The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1906-05-31

faint. rises again stronger, then sud-
denly ceases. u SO it rose on that
July morning when the earth trembled
under the tread of the armed hosts
that marched toward Gettysburg.
There was a time when the WldoY
neglected her flowers; when she sat on
her porch with her sewing or knitting
unnoticed, her hands lying motlonless
in her lap, while she eemed to be gaz-
ing at nothing, unless it was the line
where the earth and sky met in the
west.
The broad road crossed the hills
there. Perhaps she was linking OF
her son Jack, who was away some
where; She never knew exactly where.
Jack was marching with the hosts that
sWelled the ranks of the union armies.
But one day the widow received a let
ter hat brought tears and brightness
to her face again.
Jack was promoted. 1t wasn't the
money, he wrote; it was the honor. he
was the Youngest captain in his divi-
sion. But above everything else, 1t
was the certainty that he Wcul obtain
a few days furlough. If it was only
; for one day, he would hasten home to
her.
So the widow RESUMED life again
where it had apparently snapped Off
when Jack marched away. Everything
appetizing and healthy grew apace in
her garden. Her flowers were the envy
Of all her neighbors. But her sweet
peas! They We're the marvel of an
who passed tina way. In height,
thickness and beauty they surpassed
all that eyes had ever witnessed.
1t was Archie Ray, an old lame of
the widows, who said one day:
Dashed if ] ever see anything like
them vines, Mrs. Lucy! Must be an
uncommon growth you've got. Why, q
man coming along the lane back there
- $50 ,yr,,,, NC 81 hn arr mans
up against it. "a given all was PAID
for fighting in Mexico just to get be-
hind q screen like that at Monterey.
Why, it'd mask a battery nicely"
Twenty good yards across the end of
her lot the sweet peas stretched. Inc
travellers on the great thoroughTafe
saw a mass, a blaze Of lovely, Varie-
gated color. The widows senses told
her tina they were as delicate, those
flowers, as sweet and as fragile as tins
babes that haG lain in her arms a brlef
time and then We're recalled by the
Giver Of all bounty. She reJolced now
that Jack a la~ughingly put the trellis
higher even than she had desired.
When the locusts began to sing h a
wear, the air pulsed quicker with wars
alarms. The vast armies under Grant
and Lee met in the shock Of battle SO
often, the earth drank mems blood SO
freely, that the most embitteTed SICK
ened of the slaughter.
More men We're drafted, more en-
listed, and all marched away never to
return, save when now and h some
wreck wanting a leg through
the village or some armless man came
back with gaunt, fever stricken COM
panions to gather up strength to begin
the world anew.
A crisis ]sharpened tta apprehension
Of the unlettered The scented clerk left
his desk in the city n stood shoulder
to shoulder with the raw and awkward
country boy.
One morning ct was about a month
after Jack was promOted) his mother
was stopping, scissors in hand, in front
of her sweet peas.
AS she ooked lovingly on the wall Of
green dashed with the spray Of I'M
folding buds and full blown flowers a
low rumble fell upon her. 1t was like
the rumble Of a dying storm. The wild
ow listened attentiVely. Yes, the sky
looked dull over there where the sound
came from; there was something that
foretOld a change.
By the time her tables and Elantels
were adorned with fresh flowers the
rumbling sound was more distinct and
! SO regular and frequent that the widow
walked out and looked up II down
! the valley. The meaning of the sounds
): she heard dawned upon her. The
. mighty armies had met in battle. The
i thick sky was only the lust made by
e countless feet as men marched in bat
. tie array. The rumbling sound was the
BOOM, boom of I'M
r A TRANCE hush fell over nature. The
COWS stood anxious eyed in the brook,
the chickens moved about uncertainty
: In a wary manner, while the geese
stood stupidity in the middle of the
d dusty road with uplifted heads.
. Long before noon the rumble of artil-
lery was distinct. The dust rose in
! clouds: dull red pillars assembled slow
u ", bulged n swayed, rejecting the
suns ray warped n twisted them
selves. then melted away.
!, A strange sound, a mu1tled sound like
, the faint swapping of sticks, was wait
ed across the hills to groups of listeners
gathered on the knoll opposite the
> Widows house. Then a fringe, the
, merest fringe, of men appeared on the
horizon.
. Fifteen minutes later q stream OF
!" wounded federals limpcd through the
), village. The villagers We're beside
- themselves with fear when the adju-
tant of a brigade, a handsome younG
man in a new uniform, rode through
the village ordering the inhabitants tt
retire or be Caught between two fires
The widow looked on composedly
She refused to leave her house. NC
arguments, no circumstances, no ia
or threats affected her re
I SOLVE. IL liz Wv ti41 ~ OAs'h4A
5 perhaps she would see her son.
The SUMS rays on slanting nlusket:
!, csolved themselved into shafts 0
white fire as wave after wave of mel
?assed in undulating pillows with muf
Ued tread in dus1 ankle deep. TIT
j sheen CT bright buttons, he glitter o
s~cabbards, the glare of bright steel
, danced along innumerable waves o
infantry and cavalry. 1t seemed as |
: the coil steadily rounding the hill Woul'
> never end.
e This coil, this relentless coil, was in
deed the leash, the rapidly ~looseninl
leash, that held the dogs of war. The.
r we're freed from the mighty strain i'm
noscd by long Inactivity. Soon the,
J would be at the eneny's throat. Tn
fire that tipped their guns, leapinI
from file to file. would soon be dimme'
bv the awful glare of battle.
). Suddenly o flash split the air IN I'm
with the Widows vision. y shrek tina
rent the heavens startled her. Sh
STOOD on her feet. I'VE more flashes
~ two awful shricks, followed by a cras
Z mat seemed to lift the house from 1t
u .-.., r,t,~aoa1I 90 cWiftiV thH