Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-28

command a better view of the small process
sion. As the men filed down to the side
walk she saw that 1t was Didfully small
this band Of men In faded blue uniforms
and SLOUGH hats.
The flfe and drum corps made its way
uncertainty to the head Of the procession,
Carl dragging his cousin in line on the
sidewalk
Somehow 1t don't sound right since
Wall McFadden amt here" he said, scan
ming the corps critically. He was player,
/ tell you, and the corps was named for
him He died last year. and everybody
Margaret smiled sadly Imagine poor
fife player being missed in New York!
What a community Of interests and SYM
pathies she had found herself among!
That's the ladies' relief corps in the
wagons. They gather up the flowers and
make the bouquets
Margaret looked at the windows of the
big omnibus Every head was gray. yet
bravely youthful were the faces packed In
among the flowers.
The chief of police, on a big black horse
pranced forward. a squad of patrolmen
fell into line and the man who was not
Wall McFadden tuned up his quavering
lay. The procession moved, the veterans
of the civil war at the front. with their
women folk next, then the absurdly young
veterans of the Spanish war, the band,
the high school cadets, the Baptist boy
brigade and a long string Of carriages.
al the top OF CHe HTSt nlil margaret pstuScu
and looked back at the sinuous. uneven
line of humanity. She smiled at the pomp-
Gus correctness of the high school cadets
then her glance Travelled forward to the
wavering lines of men who had fought.
How marvelously they responded with step,
with shoulders, with uplifted heads, to the
shrill tones of the fife and the muffied roll
of the drum.
AS they neared Fairview cemetery Carl
hurried her forward
paf To bn hi Are 4 akp11 toy,,
come up. It's awfully pretty
But at the foot of the hill Margaret
paused. A one-armed veteran, with marks
OF pain corroding deep into his ashen face.
was being helped from low phaeton. He
stood quite still, leaning on his cane, until
the fife and drum corps rounded the curve.
The shrill tones seemed to fire his blood,
he squared his shoulders, the lines of pain
in his face seemed to fade, a delicate flush
overspread its ashen hue, and the veter-
ans reached the point where he stood, he
gripped his cane, set his lips firmly, and
fell into line, two of his comrades parting
to make place for him in the ranks
Up on the green hillside choir sang;
men rounded out mighty periods; young
girl recited interminable verses; the high
school cadets fired a salute; the veterans
broke ranks and with their wreaths and
bouquets sought graves of the known and
the unknown dead.
And Carl ceased his chatter, for Margaret
and the nesting dandelions. She was think
ing thinking-and always before her moved
the figure of the disabled veteran, making
perhaps the last hard climb up the HILL an
swerng for the last time to that call to
shrill of the fife, the roll of the
drum.
And at last she understood:
carl, she said, as they returned to town,
still walking in the wake of the fife and
drum corps, where is the telegraph office?
1 want to send a message before we go
home to lunch.'
She fingered the corner Of cable blank,
while she frowned at the calendar Then
her face cleared The steamer on which
Rob had sailed was due at Honolulu the
next day. She reached for the pen and
filed in three lines. Then she paid the
toll, and, clasping Carts arm In happy
which made him draw his
slight figure up to it's full height, she left
the stuffy office. And she passed out
the key clicked cheeri1y:
Robert Cressy, care of Morgan CasWei,
Bankers Honolulu, Hawaii:
II understand. God bless you. dear.
PEGGY"
'Geew said the operator. as he closed the
key 'It must feel good to have money to
waste like that"
For now it was only the operator who did
not understand,