Middletown transcript., 1901-11-02
HE parade swept into Beauregard
Square, where the reviewing g
stand had been erected ana SO
slovlv mast the platform and

,,or IN honor of whose Homecoming
after forty years absence the town u ~
birth had arranged this celebration
The General stood well forward in TN
s+ond his hand resting lightly on TIL
buntipg-draped railing. His milltar!
hearing would have made him consplc
mons in any crowd, and his kindly blu'
ewes scanned the people below him VIII
eager interest. .ao
Section after section of the parade
really a creditable one for SO snall
town, passed. Now the State guards
resslendent in their new uniforms Oousn
since the war; now carriages in whlcL
rode prominent State politicians, ano
finally the company that Pattonsbure
had sent to Cuba. The General un'
covered as the men passed before hln
and the colors dipped in salute lie had
scarcely replaced his hat when there was
a halt in the procession and, following
the soldiers, the first float OF the mower
parade stopped before the reviewing
stand.
The float represented Columbia sur
rounded by her attendants, types OF the
womanhood of every period OF the ma
tion's history. There were Pocahontas
and a Priscilla, Dutch maids from old
New York, Puritans and Quakers in the
throng, and among them was Mary Dud-
lev, a little lass of twelve, a daughter OF
Professor Dudley, who held the chair OF
mathematics at the State University.
Quantity garbed in frock OF pink sprlg'
ged silk, with coral necklace about her
soft throat, and her sunny curls forming
soft frame for her happy face, the little
girl posed as a belle of half a century ago.
The pretty girls on the float looked
eagerly at the General, but his eyes were
on the soldiers. They meant more to
him than any part Of the pageant, and
his nostrils dilated and his eyes kindled
as he looked. Then remembering that
his position obligated him to an interest
in it all, he turned to Columbia and un-
covered again. From the beautiful So
ciety girl who was the central figure of
the float he glanced at her attendants.
When his eye rested on the little figure
clad in frock made from the pink sprig-
ged silk of her grandmother's first party
gown, the General started as if he had
seen a ghost. Then as the float moved
on he bowed deeply, and unpinning a
rose from his coat lapel, he leaned far
over the rail and threw it down among
the girls. The queen of the little throng
appropriated both bud and bow, but the
rose had fallen just at the feet of little
Mary Dudley, and those who knew could
tell you that the Generals aim was al
ways true.
1t was forty years since the General
had visited the college town where he
was born and where his boyhood and his
young manhood were spent. He left
lad, whose only knowledge of soldiery |
was the knowledge he had gained at
West Point. He came home battle
SCARED veteran with whose name and |
achievements the press of the country |
had been busy for months More than
one city would have been glad to enter
tain him, but when the people of his
home town invited him, the General put |
all other invitations aside and came, for
the Generals loyalty to his friends was
one of ~the many fine traits of his char
acter.
Luncheon at the Dudley home on the
day of the Generals celebration was a
hurried meal. A private reception had
been planned for the afternoon at the
Lyceum in order that the General might
meet his old friends, and Professor and
Mrs. Dudley were of the receiving party,
SO that they had little time to hear Mary's
enthusiastic account of the mornings
events
After her father and mother had gone,
the little girl went down stairs to the |
parlor where, over the fireplace, hung
two portraits. One was Mary's grand
father. A stately old gentleman he was,
but the little girl turned from his picture
to that of the sweet-faced lady beside
him. All her short life, little Mary Dud-
ley had been told that she was like the
grandmother whose name she bore. ONLY
that morning while she waited in the
hail, trocked in the sprigged silk, her
mother had caught her in tight embrace ,
that the child knew was given half for !
her likeness to the grandmother now
dead, and she stood now before the DOR
trait with child's desire to see wherein
the likeness lay, and studied the face ,
above her with serious eyes Mary Baird I
had been beauty and belle forty wears
before The portrait, painted when she
was Just eighteen, showed face far more
beautiful than the face Of the child who !
pore her name, but Mary Dudley had ,
Mary Baird's brown eyes and Mary .
Dalrus goiden brown curls; the dainty !
oval OF the pictured face was reproduced
in the childest one, and when the youno !,
girls portrait was painted she wore the
same silk that was made into the frock
which her granddaughter had worn in
the flower parade.
When my grandmother was a pirl - !
little Mary Dudley unused, ''the General .
was young, too, and he lived here in 4
Pattonsburg. l wonder if thev knew a
each other. Maybe grandmother danced 6
at the commencement balls with him. I'll
believe I'll go over to the Chaneellor,s :
house and see Temple; then perhaps I 4
might see the General again if he hasn't J
gone tothe Lyceum."
The Chancellor and Professor pudlav HI
lived in adjoining houses on the coIIaoe Il
campus and Temple, the ChancelIor;s
youngest son, and Mary were boon com. G
oanions, The Chancellor had been tho n
Generals boyhood friend and the Cen e
'ral had lunched at the Charcellor,s Ii