Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-05-27

listed since the parade began, were
! learning the foot drill, and Wallace
Wade, light rattan cane in his hand,
was teaching them. When it was over
ne looked in Elenor Thompson's eyes
and was rewarded.
There was a public dinner for the
| soldiers. There were speeches by poll
ticians who lent their voices and be-
Geved it excused them from lending
their arms. There was music, and the
| adulation of the throng. Then the dis
solving Of a host and the threading
OF river paths by two and two
who discarded Hardee in the gentle
tactics OF Dan Cupid's war.
/ And Monday they marched gayly.
''Thi, is memorial day." said young
| Harold Wade. ''AIl the schools are go
ing to the cemetery. l am to help
The torn letter 2
scatter flowers. Are you and grandma
going?"
No, don't approve of this new
| holiday" answered old Judge Wade.
There were enough without it. And
we have no soldier buried there"
Il wish my fathers grave were
/ there" exclaimed the boy. But I will
| lay some roses on a grave that I don't
| knoW-one of the unmarked graves
| And it will be for him. l wish my
mother had lived. And l wish she
were here"
Sometimes | think we ought to tell
him. said Mrs. Wade, when her grand
son had hurried, heavv-hearted, away.
| Not till he is a grown man" said
the resolute judge. He would blame
us too bitterly now. said before Wal
lace enlisted that if she got my son
to go to the army she would regret it.
| think she has. This memorial day
nonsense will be forgotten long before
Harold grows up
1t was new ceremony hut the spirit
of it appealed to the people, and they
paid all honor to the armies that lie
front face to the stars" Harold Wad
felt the significance as he laid roses
on the graves of men who had made
ea1th's final sacrifice. And when other
ceremonials were occupying the rest
he slipped from his schoolmates and
laid a rose on the grave of a soldier,
who had fought for freedom and had
neglected to accumulate even so much
as would have purchased a monument
AS the boy turned back to the crowd
a woman approached him swiftly-a
woman of fair and happy, yet wistful,
face. Her gentle hands had carressing
breath was like memory from infancy.
She gave him a paper.
Read it when you get home" she
said. when you have found the other
half you will know" Then she stopped
and kissed him and walked swiftly
away, while he stood wondering
'"The other half! l will know-What?
u Who was she?"
He looked at the paper 1t was
torn bit of a letter, much wrinkled. 1t
was dark stained on the uneven edge.
And there was a miniature flag, lik
a monogram, on the upper corner. And
this is what he found:
II have read His fiery gospeI--
Writ in lines Of Lur---z---
CAS- you deal with my-------
| oO Will YOU
Let the hero-----
Crush --
In the vacation that followed present
ly Harold had a great deal of time
OF his hands. One day it rained, and
he crept up to the attic with a book
of adventure And when he was tired
of following his hero through perils he
| nd int haH 1o,.
the roof where the rain was beating,
and dragged out a crumpled old KNAPP
sack which he had never seen He
loOsed it's fastenings, and pulled open
the stubborn leather. In it were some
articles Of dress and toilet, already
quaint, though this son Of a soldier was
but half way through his teens. There
was a Testament, and a needle, with
some thread. And there was a torn
half sheet of note paper, written on
fairly, and dark stained along its I'M
even edge. 1t bore these words:
nished steel:
contemners
His grace shall deal
born of woman
the serpent with his heel
While God is marching Onr'
Its the other halfr' he cried. And
the son of a soldier leaped to his feet.
NOW I shall know"
He went straight to his grandfather,
and showed him the two matched frag-
ments
you have been very good 10 me-
lie said, "but that woman was my
mother Ny mother is living, and not
dead. She was with my father when
he died. You got that knapsack some
! how, but she had saved half of the
letter which had been cut in two by
the bullet that gave him his death
wound. And she has never asked you
| for anything, though she might have
asked you for much. Now I ask 70
her. Where is she?"
And the grandfather told. He was
less bitter to the woman who had sent
! his son to the war, since she had
soothed that son while he suffered. S
that the judges home received a sweet
faced woman who reaped in years of
| loving companionship the reward of a
self-denial that had lasted from the
| day she left a new-made grave in the
wilderness, and found her toddling son
| had been spirited away
ODD AND IN CHICAGO.
The oldest thing in the shane of