The San Francisco call., 1904-08-07
PJHG9 oSTANNARD
BAKER

stood uD green and dewy. The fields
of waving wheat blades spread away
for miles before him. dotted here and
there with houses and red barns and
straight rows of Lombardy pOplars
and cottonwoods. Where Uncle Lu-
ther sat he could look uD the yellow
stretch of roadway and he knew that
he could see the parade almost as
soon as it left the town. 1t would
pass the end of the lane on its way to
the cemetery and he hoped, with the
vague optimism of the very old and
the very young, that it would come
back by the same road. Seeing it was
next to marching with it.
Uncle Luther put on his long-dis-
tance glasses and he saw a blur OF
blue moving along the road from the
village. Above it there was a blur of
red and white. A moment later they
resolved themselves into a knot of old
soldiers, with the flag tapping above
them. Uncle Luther took long
breath and his eyes shone. Suddenly
band began TO play the stirring mu-
sic of Marching Through Georgia"
They've got the band" exclaimed
Uncle Luther, in voice that choked
with ecstasy.
Unconsciously he rose on his one
good foot and took off his hat His eyes
dimmed, and as the enlivening strains
of the music came up to him another
picture formed on his misty glasses. He
saw the boys in blue-not meager
handful of gray and STOPPING remnants,
but boys with fresh young faces and
broad shoulders and proud chins. They
were muddy to the knees with march
ing, they were ragged and tattered,
but they swept by to the drums and
flies, regiment after regiment and bri-
gade after brigade; and orderlies clat-
tered up and down yith yellow envel-
opes stuck in their belts, and the shells
were screeching from the rebel heights
He saw the companies wheel and de-
ploy; he saw them strip down and
form in line at Charge bayOnets." The
big, black guns were leaping the ruts
in the road, the gunners clinging des-
perately to the caissOns. Then he saw
the long line of gray rise up over the
hill, and pour itself down the slope He
saw the ragged. mile long flash of the
carbines-and he would have leaped
forward to the charge. if for single
moment he had heard the bugle's shrill
summons.
Uncle Luther's sDectacles were dim
med. He polished them off with shaky
fingers and looked again. Behind the
band there was a stretch of white that
seemed to nod and twinkle in the sun
shine.
They've got the children, too" he
faltered.
Then the old fellows in blue swung
at the corner, they were keeping mill
tary line, and something Of the old
spirit had thrilled their steps into an
unwonted precision. The band, wheel
ing with them. swept into Rally
Round the Flag, Boys" Uncle Luther
leaped forward on his one good leg,
waved his hat around his head, and
shouted, "Hurrah, hurrah!" His head
was thrown back. his eyes flashed, his
breath came quick and hot.
Down with the traitor, up with
the star" he chanted in his thin,
quavery old voice.
Now they had reached the end of
the lane. and Uncle Luther could
make out the full length of the
parade. 1t was by far the greatest
celebration that the town ever had
known and his heart swelled with
pride at the thought. Not once did he
recall his own disappointment and
sorrow; it was all for the glory Of the
day.
Suddenly. Uncle Luther shrank
back. What were they trying to do?
He felt an impulse to run forward and
tell them tnat they had missed the
way to the cemetery, and that the
lane ran only as far as Jonathan
Dowells house. But before he could