The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-05-29


patriotism. In everything else tneE
were as different as black ana WIitc
or hot and cold Uncle Tommy was
short and puffy, and bald OF nedu'
With a reminiscent twinkle III ms piue
eyes and a certain spdlgntllless IL. ms
step that quite belled ms as. 7aSrs,
he had two good, stout, STUDY less,
although they were bit bowed anu
cliff co that he thumped smartly with
his heels when he WaiKed'
what Uncle Tommy lacked OK
reaching natures standard of a man,
Uncle Luther made up. He was gaunt
and STOPPING, and so spare that one
almost expected to near MIN Ialli1 ,
i'm his old blue clothes like Wltnereu
meas in a pod. Fine trouble lines map
ned his forhead, and his beard was
thing and gray. When he walked ne
nrched at every step and bore heaVlly
on his. cane, for he had left his good
digit leg on the bloody slopes az
Chickamauga, and for nearly tnlrly
years he had stumped painfully about
on wooden leg.
Uncle Tommy was bluff and pros
porous He lived in a comfortable
house in West Alden, and when all OF
his children came home for Thanks
giving dinner Uncle Tommy's wife put
all the spare leaves in the dining table
and carved two turkeys.
Uncle Luther had a little one-stofy
shop across the county line in the al
joining town of Amery, where he sol-
dered leaky milk pans and tinkered
clocks. 1t was next the lane, in the
further corner of his son Jonathan
land, and he made up his own bed
and cooked his meals in the little
room in the rear. He seemed at least
twenty years older than Uncle Tommy,
and he had become querulous ana
quavery, so that Jonathan and his
thrifty wife groaned under the respon-
sibility of looking after him.
And that shows no wtwo brothers
who have been boys together, men
together, and soldiers together, may
drift ap art For years Uncle Tommy
and Uncle Luther had not met, ex-
cept at gatherings of old soldiers, and
these We're not pleasant meetings. FOR
the two little towns, albeit they lay
out on the wide Minnesota prairie.
with only an imaginary line between
them, could not agree. 1t was the
kind of dissenson that grows rank
and strong in little communities where
there are few outside interests to oc-
cupy the intervals of attention And
the old soldiers took it up, and fought
it out as valiantly as they had march,
ed on Vicksburg. They might have
had Grand Army post, with remin-
had Fourth of July celebrations and
Memorial Day parades; but as Ger
tainly as Uncle Tommy led the hosts of
West Alden in one direction, Anery
and Captain Enoch Bradley could be
depended upon to march in exactly the
opposite direction.
AS for Uncle Luther, he always fol-
lowed Uncle Tommy's procession
wherever it might lead Again and
again the old soldiers of the two towns
met in the interests of harmony. Uncle
Tommy would come to preside, and
Uncle Luther would second the mo-
tons, and the nthey all would slump
off into the quagmire of dissension.
At such times the fires of stirring
past would blaze up in Uncle Luther's
faded eyes, his stopped shoulders
would stiffen back, a faint flush would
steal into his cheeks, and he would
nod his old gray head as if in time
to martial music that none but he
could hear. Sometimes the tears came
up to his eyes, and the boy who was
fortunate enough to hear him talk
thrilled with the quick pride of strife
and longed to shoulder carD1ne and
march away to the music of fife and
drum.
For two years the towns had held
Memorial Day services, but they had
been mournfully dispirited. Uncle
Tommy, by sheer force of character
had been marshal of the day, ano
Uncle Luther and few stragglers
from Amery had marched with the
parade: but Captain Enoch and his
supporters stood by with gloomy for
bearance and offered no word of en-
couragement. There was really little
need of Memorial Day services, except
in the abstract. The cemetery, where
the discord of the two towns was
buried. lay on a bare prairie Knoll, sci
around with precise rows of spindling
cottonwoods that languished half the
summer with thirst and whipping
winds and dust-and it contained nc
soldiers graves. But Uncle Tommy
parades marched up the road to the
cemetery gate and back again, and
Uncle Luther felt that the country
dead. wherever they might lie, mao
been honored.
On the third year the old soldiers
met again, thoroughly determined to
be harmonious. In ten minutes time
Uncle Tommy was humping on the
pine table with his cane, and SeVeral
of the other old soldiers were cllnging
TO Captain Enoch's coat-tails, While
the two men glared and threatened.
And then Captain Enoch executed a
well-planned flank movement, routed
Uncle Tommy and ran up the Amery
-.
ton, acting with the right of might,
had decided upon all the important
features of the parape. And to fur-
Their rout Uncle Tommy and his re-
tanners, they appointed Uncle Luther
to the honored position of marshal of
the day.
At first Uncle Luther was dumb with
establishment. He had as good right
TO be marshal as Uncle Tommy. They
had belonged to the same regiment,
and both had reached the rank of
CORPORAL, Uncle Luther on one leg and
Uncle Tommy on two. But Uncle Lu-
Their always had deferred to Uncle
Tommy as if he had been an older
brother. and it seemed to him hardly
short of sacrilege to appear as Uncle
Tommy's rival SO he struggled to his
feet. and held up lean finger to catch
Captain Enoch's eye.
81 rather have Tommy have the
place" he faltered; "he's better fitted
for it than 1 be-"
But Uncle Tommy was storming
down the room.
keep it," he roard and he went
out, slamming the door after him..
followed him q few