The National tribune., 1901-10-03

you went away. Don't let anybody see
it, Mat.
But of all the letters received in the
regiment that day, the one that had the
most mOmentous effect upon the issue of
the war;" read as follows:
Beanblossom Creek, Dec l. 1864
My Dear Williami Since writing my
last letter my thoughts have been very
busy about you. The anxiety that we
have all been in in regard to the probable
loss of Shermans army. has brought
| sharply home to each one of us what our
| personal loss would be in such an awful
calamity. l blame myself much that
| have let you go away without knowing
something of the loss that this would
mean to me. You must at times think
me utterly heartless, but l am not You
are dull enough about some things to
drive a girl to almost anything. You
really should take a good eye-opener.
This may never reach you. Sherman's
army may be swallowed up as Pharaoh's
was, and other armies have been. That
you may be even at this moment in the
greatest dangers and difficulties is all the
more reason for my no longer delaying to
say that my heart is with you, wherever
you may go, and that should anything
| happen to you it will be a blow 10 me
which shall feel as long as live. That
you, as well as 81, shall be delivered from
| the dangers that compass you roundabout
| is my daily prayer to God. Possibly
pray a little more earnestly for you than
for 81, for he has one now to do particular
praying for him.
When you get this-if you get it-you
| will know, what your own sense should
have told you long ago, that you are more
to me than any other man alive. outside
of my own family. | wish you had known
it before entering upon this last cam
paign, for it might have helped sustain
| you in very dark hours. But it is useless
| to regret II you come through safely
no one will rejoice nearly so much as l.
| Take good care of yourself for my sake
Make the most of all the good that is in
you for my sake. Be true to the highest
manhood for my sake, and be sure that
| will value and appreciate it all as no
other will. Affectionately yours,
Maria Klegg.
How many times Shorty read this let
ter over can never be told Every time
re-read wrought another step in a mighty
change going on In him.
1t WAS a change akin to that made by
the revelation of the life in Deacon
klegg's home. To man whose life had
been spent as Shorty's, amid the rough,
turbulent, frequently vicious men of the
Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers,
there could be nothing more astonishing
than the quiet, purity, peace. and kindli-
ness of the klegg home, combined with
the stalwart, unaffected, never-uncertain
manliness Of the Klegg men.
Now, in Maria's letter came something
as startlingly different from his old ideas
of love and love-making as the Klegg
home had been from his previous abodes.
1t was something as far above the usual
admissions of young women of Partially
for their lovers as the pure, free air of the
mountainous was to the fetid atmosphere
Of the swamps, where the army was now
encamped. 1t was the fairest, the sweet
est, the purest of all womankind, reach
ing down her hand to him from her own
unapproachable hight, to help him up to-
ward her level. Into the radiant sunshine
of joy that filled his bosom at the first
reading of the letter, crept again the chill
fear, as he re-read, that he was hOpelessly
unworthy such u pearl of great price, and
nothing could ever make him less so.
Then would come again his usual san
guine courage as to his capability of
achieving whatever he determined to, and
his heart would swell with plans and de- !
Examinations as to his future conduct.
I'm lots respectabler than l used to |
be-" he unused, "but l amt lining up on |
81 yet, by the depth of brigade or so. |
Still, I'm within easy signal. and I'm gain
ing distance. / don't cuss now, except |
when it's absolutely necessary, and hain't
slipped O card on q man since | used to
skin that rebel at Andersonville out of
his Confederate, to get something to buy
the boys grub. Even Maria couldn'tve
blamed me for that. l only gamble now
with fellers that think they're too Internal
ly slick with cards to live, and it seems
Gods justice to learn 'em what tin-horn-
ers they are. I'm stopped gambling al
together, from this time. Let somebody
else do all that's necessary. l hain't been
full for SO long that even the Chaplain's
forgot when 1t was, and wouldn't hesitate
to recommend me for an officer in the
Sons Of Temperance. Long ago the boys
quit asking me to 60 out on apple-jack
scouts. Ny temper amt so much on the
hurricane order a II used to be, but
there's lots o. room for improvement there.
mustn't slosh around SO much. Sis got