The National tribune., 1902-12-18


studied until it became a part Of hi:
thoughts and life.
From nothing written or printed does a
man ever learn so much as from the let
ters of the woman he loves.
\ The afternoon passed away with 81 still
absorbed. He only stopped when the bu
gle sounded for the afternoon rollcall--
strict military discipline was being insti-
tuted again-and he thought that never
had a bugle-call sounded so irritatingly
harsh-not even reveille, when Se was
tired and sore in every joint. He
carefully refolded Annabels letters, re-
placed each in its envelope, for more stu
dious reading and consideration, and
strobe over to fall in with his company.
! Shorty was still more ceremOnious
about his letters. This was an event in
his life Of far more Importance than any
and all the parades or inspections he had
ever been in, and no preparation should be
omitted.
| He found barber-shop attached to the
tavern, was shaved, had his abundant red
hair reached according to the very latest
I style, and treated his hands and neck to
the first genuine skin-cIeaning wash in
warm water. with fresh towels, that they
had known since the army left Savannah.
He pulled off his outside garments, and
set an able-bodied negro to beating the
clay out of them, and giving them thor
ough brushing. To two other vigorous
blacks he assigned his well-worn boots to
clean and polish.
''The two are too much for any one
man., he said reflectively. studying their
size and condition. "Fall in promptly,
boys" he continued to the bootblacks.
You've got an army contract"
Another negro, who had charge Of his
master's-a rebel officer's-bagga
brought him a fine "boiled shirt" with a
high standing collar, and voluminous
black silk cravat, for which Shorty re-
warded him with a 81 greenback.
They all watched him with an interest
that he attributed to his being Yankee
soldier. Attiring himself carefully. Shorty
went to his room. in which q cheerily
blazing wood fire had been built, studied
in the glass his elaborate get-up with sat
isfaction, felt that 1t would greatly i'm
press Maria, if she could only see it, took
a seat in a rocking chair before the fire,
and spread the precious letters out on a
table by his side, lovingly studying each
one. from the stamp in the corner to the
sealing on the back, which was done by a
little wafer, moistened in the mouth.
Everything was Maria's. Her fingers
had fashioned the letters of his name The
stamp an6 the wafer had been upon her
lips. There was an .unutterable world in
the mere thought. Absorbed in this he
ran the envelopes over again and again,
scanning them with delighted eyes, and
finding something new and different in
each one every time. Then came des-
perate quandary .as to which he should
open and read first.
"Of course, the right thing-the regular
things to open and read EN- in the order
they were written" he communed with
himself, as he arranged them in the order
Of their postmarks, and opened his knife,
to lit the wafer with the least possible
damage to the envelope.
mo- thought struck him, as le lift
ed the first and looked at it ixedly, as IL
he would read its contents through the
wrapping, "she may have changed her
mind in all these weeks, and it would be
playing it rather low down to hold her
responsible for what she may have said
at first. I've changed my mind several
times on some things since we left Savan-
nah. The main thing Is to know what
she thinks now: I'll take the last one
FIRST, ana read backwards"
He laid that one down, and picked out
the one which bore the latest postmark,
but was stopped by another thought:
II don't think she would like to have
paying no attention to what she said at
Hrst. It don't seem polite"
He laid the letter down, and went all
over rhe array again, scanning each one
as IL he had never seen it before. He
tried to compromise between the two
views, by taking up one from the middle.
but this did not seem to commend itself,
and he laid it down unopened, picking up
the first one again.
"Blast it," he said, laying that down
again. while rra hungry to know what
she thought tive months ago, I'm plura
crazy to know what she thinks now.
That's the main question. She may hav.
turned clear around to the school teacher
since then. because she couldn't hear from
me-"
He shivsred 1t the thought.
He opened the last one and read:
my Dearest Deer" the lettsr began
and Shorty Stepped to kiss the sweet
words before he Rad any further. He told |
Maria about 4 lens yeaEs sftsrwarlss. and
hsw he LAID hie hes1 - the edse Of thel
little ed tahle b tie rsoDt and srioa fprL
ysry joy. He had felt AimssIs e nm