The National tribune., 1902-03-20
WHO GOES THERE?
Continued from first page.

lJOnt1nueu from urbI pdScsJ
at cannot. 1t may suffer great loss,
and be forced to retreat-indeed, L thlnk
that consequence a natural inference from
the SituatiOn-but it cannot be badly de-
feated; it cannot be disorganized. 1t
would take months to overcome 1t.
Then you really believe that we shall
retreat?'
Yes: believe we shall fight, and shall
fight hard. and have losses, but the ell
emy will be very cautious of attack, and
those of us who are able to march shall
see Virginia again"
"Those who are able to march? Could
we leave our wounded here!
II was thinking only of the fallen. If
ever the history of this war is truly writ
ten. the greatest honors Of all will be pald
TO the common soldiers, men who, without
a particle of interest in slaves. give their
lives for independence-the independence
of their States. Yet it is useless to grieve
in authorization"
"A soldiers death should not be thing
to grieve over" said L; "at least, 50 it
seems TO me. l think I should prefer
death in battle to death by disease"
True; and death must come, sooner or
later, TO all of us.
Ion two days it Steads not TO run from
the grave,
The appointed and the unappointed day:
On the first, neither balm nor physician
can save,
Nor thee. on the second. the Universe
say.'"
"Who is that, Captaiu?"
"The Persian Omar I<hayyam, followed
by Emerson"
"How do you spell that Persian's name,
Captain?'
''K-h-a-y-y-a-m.'
"And you pronounce it Ki-yam?
"That is the way l pronounced it; is
it not correctF'
Il don't know. never heard Of him
before. but the name seems not unfamil-
lar. Is he living?'
"Oh. no; dead centuries since. Were you
hoping to find one of your old personal
friends?'
Don't laugh, Captain. Somehow the
name seems to carry me back somewhere"
Maybe you knew him in previous eX-
istence"
Don't laugh, Captain. 1t is not the
words. but merely the name that strikes
me- You don't believe the words your
SELF
'I do and do not. I believe them in a
sense
.In what sense, Captain?"
an the sense in which the poet taught.
The religion of the East is fatalsm. A
fatalist who endeavors to shun death is
inconsistent"
But you are not a fatalst."
"NO, and yes Another poet has said
that divinity shapes the ends that We
rough-hew: should reverse this and say
that life is blocked out in the large for MS
by powers over which we have no control.
but that within certain limits we do the
shaping of our own lives"
"a new and better version, said I; "to-
morrow some shaping will be done. What
effect on the general result 10 nations and
the world does one battle, more or fewer,
haveW
"Some events are cOunterbalanced by
others. seemingly, and the result is moth
ing: but every event is important to some
life"
Captain, Yeomans says he got to the
top of the hill over yonder, and that we
could have occupied it but that our men
were recalled"
at would have made little difference"
said he. "The enemy would only have in
trenched farther off. / dare say they are
digging at this moment"
Then he said, $50 back to your place,
Jones. and never fail to do your full duty.
| am serious, because war is serious. The
more we have to do, the more must we
nerve ourselves to do it. We must collect
all our energies, and each man must do the
work of two. Impress the men strongly
with the necessity for courage and endur-
ance."
The full moon was shining in high
heaven: bade the Captain goodnight.
On the morning of July Co. A still lay
behind the brigade, which was in line
little 10 the south of the Seminary. The
sun shone hot. The skirmishers were
busy in front. Artillery roared at our left
and far to our right. At times shells
came over us. 4 caisson near by explOd-
ed. In the afternoon a great battle was
raging some two miles to our right. Long
streets Corps had gone in.
At 4 o'clock | saw some litter-bearers
moving TO the rear On the litter was n
body. The litter-bearers halted. A few
men gathered around. Then the men Of
Co. ii began to stir. Some of them aD-
preached the litter. Who was it? / be-
came anxious. The men came slowly
backbone Mt time-grim.
] asked who it was that had been killed.
Capt. Haskell" they said.
Ny tongue failed me, as my pen does
now. What Capt. Haskell? Onr Cap
tain deadf Who had ever thought that
had considered him like Washington-in-
vulnerable. He had passed through so
many dangers unhurt, had been exposed
to so many deaths that had refused TO de-
mand him, had so freely offered his life,
had been SO calm and yet so valiant in
battle, had been 50 wOrshiped by all the
left wing of the regiment and by the bat
TALON, had been so wise in council and
so forceful in the field, had, in fine, been
one Of those we instinctively feel are he
rOes immortal And now he was dead?
1t could not be! There must be some mis-
taEe'
But / looked, and / saw Lieut.. Barn
well in tears, and / saw Serg't Mackay
in tears, and I saw Rhodes in teafs-and
| broke down utterly.
CHAPTER XXXII.