The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-01-28

letters en- swode en- watch back home
to my Missus en- young Marster, en- dey
waitin' fur me-Ise 'bIeeged ter 60"
Den he TUX de letters en- read er min
ute, en- his eyes gin ter water en- he choke
up en- say, "Go-long.'
There was silence for a moment and
then slowly Mrs. Castor said, May God
reward you. Nelse."
"Yassum. Use free. Missy. but l gwine
ter wuk for you en- my young Marster.'
The Preacher was both puzzled and
alarmed by the strangely calm manner
| Mrs. CASTOR now assumed. Before
leaving the home he cautioned Aunt Eve
to watch her Mistress closely and send
| for him if anything happened.
When the boy was asleep in the nur-
sery adjoining her room, she quietly
closed the door, took the sword of her
dead lover-husband in her lap and looked
long and tenderly at it. On the hilt she
pressed her lips in a lingering kiss.
Here his dear hand must have rested
last" she murmured. She sat motion
less for an hour with eyes fixed without
seeing. At last she rose and hung the
sword beside his picture near her bed
/, and drew from her bosom the crumpled,
worn letters Nelse had brought. The
first was addressed to her.
"In the Trenches Near Richmond, May
4, 1864.
Sweet Wife:-I ave a presentiment
tonight that | shall not live to see you
again. | feel the shadows of defeat and
ruin closing upon us. l am surer day by
day that our cause is lost and surrender
is a word | nave never learned to speak.
If | could only see you for one hour, that
might tell you all l have thought in
the lone watches of the night in camp, or
marching over desolate fields. Many ten
der things l have never said to you
have learned in these days. write this
last message to tell you how, more and
more beyond the power of words to ex-
press, your love has grown upon me. I'M
til your spirit seems the breath | breathe
My heart is SO full of love for you and
my boy, that l can't go into battle now
without thinking how many hearts will
ache and break in far away homes be-
cause of the work | am about to do. |
am sick of it all. / long to be at home
again and walk with my sweet young
bride among the flowers she loves SO
we'll, and hear the old hooking bird
that builds each spring in those rose
bushes at our window.
IF l am killed, you must live for our
hoy and rear him to a glorious manhood
in the new nation that will be born in
this agony. l love you'll love you unto
the uttermost. and beyond death l will
live. if only to love you forever.
always in life or death your own,
"CHARLES.'
For two hours she held this letter open
in her hands and seemed unable to move
it. And then mechanically she opened the
one addressed to "Charles CASTOR, Jr.'
My Darling Boy:-I send you by Nelse
my watch and sword. 1t will be all l car
bequeath to you from the wreck that will
follow the war. This sword was your
great grandfather's. He held it as he
charged up the heights of Kings Noun
tain against Ferguson and helped &c
carve this nation out of a Wilderness. 1t
was a sorrowful day for me when | felt
it my duty to draw that sword against
the old flag in defence of my home and
my people. You will live to see a reuni-
ted country. Hang this sword back be-
side the old flag of our fathers when
the end has come, and always remember
that ii was never drawn from its Scab-
bard by your father. or your grandfather
who fought with jackson at New Or
leans. or your great granfather in the
Revolution, save in the cause of justice
and right. ! am not fighting to hold
slaves in bondage. ] am fighting for the
inalienablc rights Of my people under
the Constitution our fathers crcated. II
may be we have outgrown his Consti-
tuition. But | calmly leave to God and
history the question as to who is right
in its Interpretation. Whatever you do
in life. first. last and always do what you
believe to be right. Everything else is
of little Importance. With a heart full
Of love, Your father.
.'CHARLES GASTON.'
This letter she must have held open
for hours, for it was two O'Clock in
the morning when a wild peal Of laughter
rang from her fcycrish lips and brought
Aunt Eve and Nelsc hurrying into the
room.
Little Castor also aroused by the noise
and confusion came running to the door
but found it closed against him.
"Aun Eve, what's the matter? Open
the door quick
mo, honey, you mustn't come in. 70
Mas awful sick. You run out ter de barn,
ketch de mare, en- fly for de doctor while
me en- Nclse stay wild her. Run honey,
days nuttin' ter hurt yer"
His little bare feet were soon pattering
over the long stretch of the back porch
toward the barn. The night was clear,
the sky studded with stars. There was
no moon. He was a brave little fellow,
but a fear greater han all the terrors
of ghosts and the white sheeted dead with
which Negro superstition had filled his
imagination, now nerved his child's soul.
His mother was about to die! His very
heart ceased to beat at the thought.
He must bring the doctor and bring him
quickly.
He flew to the stable not looking TO
the right or the left. The mare whinned
as he opened the door TO get the bri-
die.
Its me Bessie, Mama's sick, We
must go for the doctor quick!'
The mare thrust her head obediently
down TO the child's short arm for the bri-
die. She seemed to know by some in
stinct his quivering voice had reused
that the home was in distress and her
hour had come to bear a part.
In a moment he led her out through the