The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1898-11-02
b oxes ready to ship in theearly morn

at twilight, taking with her Hetty
Barton. "You know I've sent my
quilt to the soldiers?" she asked,
hesitatingly.
eyes, they told me so. I think it
was so generous of you," Hetty re-
piled, in an absent-minded way, as
she twisted the plain gold ring on her
finger.
81 had planned to give it to you.
Hetty. There's nobody I like SO we'll
as you and John; but now"
Hetty's eyes were full of dumb
agony. Suddenly slipping from the
chair to her knees, she buried her face
in Aunt Bina's lap. "Ohl OH" she
sobbed, "you needn't think about
that. 1t has been two long weeks
since 1 heard from him. John
wouldn't treat me SO, Aunt Bini, un-
less" and then the girl could say
no more.
Aunt Bina's tears fell upon the
brown braids. "There, there don't
give way. / guess John is all right.
"Oh, but he always wrote! He
wasn't careless, like some of the boys.
Do you know his father and mother
are almost sick. They think he
is"
"There, there!" comforted Aunt
Bina. "I believe John will live to
come home; that's my faith. Why,
we've got to believe it, Hetty! If We
didn't, how could we live through It'll"
Even while they slept and talked,
John was lying in one of the Wash
ington hospitals. He had been terri
bly, wounded, and after many delays
was brough there with one leg ampu-
tated and his right arm disabled. His
nurse, o bright little woman from
Maine, tried in every way to arouse
him.
'T believe he wants to die," she
said to the surgeon. 81 can hardly
persuade him to eat"
Probably he does" replied the
weary-eyed man. "He had q mag
nificent physique, and such fellow
feels that he cannot face life mained
in this fashion. I've often had such
cases. II you can only get him past
this first shock"
The busy man hurried away without
finishing his sentence, but the nurse
understood.
A few nights later lot Of boxes
arrived in response to the urgeut call
for hospital supplies, and Johns
nurse eagerly claimed some of their
precious contents. 81 need blankets
in my ward" she said, "and oh, here
is beautiful quilt This will cheer
my poor boys like bouquet of flow
ers."
The nurse from Maine was one Of
the best in the hospital, and no one OBJ
jected when she carried away the quilt
and placed it gently over her favorite
patient.
"Perhaps it will keep his eyes off
the blank WALL" she said to herself,
with q sigh.
When the first morning light shone
in through the long, narrow windows,
the young soldier opened his eyes, al
most resenting the knowledge that he
had slept better than usual. AS he
looked lauguidly to see if his nurse
had given him an extra blanket, he
saw new quilt, and at the same mo-
ment was conscious of faint perfume
of rose-leaves, perceptible even in that
sickening atmosphere.
He closed his eyes and saw the
bushes under the parlor windows at
home, laden with great red roses, as
they had been the morning he left
Eden. He had started out that morn
ing with bud in his buttonhole, and
another between his lips "decked
for the sacrifice" he thought, with
spasm OF bitterness.
With his left hand he pulled the
quilt nearer. 1t was made of many,
many small trianglesl Mothers
dressl' he murmured, placing his fin
ger upon a brown bit with tiny white
spray in it. ''Hetty!" and wave of
color rose to his pale face, as he
caressed triangle of pink.
For the first time since he was
placed upon that cot, great tears rolled
down This cheeks. The spell Of despair
was broken. Life was sweet, after all.
"Mother and Hetty won't mind if /
am a poor one-legged fellow" he
sobbed.
All the bitterness and rebellion
melted out of his heart as he lay there
quietly crying; and when his nurse
came in he greeted her with smile
that transfgured his face.
"This is Aunt Bina's quilt!' said he.
81 don't know how it got here, but it
is. Now, nurse, bring on your broth,
for I'm going to get well"
'It's been better than medicine"
the delighted woman declared to the
doctor. "He's given me his address,
and I've already written to his mother.
"And I've shown that quilt to all
my boys, and told them about the dear
old maid who counted all the stitches
and thought so much of her love
quilt, and how hard it must have
been to give it up. They're all
brighter and better for it. Why
they say, do the folks at home think
SO much of us as that?'"
Years have passed since that day,
and John and Hetty are elderly people
now, with boys and girls growing up
around them. John found that his
brains could do better service for him
than even physical energy. and has
become a successful and conscientious
lawyer. In their busy, happy lives
they have never forgotten the woman