The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-08

 lies Monthly) In the morning of that day old Cor coran awoke early. When he went out l to the pump the sun was only just begin ming to drive the chill out of the air. l Corcoran rubbed the cold water vigorous | ly into his short-cropped white hair, sput- | tered little with his face in the tub and | emerged at last ghstening clean. He picked up the jagged fragment of mirror | and wielded the old wire hairbrush, which
 hung from the pump by string. He was | more alert than usual As matter of l fact he had gone to bed sober the night
 before-which had very few precedents in | his memory.
 l Sarah was taking down dishes and pans ! for the making of breakfast when he | came back into the kitchen. He stood in | the door and watched her as she moved
 about oblivious to him, and had noted
 something like her mothers manner and | gulped little. When at last her eyes caught his figure she started It was al-
 most the first time that she had not had | to pound again and again at his door to
 arouse him from his dull slumber.
 Where's Willie?" he asked. | Hes dressing"
 He ought "a been up before this"
 Hell be here in a minut.' | Sarah, I'm goin' to get breakfast this | morning-the way we used to do in camp. | You just leave things"
 Why, Father''
 | Come clear outr'
 | "Father Are you going to-" | Just clear out! I don't want you fus- | sin around"
 Sarah hurried 70 the parlor and sat | primly on the horse-hair sofa. She could
 not forget to be prim in this room even | in, fba of " n- dered vaguely from the marble-topped
 stand, with its red-plush photograph | album, labeled Our Friends" to the | Autograph of Perry at the battle of Lake 1 Erie: then to the wax flowers under their | glass case on the mantel. She looked up | to the wall above the howers and gave 1 a little exclamation. Everything was ] suddenly clear to her. And yet all she I -esvs was an old drum, battered and dent ed. its sticks framed diago 1ally above. Tcm Corcorans drum. High in the place of honor, it was the constant re- , hinder of a departed but unfaded ser vice. Whatever old Tom was now, he had given four years of life to his coun- try. Though he hung around the bar room in the hourly hope of earning a drink by some odd job or of being treat ed by visitors who enjoyed his garrulous recital of great battles: though he neg lected his two children, letting Sarah still in her teens, wear our her slender fingers with a needle for the food and clothing | it scantily bought; though he was use less, the butt of youngsters when he staggered, the contempt of the decently | dsposed-he had served his country. The drum testified for him. When he slung 1t | over his shoulder on rare occasions peo- | pie did not jeer With the drum before | him and two sticks in his hands he was | master Then he could stir the blood of | men-could do with them what he would. | The respect that others felt for his drum | he felt too, but he made the martial mas | tery no excuse for his degradation. He | would never drum for a drink, no mat | ter how desire parched him. Sarah remembered that this day was | the greatest in the history of the town.
 There would be a sh lm battle on the
 Fair Grounds and a band contest, and over all would preside as judge and dis
 tributor of prizes General Cor | coran's ola comm mander. She understood, l therefore, her fathers unexpected mood.
 Just then Willie came into the parlor.
 Whats the matter with Dad?" he
 asked. Didn't he come home last night?"
 Ssh! Yes! He's getting breakfast." t" | "He?"
 | JJOn say anything. 1Ou hHOW lLe
 band contest is to-day | 'Is he going to drum?" | 'I don't know. Don't say anything" The meal was eaten in silence. What
 ever the old mans mood, he hugged it l close. eating refectively. with distant | glances out of the window. When he
 pushed away from the table he went to
 his room and took from a drawer in the
 bureau a faded army uniform. He laid
 1t on the bed and brushed it carefully
 smoothing out the wrinkles. In the shoul- der was a mended place; a cavalry sabre l had made the rent AS he noted 1t the
 old scar seemed to throb on his arm. He
 looked to the wall, where his honorable
 discharge hung in its walnut frame There was a trace of weakness in his
 bearing. Conquering the emotion. he put
 on the uniform and went to the parlor,
 where he took down the drum and ad- | justed the straps over his shoulder. Sa- rah was watching him furtvely through
 the open kitchen door and throwing sig
 nificant looks to Willie. Ol1 Tom drew the sticks softly through
 his fingers. His eyes glazed little with
 some memory, but he breathed deep, raised his chin and marched out of the | front door.
 Father" called Willie. Are you go- ing to drum?"
 | Old Tom did not answer. The gate | clicked after him.
 He never put the uniform on before" said Sarah. "He must be going to drum"
 And we'll go, Sarah won't we go?"
 Yes, we'll go
 | The Fair Grounds were crowded early in the day. The town was there, and the I surrounding country had yielded up its wagonfdlls, to say nothing of the hun dreds of excursonists who had come by 1 train. For the Grand Army reunion had
 ben much heralded. and the fact of the Generals presence would If itself have insured throng
 Families wandered in groups from the | lemonade booths 10 the ring-toss. and
 thence to the shooting gallery and the
 trained bear and the mer-y-go-round. l Little girls clung close to their mothers
 STall boys darted everywhere, yelling to
 one another. Old men who wore the blue
 hailed one another and drew aside for
 tales, beginning, Well. you see, the sec
 ond day at Gettysburg, I-' or, T remem- | Der at Antietam-".
 About noon the grand-stand began to