The herald., 1896-10-11

General, did Eric Paul find you? He
was here hunting for you this fore
noon."
The questioner and questioned sat in
front of a large wall tent that Captain
Higbee of the Twelfth Wisconsin had
put up on the broad lawn in front of MS
ST. Paul home for the comfort ana
pleasure of such of his regimental COM
rades as were in attendance upon the
national encampment. The general nao
been colonel of the Twelfth and the
other was a captain.
Yes, we met" said General Bryant,
land he told me how he had gotten
along since l gave him a scolding soon
after we were mustered out.
DO you remember poor Eric's sad ex-
perience during the WARP"
Name any of my old boys whose war
experience Is not familiar to me. sup
pose father has greater interest IN
his sons than regimental commander
has in the men he has for years com
nianded in camp, on the march, and IN
battle, but it is not very much greater.
Then the grizzled general, with a
heart as tender as a mothers, ana
whose love and regard for the men who
followed him for four years has been
so pronounced as to make him almost
an idol in the eyes Of those men, told
the story of Eric Paul.
Eric had one experience that in my
Judgment was as sad as that any SOL
dier boy ever passed through. After
having been prisoner for nearly a
year, part of the time at Andersonville,
and part at Salisbury, during which
time he had made three unsuccessful
efforts to escape, he reached our lines
and was sent home. He had been
through long siege of sickness in
prison. That. with the poor fare and
scant care given, had left him mere
skeleton. His mind was somewhat un-
balanced, the result of sickness and
prison life. A ticket to the station near
est to his home was bought and he start
ed on the long journey. 1t is easy to
imagine how precious the sight OF his
dear old home was to the emaciated,
weak, broken young fellow who had
never left it more than two days at
time until he became volunteer SOL
dier at II yeas of age. His loving mo-
ther was in that house. The thought Of
seeing her in a few minutes-of having
her loving arms about his neck, OF feel
ing her mother lips upon his shrunken
and almost bloodless lips-nerevd him
to quicker steps. He would surprise
mother by knocking at the door. The
sweet motherly face was before him,
but she stared at him and did not in
vite him into the house. He partially
walked and mainly fell across the
threshold, and then pulled himself into
a chair. 1t finally dawned upon the boy
patriot that his mother did not know
him. 1t nearly broke his heart. Brush
ing away his tears he moaned out:
Mother, don't you know me? Don't
you know your boy, Eric?"
Then that good Norwegian mother
gave the young man a still more scru-
tinizing, more searching glance. She
could see nothing that reminded her
Of the son she had given to her adopted
country. and in a commanding tone
said: You are not my boy Eric; you
are trying to fool me; will give you
some dinner and you must then move
on"
while Mrs. Paul was getting dinner
she frequently looked at the stranger
Several times Eric heard that best
friend on earth, his mother, say: He
is not my boy; he is not my boy Eric
made his case still worse by asking
about his father, who belonged to the