The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1901-06-26

S""A AoNeSi, WIZ auu HumOT CnaraCterlS-
tic of his race, and kind heart equally
so and his youth won for him the love
and friendship Of his comrades and
made h;,a c fsvoTite With all. Indeed,
it was not long before he was the pet
OF his company and his regiment.
After following the Confederate fag
for nearly four years, and always a
brave and trusted soldier, he was made
prisoner, with others of his company
and carried to the North aud put in
prison. But in prison he was the
same jolly, irrepressible Irishman that
he was In camp and on the march.
Like Joseph in his Egyptian prison
he soon made friends OF his fellow
prisoners, and the prison guard and
the colonel commanding the prison.
With the artlcssness and simplicity of
child, and childlike joyousuess
thet "as fc-e-e. hahb!:ag Up lie lad
an "open sesame" that unlocked all
hearts to him. He was the life of the
prison as he had been of the cam D.
tie was always stirring about among
the prisoners, and everyone had a
smile and good word for him as he
always had for them. One day the
commandant Of the prison came in and
called for cassidy who was very
quickly there. Cassidy" he said,
81 have some good news for you.
Your father and mother have come on
from New York, and are at the prison
gate waiting to see you and take you
with them" He was wild with de-
light. It had been seven or eight
years since he had left them, beg &c
come to his uncle in South Carolina,
and in all that time had never seen
them, nor did he know whether they
were dead or living, and only short
time before that had written to them
that he was alive and prisoner, where
do not remember. Loving son that
he was there could have been no more
welcome news to him than that his
father and mother still lived, and were
waiting at the prison gate to carry him
home to see his brothers and sisters if
they srill lived. "Oh, Colonel" he
said, II must 60 to my father and
mother" "That is with you, Cassi-
dy. You know it is not allowed to
prisoners to go to the prison gate to
talk with anybody, not even to see
and talk with father and mother. If
you'll takesthe oath of allegiance to
the Union I'll carry you to them, and
be next glad to you and to your father
and mother" "Is taking the oath my
only chance to see them?" "Your
only chance. It is not with me to set
aside the strict orders under which I
am acting. II you are not willing to
take the oath I'll go and tell them and
they will go of without your seeing
them." Here. Cassidy broke down
and wept aloud like heart-broken
child, saying: ooh, my father and
mother. must it be 80 that you are so
near me, and have to go back without
seeing your long absent son! What
would be sweeter to my eyes and to
my heart than to see my father and
my mother2"
An awful struggle was going on in
his soul between love Of father and
-aother on one side and what he felt to
be his honor on the other side. Many
of his fellow prisoners and some Of the
prison guard who stood around were
deeply moved. 1t was scene to
touch the hardest heart, and to make
eyes grow moist unused .e weep.
There were othe. tears shed besides
his own. 'Take the oath, Frank, -
said one Of his fellow prisoners, "for
mother is more than country" "But
not more than HONOR" said Frank.
''Taxe the oath, Frank" said another,
"for you have been a good soldier,
and have fought and suffered long
enough to quit the war now" s.That' g
the very reason" said Frank, "that I
have been good soldier, that should
continue one. It dcesa': belong to
my blood nor to my race, to desert q
friend, or my country, in the dpv Of
their misfortune and when they most
need me-" Others said "Take the
oath, Frank, for the war will soon be
over, and then we'll have to take the
oath and go home" eyes," said
Frank, "and when it does end, let tha,
be soon or late, I want it to find me in
this prison or filling soldiers grave
or living en- honored and honorable
man, with the proud feeling that
had done all that I could do for The