, 1898-10-25

their regiment, and the letters were
nlled with gossip about the officers AMI
Their families. for a regiment is naught
but II large family. Then came day,
OF watching and waiting, and the nexl
was the movement Of troops to Santiago.
Then the women knew that the wal
had begun i'll The full ~realiza.
ton of 1t came home to them. The older
women remembered when it was moth.
ing for their husbands to be ordered out
to suppress the Indians, while one OF
two remembered the civil war, but
there was nothing of that kind for the
wife of the second lieutenant to remem-
Der. She carried herself bravely, hS.-
ever, and proudly said that she was the
wife of a soldier and all soldiers wives
should be brave, a remark that greatly
pleased the others.
The women learned more about her
now that her husband was not present
to monopolize all her time. They learned
that she was quite alone in the world,
except for him; that she was an orphan
and that the aunt who had reared her
had died. This increased their sympathy
for her, if that were possible, for she had
their sympathy already. They could see
that her thoughts were all of her hus-
band, but if they ~endeavored to speak
words of comfort to her she replied, 81
am a soldiers wife"
the news Travelled slowly to them.
That perhaps was the hardest. Their
husbands might have been in battle and
have been wounded or killed; the four
troops might be wiped out and it would
be fully a week before they would know
it. When the papers did arrive, there
was q hurried glance at the headlines
and then for the regimental head.
The battle of Santiago had been
fought and won. The news had been
telegraphed undersea and overland
and the papers had come out with the
particulars under display headlines. 1t
was just n week after that the papers
reached the fort. The trooper brought
them i'll the evening and delivered them
to the women, sitting under the cotton
wood trees that skirted the parade
ground. The wife of the second lieuten.
ant had gone for u walk and was not
with them. a Cry burst from the white
lips of the ONE The headlines told
them that their men had been in the
thick of the fight. They glanced down
the columns, read the account and of
the deeds Of bravery of their men. They
read the list of the dead and wounded.
The wife of the second lieutenant
came up to them. She saw the papers
lying in the laps of the women; she
glanced at their faces. She read the
truth.
"There has been a battle?'' she said
interrogatively.
eyes" said one of the
"ADd Robert::" she asked.
"He was in the thick of the fight,
leading his men Oh and cheering Them"
answered one of her companions. "The
papers speak of his courage and bravery;
how he struggled on in the face Of the
deadly fire, encouraging his men. Some
OF the men fell, but with Il cheer Oh
their lips for him. and then came an
awful cross fire."
She looked out over the plain, the
moonlight changing the grease wood
and sagebrush into shadows and trans.
forming the beds of alkali into shining
waves of silver.
81 knew he was brave" she said,
land he was wounded:"
Eyes; very severely, and"- the
woman's voice broke.
There was tho sound of sobbing, and
one of the women arose and gently
placed her arm about the waist of the
younger woman.
MY dear began one Of them.
She drew away and unwound the arm
about her. Her face was terribly drawn.
"Am l not a soldiers widow" she
asked.
Then she turned and walked slowly
into her house.-R. A. Eaton in st.
Louis Republic.