The National tribune., 1901-10-03
Batch of Letters Among Which is Very
Important One for Shorty.
Sandy Baker received two letters.

He held it in his hand for a minute o
two. gazing at it in absolute wOnderment
1t seemed to him the most curious thin,
in the world.
Here, Sandy. is another for you" sait
the OrderlySergcant, handing him n larg'
yellow cnvclOpe-buSiness SiZe-with hi!
full name, company, regiment, brigade
division and corps, painstakingly writer
out in Grabbed, wavering letters, every
line and curve of which revealed the eff
fort it had cost.
Sandy's heart filed at the sight, and
tears came into his eyes, as he scanned
the work of his mothers thin, toil-worT
| hands, and turned the envelope over, and
saw where it was fastened with Il bit OF
Scwins-wax, stamped down with her thin
| bic.
Forgotten for the moment the hustle
| and excitement of war, the great army
stretching its coils around doomed Savan.
nah. the swing of marching men, the
crawling trains, the angry spatting Of the
skirIniShelS' rifles. the Sulen boom of the
distant siege guns, the blaTc of buglcs, the
cheering and the connections in the near
| by camps, the restless men in his own.
He was 10 longer the reckless young
soldier. but his mothers son.
He saw again the little frame house in
Indiana, which was all that his father
| Il skilled machniSt-had to leave to his
mother when he was crushed by IL burst
| ing tiy-whecl. He saw the little sitting
room, in which she had sat and toied with
her needle from early dawn till late nj
night, to support himself and her, during
the 10 lonely, sad years Of her wid9whood.
| Everything about the neat. cosy little
room, from the rag CARPET on the floor to
the white curtains, showed rigid economy
ard palnstaking "cOntriying' to make the
most out of the slendercSt materials.
There, on the table piled with sewing
done, doing or to be done, WAS her lit
tie, grecn-Shaded sewing lamp. The sew
ing had been pushed back a little while,
while she had hunted up his SchOol-bOy
ink and PEN found paper in his copy-book,
and an envelope somewhere, and set her
self to the unaccuStomcd task of writing.
Every word written had been Il labor, bar
a labor demanded By the irrepressiblc
yearning of her mother-heart for her far
away boy.
Sandy tcnderly opened the letter and
read: tH
Dear Son: I know that God has you in
His mcrciful keeping somewhere, but just
where only He knows. We are all wor-
ried sick as to What has become of Sher
mans army. but the preacher constantly
bids us take comfort and trust in God,
who will bring the army out all right.
Our cause is right, and the Lord, who has
blessed Sherman army with victory so
far, will not let it now come To harm.
But | cannot help being sick at heart,
when | am away from his comforting
words, and sitting Here in the evening ut
work. | think Of you constantly aud won
der, till my head Swims and aches, where
you are 1t is far more awful than when
The army WAS in front of Atlanta, because
then | heard from yOu every little while
and | knew that if anything happened
would know it from the papers or neigh
bOrs. There was n chance then that if
you needed me could 90 To you. But
now / can only sit at home, and think OF
you with every stitch, aud pray till
wonder if God does not become weary.
1t was very good Of you to send me all
your money, before , on started. but [ can
not bring myself to hSc = cent of it. 1t
seems to me as if it was the price of you.
and | at times hate the sight of it. You
Will find it all there for you when you get
back.
But | must talk to you of more cheer
full things. ! am very we.i-cXcept for
the heart-ache about you-Ncver better i'll
my life. | have all the work | can do.
and they are paying very good prices for
it, but everything is going up so that
don't have much more at the weeks end
than when | didn't have so much work,
or get so good prices. But if you come
out right all will he right.
Everybody is very kind to me. Old
Mr.. Folsom brought me in Il nice lot of
NeshannOck potatOes-en0ugh to last me
all Winter. Mr.. Wright b. ought me in
big load of dry hickory wood. and that
poor old crippled Ezra Reed sawed it,
split it, and piled it up nicely in the shed.
lie said he wanted to help all he could
in the war. and that's the best he could
do-do your work while you were away.
And he hasn't Il cent-Only what he
makes doing odd jobs when he is able to
work.
Put your trust in God, be good boy,
and write as soon as you can to
Your Loving Mother
Dear little MOTHER" sighed Sandy,
"she must have Il letter written her this
very day. But she'll know by tomorrow
at the furthest that we've got through all
right-that is, the army has, and to her
the army means me, only. Dear little
mother. Every cent | get in the army I'm
going to put into Il horse and buggy, for
her to drive around, just like n lady. She
shan't work any more after | come home.
ii lind something to do thatll make
money enough to keep her as nice as any
body in town. She's worked enough
Say, Sandy" said Pete, coming up
with an envelope in one hand, and
sheet of pink paper in the other, do you
remember Nelly Mcbride, who was in the
next class below meY
Nelly McBrideT answered Sandy,
making an effort to remember Little,
carrot-headed'-
Not carrot headed. Just bright and
warm-cOlored."
Irish girl"
Eyes, she was Irish''
"Freckleder than guinea egg"
''She had some freckles, but not so many
as some other girls"
"Sassier'n tame crow
"She would say what she thought,
same's we all did"
''Spitefullern setting hem
"Now, Sandy, that amt nice. She used
to run with that tow-headed mink, Mat
Irwin, who had more deviltry in her than
her plaguey white hide would hold She
was always putting Nelly up to things,
and Nelly got blamed for lots that Mat
done"
HUM Mat put Nelly up to things! 1
thought it was just the other way. Mat
was a terror, but Nell-w-h-e-w! She had
the longest, limberest legs
Il don't know as that's nice way to
speak of a young lady" murmured Pete.
I'm some way she could bend 'em clear
around the desk, and kick me on the shins,
just when / was doing my purtiest to get
hold O. the Rule Three, and it'd hurt
so that couldn't help hollering out, and
then old Snipes'd come down and rap me
over the knuckles, for not tending to my
lessons, and disturbing the school, and
she'd make faces at me, all because she
caught me once stoniny that old antelope
of d cow Of her mothers who'd got into
our garden. She wore copper-toed shoes
in Winter, and it hurt awfully. How in