The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-08-05
A TRUE TALE
,Ass.&OF LOVE.


In the early days of the late civil war
regiment Of blue-coated soldiers went
marching down the streets of a great
city to the stirring music of ffe ana
drum. Flags fioated over them from tho
roofs of great houses on either hand.
Men and women and children cheered
the soldiers as they went by, with wild
enthusiasm. The men who wore the
army blue were, for the most part
fine. braye-looking fellows. and the FIRE
that patriotism had kindled In the
hearts Of northern men burned in their
ewes. and made their faces stern and
earnest as they set them steadfastly
toward the work they had undertaken
Some Of them were bronzed and beard
ed. and you could have told by the hara'
rough hand that carried the gun that
its owner was familiar with toll. Some
were young men with hands as soft and
white as a woman's, md you felt sure
that the hardshlps of life had been to
them only things dreamed Of.
The regiment passed out Of the great
tboroughfares of trade.und into fash
ionable avenue where wealthy men had
made themselves magnificent homes.
Thewindows and balconies were crowd
ed with women who smiled down ut the
marching men, many of them seeing
but q mist of blue as they thought Of
what might be. Fair hands waved
them goodbye. and fair lips breathrd
Eodspeed, US the men went marching
on.
At one window a girl stood with a
far-away look in her eyes. She was
thinking, perhaps, how many Of these
men would never come back to the
homes they loved. Under the feyerish
excitement of the time and the scene,
she saw the sure results of war, and It
Saddened her unspeakably.
A soldier who was little more than a
boy in years came down the street, close
to the window where she stood. He was
a fair-faced fellow, with yellow hair,
and eyes as blue as the sky above. The
bright, eager young face had a beauty
In It that caught and held her attention.
1t was a face womanly In It's fairness,
but with the strength Of a mans nature
shining through It.
He looked up suddenly, as II he felt
the magnetism OF her glance, and their
eyes met, and there was mutual recog-
milton Of kinship Of soul in that first
look. 1t was as II they had known each
other in some other world, but met for
the first time in this, on this summer
morning.
She smiled down swiftly at him, her
face tender with the thought at her
heart, and breaking a rose from the
plant at her side. she dropped 1t down
to him. He caught it as 1t fell, and
then, with bow and smile that had a
greeting and a farewell in IT, he went
on and was lost in the crowd.
The face at the window haunted the
young soldiers dreams,and came to him
In waking moments like q sweet and
pleasant memory. The rose she had
thrown down to him he shut between
the pages Of the little Bible his mother
had given him on the morning Of lis
leaving home. He would keep It al
ways, to help him remember the sweet
est face he had ever seen-the face he
never EXPECTED to see again.
II puzzled Archie Dare that he should
thing so much about face that he had
seen but once, and then only for mo-
ment. He could not forget 1t, as he
forgot other faces. Often he caught
himself wondering II It was not possible
that somewhere, sometime, their path
ways might meet again. 1t was moi
likely that such thing would happen
but the world is full Of strange hap
penings, and he hoped that when the
war was done he might see again the
woman who had given him the flower
that he wore above his heart. Some
way It seemed to him as II 1t carried q
spell that would be powerful to save
in time Of danger. 1t gave him .
feeling Of safety that he could no
account for. Often he looked at Il
when he opened the Book his mother
loved, and read from its pages as h
had promised her he would, and hi
thoughts went wandering back to tn,
streets Of the strange city, and he saw
the face that was TO him the sweetes
OF all faces, smiling down upon him a
on that summer morning, and It seem
ed in some strange. unexplainable wa!
that the face had become part OF hi
life. 1t seemed 10 belong to him. ant
he got to calling It his face" when h
thought Of her. He used to wunde
night. when he woke up and lay watch
ing the stars overhead, II the fate tina
shapes and influences the lives OF mel
might not will that they should NEE
again, like two vessels that meet at Sci
that had hailed each other in passing
and gone their separate ways. but III
sea Is wide, and the winds Of destin,
blow north and south, and east an
west, and It might be that their course
would cross in some time to come. An
then-then!
Years went by. The war was ended
and Archie came home with a sea
upon his face and stars upon his shout
der. He had been n brave soldier an
had never shirked his duty, and It wa
not to be wondered at that the boy win
had gone into the field undecorate
should come back wearing the colonel
insignia Of rank. The fair face ha