Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1897-05-28
lance, coming to lay flowers on 1t and
make speeches." @& 49,


forced to steady himself by graspnis
the shoulder OF the small boy, who
gazed up at him with wondering
face which struck some faint chord OF
recognition within him. "They won't
know me-" he muttered to himself In
ouavering accents. Lucy herself, nor
NV own mother wouldn't know me as
I look now. An, anyhow, they could
MT do nothin' to me.
The tune played was, to him, not
marching Through Georgia" but
Honor gone, ais gone;
Better never have been BORN"
over and over. The tattered battle flags
carried with reyerent hands above the
head of the marching ranks, almost as
the host is carried in Old World relig-
ions professions, made his heart first
burn within him, then sicken at the
thought that his place should not have
been here among those who watched 1t
from afar of.
Either with them-or them" he
thought fiercely, first glancing at the
ranks OF battle-scarred soldiers, then
at the tall gray shaft, which seemed a
finger to write on the skies its witness
to the glory of the fallen members Of
the til Pennsylvania Volunteers.
Some distraction from the thoughts
Of the moment was absolutely neces-
sary. He picked up the 10-year-old
boy, saying to his sister, "Bub here
can't see, way down on the ground"
and swung him to his shoulder. The
boy smiled friendly wise into the rough
face and remarked with a wavering
sweep OF his forefnger:
That's my fathers monument"
"Your fathers, hey?'
Eyes. He was the bravest man In
the -th Pennsylvania. My mother
tells us so often. He died for his coun-
try"
who was your father??' Struck
again by that dim resemblance to
someone he had known, he asked the
question, half shrinking from the re-
ply, yet never dreaming what it would
be.
Matthew Barlow, an my names
Matthew Barlow, but hers indicat-
ing the girl-"ain't. She's Dora Ma
tilda, after her aunt"
Well, and wherein lay the horror Of
it? Had he not wished and intended
to hunt up his family and be reunited
to the children who had been babies
when he saw them last? And here he
had stumbled across them without the
least trouble. Across them-and
across his own monument!
where's your mother?" he asked In
whisper, not daring to look behind
him.
"Out working. She cleans Offices.
mother does, an she couldn't afford to
take to-day off, cause it's desperate
hard to get along anyhow, she says.
and"
"Mattyr' In the girls tone Of gen.
tie rebuke there was familiar cadence
he wondered at himself for not no.
ticing before Rousing himself, he
said to her tentatively:
"How do you know your fathers
dead? Maybe he'll come back some
day with a lot of money and make you
all rich" ~.
Dora Matilda shook her head He'd
have come back to us before this" she
said confidently. He was reported
missing after the battle OF Bull Run
and mother says she's sure he's dead.
She says, too, that she'd rather he'd
left us what he did-an example OF
being brave and willing to die for tho
Union-than hundreds OF gold and sill
Yer dollars"
Your mother amt married again,
them"
Surely it was Lucy's own self in the
naughty flinging back Of the head and
the answer which rung proudly out.
certainly not"
The deserter suddenly set the boy
down. Something bore too heavily on
his shoulders. 1t was that great shaft
of stone, his monument. The band
kept on pretending TO play patriotic
songs, but really beating the air with
the refrain, Honor gone, all's gone"
Had he dreamed of something he was
to bring to these children, by answer
ing the advertisement which was to
lead him, perhaps, to unlimited wealth
and comfort? What wealth, what COM
fort could replace to them-or to him
the heroic image which his return
would blot out from their young mind?
The ten years OF poverty which had
been bitter to him had been sweet to
them with a sweetness he could never
know again. Let them work and toll
on, and even il they tasted the bitter
ness of starvation or death, it would
be better than anything he could give
them, who, as the martial music kept
reminding him, had better never have
been born!
Sister works too," the boy prattled
on, "in a factory, and she saves money
through the year to buy flowers for
Decoration Day. Then when all the
folks have gone away We put them on
fathers monument"
Matt Barlow reached out his hands
toward the bunch Of limp roses and
fading mignonette which the girl held,
then as suddenly withdrew it. keep
EN-" he said grufily, almost violently.
Il thought wanted one, but don't"
That evening, as the stars and the
gas lamps began to twinkle in unequal
rivalry over Washington square, the
L Iaar, eloax,ix, hao. .il,x