The Portland daily press., 1896-03-28

centric woman, scrupulously neat and
clean. and by reason of that and her
great ago she was called crank by her
through the land there were many.
through jealousy, to deny that she had
flag out while the rebels marched
through Frederick. In strict truth she
did not wave her flag at the ragged
ranks, nor did the soldiers fire upon her.
The troops marched down different
street from that on which her house was
situated. But all that day-in fact all
through the war-she kept the Union flag
f1uttering from dormer window. She
was noble, loyal. patriotic woman.
When the rebel army was In possession OF
Frederick some of the troops were sitting
on the steps in front of her house. She
opened the door suddenly and bounced on
them with broomstick, shouting in a
thin, quavering voice, 'Begone, you
soamps 7 The soldiers reiterated in double
quick order She was full of fire, though
she was almost 100 years DID,"
I asked him the cause OF so much doubt
concerning Barbara Fritohie. "Well."
he said, "it's mostly due to jealousy and
ignorance. The new generation knows
but little concerning her. It sounds
strange, but suppose that the name Of
Barbara Fritchie is less known in Freder-
iok than in any part Of the country.
Many of the old residents were very jeal-
Gus of her notoriety and did much to
contradict the story. Look at the grave
there, rank with weeds and grass, with
only small stone and the two flags to
mark 1t. Few people visit it. few people
even know that it is there. 1t is q shane"
"Who puts the flags on the gravea"
81 dunno as ought to say anything
about ID; but after all these years guess
1t won't do any harm. 1t is pretty.'story.
It's an old chap up in New York, a
government official, but I couldn't tell
you the name. He has good reason to re-
member the old woman, for he married
one Of her nieces. 1t was romantic mar
riage-a wartime wooing. He was 3
young fellow when the war broke out.
He had the war fever, and enlisted in a
| Brooklyn regiment, the Fourteenth,
believe. 1t was on Sept. 10, 1869, Sun
day morning, when his regiment marched
| through the streets of the town. 1t was
! just after the rebels had occupied the
place, and there was considerable rejoic-
| ing at the coming Of the Yankees. The
| inhabitants were, in the main, Union
sympathizers. Flags hung from the win
dows, the houses were gay with bunting.
and the streets presented holiday ap-
pearance. The townspeople cheered the
boys as they marched, and the women
waved their handk0rchiefs. 1t was a
brave day. The soldiers marched over
the old wooden bridge and down Patri ok
street., passing the Barbara Fritchie
house. From the dormer window foated
the Union flag, as it had done since the
opening or the war. In the doorway
stood Dollie Jeffrey niece of old Bat
bara, pretty Southern girl Of IS years.
| AS the Fourteenth Brooklyn passed the
house the young fellow spoke Of caught
her eye and bowed. The girl blushed
and went into the house. This was about
s O'Clock in the morning. At 5 in the
afternoon the troops were holly engaged
at South Mountain, and three days later
they were struggling at Antietam. A
year from that time the Fourteenth
Brooklyn again marched through the
streets Of Frederick on their way to Get
tysburg. Curiously enough, young Miss
Dollie was standing in the doorway of
Barbara Fritohie's house Oh Patrick
street The same young soldier recog-
nized her and saluted. The troops
camped in the town for two days, and /
made HIS acquaintance. That friendship
lasts to this day. He asked me about
the young lady in the doorway I in
troduced him to Miss Dollie, and it was
case of love at first sight. After day
of wooing he had to leave with his regi-
ment. At Gettysburg be was wounded
and was brought back to this town. He
was taken to Bsrbara's house, and Dol
| lie jeffrey nursed him back to health.
She had long siege Of 1t, too, for after
recovering from his wound he was taken
with typhoid fever. While on his bed be
and Dollie were married. Unable to do
"AJ sdoIo u5nuAuE Nc Wbs dppUiutSu Culol
clerk of the United States general hos
pital. which position he held to Tie close
of the war. They lived in the town until
Barbara's death, when they moved
North. Twice year he sends two new
flags to me that they may be placed on
Barbara Fritohie's grave, thus follow
ing out the lines of Whittier. With his
wife and children he visits here every
summer. They are the only ones who
take any interest in the old woman.
They out the grass and put flowers on
the grave.
As left the cemetery the sun was
sinking behind the distant purple hills
of Maryland. The light drifted over the
quaint roof-tops of the old town and
glinted on the rusty palings Of the ram
shaokle fence. The sunset light smiled
softly, almost tenderly, on the flags that
tapped idly in the warm air above her
grave, and as walked down the dusty
street thought of Whittier's lines:
And thro' the hill gaps sunset light