Waterbury Democrat., 1901-05-30

I foot so shattered by fragment Of a shell that, on reaching Washington af- ter one of those horrible ambulance
 rides, and a journey of q weeks dura- tion, he was obliged to undergo am- putation of the leg. He telegraphed I home, hundreds of miles away, that all l was going we'll and with a soldiers ! fortitude, composed himself tq bear his l sufferings alone. Unknown to- him, l however, his mother, one of those dear
 reserves of the army, hastened up to 1 join the main force. She reached the l city at midnight, and the nurses would l have kept her from him until morning. l One sat by his side flaming him as he l slept, her hand on the feeble, fiuctuat- ing pulsations which foreboded sad re- I suits. But what woman's heart could
 resist the pleadings of a mothers then2
 In the darkness she was finally allow
 ed to glide in and take the place at his side She touched his pulse as the
 nurse had done. Not word had been
 spoken, but the sleeping boy opened | his eyes and said: That feels like my
 mothers handl Who is that beside me
 1t is my mother; turn up the gas and
 let me see my motherv The two dear
 faces met in one long joyful, sobbing I embrace, and the fondness bent up in l each hart sobbed and panted, and wept forth it's expression.
 l But not all were so fortunate as ev- I en that poor lad, to die with mother ab his side and holding his mothers hand. | Think of the thousands who were left on that field of battle or on the roads 1 side dead or to die; suffering and alone. | noble and brave, on both sides
 l Consider, also, the thoughts and an-
 guish of the dying soldier, far away. l from these at home, unable to conl- municate with them or to send them I q dying message, as he contemplated their watching and waiting for the I loved one who will never return. Pic-I ture, can you, the excited looking over the list in the daily paper, of the dead 1 or dying or missing after a battle. Pic- ture the wild scene in the streets as the soldiers return from the war. AS the company marches along the streets. among the fnultitudes who gaze upon them as they pass can be seen many
 an anxious one whose tender eyes rest upon the forms of those noble men with q strange earnestness. As the company pass by some clasp their hands and c1v there he is-that's him, that's him in joyous exclamations over tho re- turn of 2 loved one; but others grow faint aud sick; for why? Consider tie
 anxious longing, weary Waiting o6 wives and mothers and sweethearts and children and fathers and sisters
 and brothers-and the hearts crushing
 disappointment
 But years have rolled by since those awful days. The young men Of that
 time have grown old; but the Union
 and flag for which they fought are full
 of life and freshness they will never
 grow old. They have'come up tl1rouels
 such 9 flood of hot, young, red blood.
 It is said, as one of the brigades of tlia
 reserve corps which came LID to5 tho
 rescue of General Thomas of Chicka~
 mauga was marching through tlleS'
 town of Athens, bright eyed girl ofs 1but a few summers was looking fYl-
 tently at the sturdy fellows as they
 passed by. When she saw the sum glancing through the stripes of dazzling
 red and on the golden stars of the fiag.
 she exclaimed, clapping her tinV hands: Oh, papa. God made that { flag! see the stars. tits Gods 7ag!, What a sweet and happy christening the glorious ensign received from those artless lips Gods fiagl and so it is.
 While. they were hoisting the stars and stripes over the officers headqliar- ters at Camp Curtin, near Harrisburgll. Penn, in the spring of 1861, and just as the men had seized the halyards. q large eagle, that came from no one knew where, lowered over ine dag, and sailed majestically over the encamp- ment, while the flag was run up. Thou- sands of eyes were upturned in mo- ment, and as the noble bird looked down, the cheers of those thousand men rent the airl Never was sucll ovation paid the Imperial Bird of love It fingered for a few moments. apparently not a particle frightened at the terrific noise, then, cleaying tho air with it's pinions, disappeared in t1le horizon. An, that flag can never be riyaled by another, All homage to the "Star Spangled Banner.-
 It was my pleasure day or two since to visit one of our public schools in company with q representative of the grand army was delighted to observe the keen interest with which all the children listened to the words from a real soldier of the great war of the rebellion We were all pleased to note in the children the enthusiastic spirit of patriotism and ardent love for the flag We to-day gather to pay that same tribute of honor and esteem 10 the noble dead and living soldiers as our school children paid day or 50 since. And as we all unite in this ser vice and to-day decorate the soldiers* graves, my mind is many miles away where my own father lies sleeping abd upon whose grave two flags are to-day flying one of the G. A. R., the other the stars and stripes"
 EXERCISES AT POLrs.
 At 1;30 o'clock ill the afternoon tf1e as announced opened at Polls. The attendance was large. The exer- ciSes were conducted in as very cIedi-