The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-03-01
IAN INCIDENT OF VICTORY.


absorbing one subject, as persons are
apt to do if they allow their lives to
become narrowed.
She passed through the French win
dow and said to the old cook "Marsc
Jack is dead, Melinda. he was killed
in the big battle last week. Melinda
hadn't been brought up Calvinist,
and Marsc Jack had been her baby.
Morals or no morale she gave him the
i loyalty dogs give men without analy-
is aud she cried her poor old heart
out through the long day. She ycarn-
ed to go comfort his mother draw
her head down to her big lap and cry
with her; but Mrs. Rivers had become
a woman that women didn't easily
touch.
The next morning the paper had the
name in staring headlines. The
mother saw it across the length Of the
piazza as the colorcd girl brought it.
"Oh, they have remembered she
cried; "why not have let him rest in
+, death
But the headlines told Of glory. 1t
was u dispatch from .hc Associated
Prcss correspondent and it told how
Rivers. private had fallen in the front
of his regiment, holding the old flag,
cheering on men who were "A quarter
of century older than he. planting
his colors at the top Of hill, the first
man there
Such wa his death in the mad
heat, under an awful sun, bored BY
bullets, while he dug his flagstaff in
the cncmys country. making crazy
by his example hundreds Of men who
tuggcd like bloodhounds at leash to
get down the hill after the rctrcatcrs.
and choke, stranglc every man who
shot at him
Then came columns about him from
the local staff. This Rivers, thcy
now remembered, was Jack Rivers, a
tOwnslnan. an aristocrat who enlisted
as regular years ago: anecdotes Of
his childhood were told; stories of
daring adventures when he had been
the worst young scaml. in town and
had led every other boy into mischief.
There was III editorial telling how his
father had died This was written bv
the grey haired old editor who fought
by the father : side He touched the
boy death with fine old phrases and
gave him il place by his father side.
n cablcgram came from the white
haired Southern general, who knew
the family we'll, and he told the moth
cr over the wire that death had given
her another hero and that the dead
boy lay in his old tent, where hun
drcds lonored him. The mayor sent
to ask if the cablegram might be pub
lished, and said he had. arranged to
: have the body brought up at the citys
expense. On the day of the funeral
the Church was throngcd far past the
inner doors with curious and interest
ed groups Of people, friends and ac-
uualntanccs. 1t was the first soldier 6
funeral in that town since to.
The town people knew now that this
was war.
1t was cannon as we'll as flag.
l. Ill
Every mother in the city had heart
ache for this bereavcd mother. But
when those people tell you the story
Of that day now, they talk no more of
! gricf-they tell Of something that only
few understand.
The crowd. at the gateway of the
! Church parted to let the coffin pass,
and hundreds Of faces were lifted TO
the one mourner. Dozens of emo
tional colored people were sobbing
aloud. The town was showing it's
patriotism in this funeral. Union
veterans walked beside Confederate
veterans, the local militia had turned
out, the Sons Of the Revolution and
the Daughters Of the Confcderacy
were side by side. The coffin was
covered by the flag and was borne by
colored servants. The mother, the
only mourner. walked behind by the
side of the grey haired friend of the
boys father. Eyes that were turned
TO her in pity grew large in astonish-
mcnt.
Here was no bent, broken woman.
She stood every inch her splendid
height
The face was triumphant.
The younger generation who had
only known her since she looked so
old and feeble hardly recognized her