Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-06-01
A STORY {

July morning when the earth trembled
under the tread Of the armed hosts
that marched toward Gettysburg.
There vas a time when the widow
neglected her flowers; when she sat on
her porch with her sewing or knitting
unnoticed, her hands lying motionless
in her lap, while she seemed to be gaz-
ing at nothing, unless it was h line
where the earth and sky met in the
west.
The broad road crossed the hills
there. Perhaps she was thinking 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 that 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 would 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 on
when Jack marched away. Everything
appetizing and healthy grew apace in
her garden. Her flowers were the envy
VI oil nCI lClSllbOlo. DuI lNA "N'N~N
peas! They were the marvel of all
who passed h a way. In height,
thickness and beauty they surpassed
all that eyes had ever witnessed.
It was Archie Ray, an old flame of
the widows, who said one day:
Dashed if l ever see anything like
them vines, Mrs. Lucy! Must be an
uncommon growth you've got. why, a
man coming along the a n back there
can't see your house till he gets bang
up against it. I'd 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 cas- stretched. The
travellers on the great thoroughtare
saw q mass, a blaze Of lovely, varie-
gated color. The widows senses told
her that they were as delicate, those
flowers, as sweet and as fragile as tn.
babes tina had lain in her arms a brief
time n her were recalled by the
Giyer of all bounty. She rejOiced now
that Jack had laughingly put the trellis
higher even than she had desired.
When the locusts began to sing that
year, 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 emblttered SICK
ened of the slaughter.
More men were drafted, more n
listed, and all marched away never 10
return, save when now and then some
wreck wanting a leg stumped 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 s]harpened tvs apprehension
of the unlettered. The scented clerk lett
his desk in the city and stood
TO shoulder with the raw and awkward
country boy.
One morning Git was about a month
after Jack was promoted) his mother
was STOPPING, scissors in hand, in front
of her sweet peas.
As she looked lovingly on the wall or
green dashed with the spray OF UNI
folding buds and full blown lowers a
low rumble fell upon her. 1t was ike
the rumble Of a dying storm. The Wld-
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 n nlantels
were adorned with fresh flowers the
rumbling sound was more distinct and
so regular and frequent that the widow
walked out and looked up and down
the valley. The meaning of the sounds
she nearQ "a IJ61 upOil IlCI. Il
mighty armies nae met In battle. The
thick sky was only the dust made by
countless feet as men marched in bat
tie array. The rumbling sound was the
boom, boom of cannon.
A strange 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,,c+r ,.naI with unified heads
Long before noon the rumble of artil-
lery was distinct. The dust rose in
clouds; dull red pillars assembled slow
", bulged and swayed, rejecting the
suns rays, warped and twisted them
selves, then melted away.
A strange sound, a muftled sound like
the faint swapping Of sticks, was watt
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 4 stream of
wounded federals limped through the
village. The villagers were 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 to
retire or be caught between two fires"
The widow looked on composedly.
She refused To leave her house. No
arguments, no circumstances, no in
ducements or threats affected her re-
solve II the fedcrals were coming,
perhaps she would see her son.
The suns rays on slanting muskets
resolved themselved into shafts of
white fire as wave after wave of men
2assed in undulating pillows with muf-
led tread in dust ankle deep. The
sheen Of bright buttons, the glitter of
sea bba rds. the glare of bright steel,
danced along innumerable waves of
infantry and cavalry. 1t seemed as If
the coil steadily rounding the hill would
never END.
This coil, this relentless coil, was in
deed the leash, the rapidly loosening
leash. tina held the dogs of war. They
were freed from the mighty strain i'm
posed by long inactivity. Soon they
would be at the enemy's throat. The
fire hat tipped their guns, leaping
from file to file, would soon be dimmed
by the awful glare of battle.
Suddenly q fash split the air in line
with the Widows vision. A shrek that
rent the heavens startled her. She
stood ON her feet. Two more flashes
two awful shrieks, followed by a crash
that seemed TO lift the house from it's
foundations, succeeded so swiftly that
the widow shut her eyes. And then
his presence was simultaneous with the
nasheS--a man with mgr eyes n a
bearded face pushed her out among the
soldiers now rushing past IN a trot.
They paid no attention 10 her. They
were looking forward; every man there
had his head well up. Their eyes were
fixed on something distant. The burst
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