The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-08-27

HN'N'N'N' N' 'NNA breff sar!" The end of the life of any veteran of our command ought to be a mat ter of personal interest to each one of us, No matter who he is-where he falls, or when he falls--if he took the oath to serve the state and the na- tion and did a soldiers duty, he is entitled to our sympathy and atten- tion. Whatever his circumstances may have been at death somebody once loved him-a mother-a wife-possibly children; somebody, too, probably mourned his death.
 One such died some time since. He had made rather weak battle for He lived in a neighboring town, and from straitened means was not always able to attend these reunions. Sickness had wounded him sorely and at last he was nearing his end. He had lain all day in state of half-conscious- ness, and his wife past middle age, like himself had been watching with him.
 As the sun was going down the red light came in at the window fell upon an old fashioned looking glass upon the wall opposite and was reflected in glory upon the face of the old soldier. He moved a bit and put out his hand as if searching for something; then he passed it across his eyes as if to clear away a mist, the mist which rises from the valley of the river of death.
 "Is it night?" he asked.
 "Yes! It is growing dark" his wife re- piled, as she moved nearer him and took his wasted hand, The August sunset and life's sunset for him were fast com- ing on. The boundary line between to- day and forever was becoming clearer and sharper defined.
 Have the children come home?" he soon asked.
 "Yes, dear, they are all in" said the faltering lips of his wife, and so they were and had been, one thirty and none years-one half that time, and still third all in their graves; not one was left.
 Janet, call Charlie" he suddenly uttered. q hear the band coming" :" o how the words fell on the mothers heart Call Charlie?-why nothing but the trumpet of the resurrection could summon the lad. The dying father | would soon go to his boy, but the boy could not come to him. Then silence fell for little and by and by neigh bor entered, but the wife motioned her back and sat silent in the gray even- ing light holding her husbands cold wrinkled hand, that hand which in the name of God and in the cause of right had carried gun at Fredericksburg, at Suffolk, at Kinston
 T hear the band again." she heard him say. feebly as he tried to rise, and then in a stronger voice, Janet, they're coming they're playing The Girl I Left Behind Me-" and he fell back, gone. We'll has a poet said:
 Great souls, we say, when now and then
 | We find such hearts in common men. Plain, common men of every day,
 Who left their homes to march away For standing face to face with fate All common men are always great" | The history of our regiment is a his tory of men who have furnished actors in nearly all the walks of life. Minis ters, lawyers faith doctors, physicians, merchants, manufacturers, mind read- CTS, mechanics, etc., etc, Keeley grad uates, etc. All trades and professions have been honored by the entrance into them of ourselves, But the time has come when we can no longer take a too boastful attitude We have reached the highwater mark of our ability, and hence forward men will say of us, He is growing old.'
 We do not so much see it in each other as the children of to-day see it in us We, a few hundreds, measure our selves by cur past. The world meas ures us by their present It looks on us as almost a past generation. The civil war is nearly as remote from the thoughts of the children of Naugatuck to-day as were thoughts of the revolu- tionary war from us when we enlisted.
 Yet notwithstanding the advancing years, and the inroads of disability tc a greater or less degree, it Is very com. forting to know that there are still a few of us who carry on business at the old stand with eye undimmed an6 force unabated." One such among oth. CTS is doing business in New Haven He has a market, and like all bread winners has to hustle for trade. Among his patrons was a lady who frequently priced his wares but rarely made g purchase. One morning, however, mucf to his surprise, he succeeded in selling her fish for dinner. The following day she entered his place somewhat f1ustered and complained loudly tha' her purchase was stale.
 Madam" said our comrade, the pro prietor, 'Tt's not my fault that tht fish was stale. I asked you to buy i every day for a week. You waited too long before you took it.''
 Now, with such business men on oul rolls we are not going to take bacl water from any other Connecticut reg iment.
 Must you hear something about "Bil Nichols" who (besides ourselves) fill a larger and more important place il our history? Whom are we better pleas ed to meet? Who counted for more il the army than he? Why, we've knowr him answer at roll call for three or fou comrades, who were playing cards III at the suffers so naturally that Ikt Chamberlain was fooled every time.
 The only occasion, I am told, tha William was ever mistaken happened soon after his discharge from the ar