared they would speak gruflly to the poor old wife and widow. but they did not They called her grandma and gave her words of sympathy, and the corporal gave her his arm to lean upon as they made their way to the house. Therc lay the old man dead, and while she kncclCd to weep and pray beside the corpse the men dug u grave in the garden behind the house. It was grave among the dead. In that quaint old garden, where the pinks and hOllyhOcks and lilacs shared the ground with the let tucc and onions and cucumbcrs, were scorc of men whoso eyes would never open again.
 Now, grandma, come on, and please don't cryI' said the corporal as he helped her to her feet. Men, get sheets from the bed. We will give him better than a soldiers burial"
 With the strange murmur rising from the wounded. with the face of the dead looking up into the black night, with 200, 900 living men asleep to renew their strength for the morrows battle, they made ready to lower the gray haired dead to his resting place Hark! Away down on the left there Is the echo of n single muskct, fir'd by accident perhaps. There is another and another, and tho reports come rapidly ncarer. It was always SO Tho discharge of one musket meant the discharge of perhaps 300. Tho pickcts simply fired into the darkness in front. It was a signal that they wcrc alert. The reports come rippling along the line. fire with the rest of them, and the pop, pop, pop runs to the right. One single bullet, | fired from across the cornficld, reached a human life. It cut through the branches | of the cherry tree, whiZZcd over the tall stalkcd hollyhocks and struck that poor old woman in the side, as she sobbed and grievcd, and laid her dead, with the tears yet yelling from her eyes She sank down and died without a cry-with only sob in her throat. The firing died away a minute later us the men bent over her to see If she were dead. One dead in his ! winding sheet-the other dead and wait ing.
 The corporal motioned with his hand, | and the men began to widen tho grave. He entcrrd the house and brought out oth- CT sheets, and when the grave was ready | two bodies werc lowered into 1t side by
 side. So were they covered in and left to
 their eternal sleep. At midnight a group
 of men, looking for n missing officer, en-
 tercd the garden and stumbled over the | ncwmadc grave.
 Who is buried hcrcg' they asked of one | another in surprise, knowing that tho liy-
 ing do not bury tho dead until after the l battle is over.
 There was no ono to tell them. Cavalry
 gallopcd over that grave next day; the
 wheels of cannon cut the earth; men fell
 and died therc. It was stamped into the | earth, as 1t were. Son or daughter might
 have searched for lifetime and searched | in vain. NJ QUAD. Do Not Give Away Your Toes