The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1899-06-01
'Llakim, "a Man OF Low Degree.
BY TOM BURTON.

to laugh and rarely known to smile; but
his good humor and kindly heart were
known to every one, although at first he
served as butt for the fun of the entire
regiment.
When he joined (Which was, as l re-
member, just after Antietam) 'Liakim S
good nature was sometimes mistaken for
stupidity; but after a time we came to
to know him better, and to have proper
respect for his stolid calmness, which We
had found to cover world of shrewdness
and thong This latter quality
was ever manifest. and showed Itself in
thousand ways. When on the march, he
was always ready to help a halting COM
rade by tightening his burden, no matter
how heavy might be his own, for his lank
form seemed to embody prodigious
strength and marvellous reserve force; and
many time he was known to share his
scanty lations with one still more poorly
provided than himself.
He was never intoxicated, and never in
dulged in profanity his only weakness IF
such it should be called) being music,
which was i'll his case evidenced by IA
propensity to lift his voice in song. and
this upon all possible occasions And the
only tunes to which he ever gave voice
dleary and doleful hymns of the olden
time.
And then lie would sometimes supple
ment his vocal performance by those of a
quasi instrumental character; for he would
cover his comb (for which indeed he seem
ed to have no other use) with bit of
paper and then, pressing this primitive
instrument against his lips, he would
evoke the most dismal sounds imaginable.
And this he would persist in doing, utter
ly regardless of the invariable shower Ct
shoes, canteens and whatever other cIls
siles happened to be at hand, which greet
ed his every performance.
At first he was utterly green; and al
though fairly quick in learning the manual
of arms, it seemed as though he would
never acquire a knowledge of the various
matters of military discipline and Ell
quette. And as an instance of this, 1t
was told OF him that one night upon his
return from foraging expedition he was
challenged by a sentinel as he reached
our lines. Forgetting all about the neces-
sity for giving the countersign, he cried
ont in trembling tones, Don't shoot,
Don't shoot. I'm Liakim Glass, with
Captain Barker's supper
He did not have much opportunity to
distinguish himself il his first fight,
which was little more than skirmish :
and after We returned to camp he was
seen in front of his tent, his face very
pale, although suspiciously red about the
eyes, any wearing even more doleful ex-
preston than usual
What's the matter, 'Lia?' (this be
ing his nickname, and which the boys
insisted ought to be spelled Liar J
asked a sympathizing comrade. did
you get hurt, lose leg, or arm, or any
thing?'
NO." Liakim replied, very slowly,
as lie blew his red nose with unnecessary
emphasis. I'm all here; only 1 was
wishin' | was in dads COW she'd
"'What IN thunder was you wishn'
that fore" the other asked in surprise.
Cause Liakim replied, with per
feet seriousness, you bet I'd make for
Ike house"
Soon after this there was another I'M
important engagement and at the next
Ioll-cal Liakim was reported as missing.
ANA then we really did miss him, and his
odd ways and quaint sayings, and we
even Went so far as to speak regIetfully Of
Lis dolelul hymns and heart breaking per-
formances upon the comb, and we were
sincere III the hope that no greater harm
had come 10 him than that being taken
prisoner.
Three days later a startling sight burst
upon uur vision. 1t was a white mule
that is, white where the encrusted mud
did not conceal its natural complexion
which came ambling into camp, bearing
upon its back gaunt female, her face
completely hidden by a great Tapping
sunbonnet, such as was Worn by the ma
tiyes OF the country. and her skirts 8ut-
tering gaily in the breeze, showing gen
erously developed pair of feet clad in
mems boots. And this new woman of
that early period rode astride, man
fashion.
She paid no attention to the boots and
jeeIs which greeted her, but rode straight
up TO a group of men who stood apart
from the others, and bringing the mule to
a halt, she sprang to the ground Theu
she slowly and with some difficulty gath
cred up her skirts, thereby displaying
pair of blue army pants beneath the calico
draperes, and thrusting an enormous red
hand into pocket, drew forth blacken-
ed pipe, exciaming il voice we all rec
Ognized Give me some tobacco, quick,
some OF you fellows. | haven had a
smoke for goin' on four days. Poster
this thing, anyhow And with this, the
sunbonnet was thrown back, displaying to
our eyes the face of our missing and
mourned comrade, Liakim Glass
The shout that went up attracted the
attention of the entire camp, and in
moment a crowd surrounded 'Liakim,
who stood there grinning and looking
rather sheepish, and as though not very
proud of the interest he excited; while
the mule seemed to regard us and our
nproariOus mirth with all the calmness of
philosopher one whose thoughts were
far above such trivial sources of amuse-
ment.
1t appeared that Liakim had been
taken prisoner, but that he escaped the
same night from his captors and took
refuge in the cabin of an old negress.
She treated him with great kindness,
and after secreting him until the search
was over, had provided from her own
scant wardrobe the raiment in which he
returned to camp, and also put him in
possession of the mule.
After this episode Liakim was rechrisu-
ed and was known as Sister Liar, and
SISTERS mule became one of the fea-
lures of the camp.
The bitter winter was soon upon us and
all through the hard days and harder
nights ''Sister Liar" became more and
more endeared TO the hearts of his COM
rades. No matter what the days duty