The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1899-02-23

| 81
| ( ~ as 4
| &DVeferan.
Isl Klegg and his chum Shorty, both
of the 2OOth Ind, at Chickamauga engage in
fierce battle. 81 and Shorty capture rebel
flag, but both fall in the melee. They are
taken off the field in bad condition. Deacon
Klegg hears about it and journeys to the
hospital. He fails to be able to buy some
chickens for Sis broth On account of the
owners fear of taking q. S. money. So he
raids his roost in the darkness, drops 50
bill at the feet of the owner, and dashes
away in time to escape capture by the
JOhnnies. He makes savOry dish for 81 and
Shorty. Foraging again he surprises and
captures a team containing provisions pre-
pared for the men in rebel camp by the
same people from whom he got the chickens.
Being CONSCIENTIOUS he tries to return the
team later. Rebel artillery frightens the
horse, which demolisheS the wagon. A COM
pany of Union cavalry relieves the Deacon of
the horse and gives him COW, which Is
/ claimed as Gen. Rosecrans's The General
recognizes Mr.. Klegg and consents to let ST
and Shorty go home with him.
| Weeks of Commissioners at Home-Plenty of
| Nursing from Loving, Tender Hands.
| What days those were that followed the
arrival of the boys home. In Shortys hard !,
rough life he had never so much as dreamed
of such immaculate housekeeping as Mrs
| Klegg's. He had hardly been in speaking
distance of such women as Sis mother and
sisters. TO see these bright, blithe, sweet
SPECIFIED women moving about the we'll
ordered house in busy performance of their
duties was boundless revelation to him.
1t opened up a world of which he had as
little conception as of fairy realm. For
the first time he began to understand things
that ST had told him of his home, yet it
meant hundredfold more to him than to ST,
for ST had been brought up in that home.
Shorty began to regard the Deacon and 81 as
superior beings, and to stand in such awe of
Mrs. Klegg and the girls that he became as
1
presence. 1t amazed him to hear ST, when
the girls would tease him, speak to them as
sharply as brothers sometimes will, and just
as if they were ordinary mortals.
"Si, you orter to be more careful in
talkin' to your sisters" he demonstrated
when they were alone you've bin among
rough men SO long that you don't know how
| to talk to real ladies'"
so, come Off" said ST, petulantly
What's a-eatin' you? You don't know
| them girls as well as / do. Particularly
| Maria. She'll run right over you if you let
her. She's one o. the best girls that ever
breathed, but you've got to keep tight rein
on her. The Teller that marries her s got to
keep the wbip-hand or she'll make him wish
| that he'd never bin born"
Shorty's heart bounded at the thought of
any man having the unspeakable happiness
of marrying that peerless creature, and then,
having the meanness not to let her do pre-
cisely as she wanted to.
Both the boys had been long enough in
the field to make that plain farm home seem
a luxurious palace of rest. The beds were
wonders of softness and warmth, from
which no unwelcome reveille or cross
grained Orderly SergeaDt aroused them with
profane threats of extra duty.
the door to see that they were awake, the
girls would come in with merry greeting.
bowls of warm water and soft, white towels
fragrant of the lawn. Maria would devote
herself to helping Shorty get ready for break
FAST and Amanda to ST. Shorty trembled
like captured rabbit when Maria first be-
gan her ministrations. All his blood rushed
to his face. and he tried to humble some
thing about being able to take care OF him
self, which that straightforward young
woman paid not the slightest attention to.
After his first fright was over there was al
thrilling delight about the operation which
electrified him.
When the boys were properly washed and
combed, Mrs. Klegg, her kind, motherly
face beaming with consciousness of good
and acceptable service, would enter with a
large tray, laden with fragrant coffee,
delicious cream, golden butter, her own
peerless bread and bits of daintily -broiled
chicken.
ST, )" said Shorty, one morning after he
had finished the best breakfast he had ever
known, the girls had gone away with the
things and he was leaning back thinking it |
all over in measureless content, eff the |
preachers'd preach that a felIer'd go to such |
a place as this when he died if he was real
Soou, INV SOou VIC u dii NC, anu we u DC |
be rather anxious to die. How in the |
world are we ever goin' to git up spunk |
enough to leave this and go back to the |
field?"
You'll git tired o this soon enough"
said ST. Its awful nice for change, but |
don't want it to last long. l want to be
able to git up and git out. I hate awfully |
to have wOmen-fOlks putterin' around me-"
The boys could not help rapidly recovering
under such favorable conditions and soon
they were able to sit up most of the day |
In the evening, ensconced i'll the big Shaker
rocking chairs, sitting on pillows, and care
fully swathed i'll blankets, they would sit on
either side Of the bright fire, with the
family and the neighbors forming the semi
circle between, and talk over the war
Unfortunately. The neighbors all had sons
and brothers in the army, either in the 200th |
Ind or elsewhere, and were hungry for
every detail of army news. They piled 81 |
and Shorty with questions until the boys
heads ached. Then the Deacon would help
out with his observations of camp-life.
Pm not goin' to believe" said one good |
old brother, VINO was an exhorter in the
Methodist Church, "that the army is SIGH
pitfall, SIGH snare to the feet o. the IN
wary as many try to make out. There's no
need of any man or boy who goes to serve
his country and his God, fallin' from grace,
and servin' the devil. Don't you think so,
too. Deacon =? There's no reason why he