The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-01-25
UNCLE BEN'S LETTER.

farm in Lake county, was showing me
. number of Indian relics priced by him
because they had been in the family SC
long.
"What have you Ing there?'' l asked,
pointing to a faded blue plush case orig
inally intended, / fancied, for a set of
silver teaspoons. Before answering my
question Bill opened the box and held
it so that / could look into ii, and but
for q following envelope it was empty.
He took up the envelope, touching it
with exceeding care, and handed it to
me.
"What of it," / asked after reading
the name and address-'Mrs. Mary
Hullett, Antioch, Lake county, Ills"
"You notice, said he, ''that it has
VI been opened"
Yes" / answered, land what is
this postmark written with a pen?
Why. it is Gettysburg. isn't it,"
Eyes. That's where the letter was
mailed, addressed to my mother, and, as
you see, no one has broken the seal"
why. that's strange. Tell me about
it,"
In order to get the history of a relic
] had to feel, or rather pretend that /
felt, o great interest in it. Bill took
the letter and put it away, and after q
time told me the following bit of fami-
~ history:
"You see, my mother thought more
of her brother, my Uncle Ben, than she
did of almost anybody i'm the world.
While quite young she married in the
east, and she and father, together with
my Uncle Ben, came on to this state. /
don't recollect much about my father,
but from what l have always understood
the marriage was not a happy n
Well, Uncle Ben finished paying for
the farm and had the deed made over
to mother. @
"Imerely mention these small details
to show how much the brother and the
sister were attached to each other. Well,
when the war broke out-and I recol-
lect it well, for l was a smart chunk of
q boy-Uncle Ben swore that it was his
duty to 60. My mother was a very pa
triotic woman, but with the ~seiishness
of a woman's affection she could not
see why she should be called upon to
give up her only brother. But Uncle
Ben declared that every woman should
not only be called upon to give mp her
brother, but her son, her husband, her
life, If needs be. He was SO devoted to
the Union, SO strong i'm his denuncia-
ton OF all people who were lukewarm,
that when the time came he was elected
captain of a company. And so Off he
marched, leaving my mother in the
deepest grief. AT night she would awake |
me with her sobs, and many q time when
I heard no sound would / put my hand
on her pillow to find it wet with her
tears. OF course the violence of her |
grief did not last, for pride and the !
love of country babe her be brave, but
whenever we received news that a bat |
tie had been fought she would lock her
self in her room and there wait to hear
that her brother was dead.
Thus it went on until his death was
mentioned in the dispatches. He was
killed at Gettysburg, and two days later
there camea letter from him. My moth-
er knew that it had been written lust
before he went into battle-probably the
very last thing he did was to seal it
u she declared that the seal must new
er be broken. / remember that some of
the neighbors argued with her that she
ought to see what the letter had to say,
but h said not, it must forever re-
main sealed. So she never did open it,
and when she came to die she told me to
keep it just as she had kept it and to
leave it to my favorite child, with the
same instructions that she had given
me. My mother was of excellent stock,
and l have thought that this prompted
her sometimes to say that the crest of
her descendants might be all unopened
letter. She always said this laughingly,
but l have noticed that it il i'm q spirit
OF fun that we sometimes show our
pride. Well. as you see, | have never
opened the letter, and / never intend
to. I'm going to leave it to my SON An
drew"
Bill and ] went fishing that after.
noon, as we did nearly every Saturday
during the summer, and all the time
we We're casting / was itching to know
what was in that letter. Of course /
knew that it contained simply a few
lines telling his sister that a battle was
ON, and that he trusted In God and the
right. But / wanted to see the lines. /
could fancy the shape of the sprawling
characters, written with a pencil by the
light of a candle held by a bayonet
stuck into the ground.
BILL said /. ''you would have
found me among the neighbors urging
your mother to open that letter"
but not if you had seen that not to
open 1t was a sentiment with her"
well, | don't know about that.
Probably not"
The next time / went ont into the
country to fish with Bill | found him
In rather a detected state. The drought
had continued so long that he knew
that the crops must be q failure. and
summer boarders had not come in num-.
bers sufficient to insure an offset for
the damage. Bill said he didn't care to
fish 1T 1 were to hang the biggest