The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-06-01

1 kIeT WALL VI oMSSS lSs1o > XII Aas e
now as the locusts' song swells. grows
fainS, rises again stronger. then sud
denly ceases. just so 1t rose on that
PJuly morning when the earth rembled
under the tread of the armed hosts
that marched toward Gettysburg.
There was 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 the line
where the earth and sky met in the
west.
The broad road crossed the hills
there. Perhaps she was thinking of
her ton Jack, who was away some
where; she never knew exactly where.
| Jack was marching with the hosts that
Z swelled the ranks of the union armies.
pBut one day he widow received q let
ter that brought tears and brightness
to her face again.
Jack was promoted. 1t wasn't the
money, he wrote; 1t was the honor. He
was the youngest captain in his divi-
sion. But above everything else, it
. 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
HpPellZlH6 ana Hedllily grew apaSe III
her garden. Her flowers were the envy
OF all her %neighbors. But her sweet
who passed that way. In height,
thickness and beauty they surpassed
all that eyes had ever witnessed.
the Widows, Who said Il day:
them vines, Mrs. Lucy! Must be an
growth you've got. Why, a
mar coming along the lane back there
can't see your house I'll he gets bang
up against it. I'd given all l was paid
tor fighting in Mexico just to get be-
hind a screen like that at Monterey.
Why, it'd masll a battery nicely"
Twenty good yards across the end of
her lot the sweet peas stretched. h
travellers on the great thoroughfare
saw a 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 the.
time and then Were recalled by the
Giver OF all bounty. She rejoiced now
that Jack had la%ughingly put the trellis
higher ever 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 embittered sick
ened Of the slaughter.
More men We're drafted, more en-
listed, and all marched ava never TO
return, save when now n then some
wreck wanting a leg stunped 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 tbs apprehension
of the unlettered. The scented clerk left
his desk in the city and stood shoulder
to shoulder with the raw and awkward
country boy.
One morning at 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 of
green dashed with the spray of I'M
folding buds and full blown flowers a
low rumble fell upon her. 1t was x
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
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 heard dawned upon her. The
ulASIlN VIII lldu lllcS VI DdlllC. II
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
dusty road with uplifted heads.
Long before noon the rumble of artil-
lery was distinct. The lust rose in
clouds: dull red pillars assembled slow
y, bulged and swayed, rejecting the
suns rays, warped and twisted them
selves. then melted away.
A strange sound, a muft1ed sound like
the faint swapping of sticks, was watt
gathered on the knoll opposite the
Widows house. Then a fringe, the
merest fringe, of men appeared on the
horizon.
Fifteen minutes later a stream of
wounded federals lirnped 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 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. If the fedcrals were coming,
perhaps she would see her son.
The sum rays on %slanting muskets
resolved themselved into shafts Of
white fire as wave after wave Of men
,,assed in undulating pillows with muf-
Ned tread in. dust ankle deep. The
sheen CT bright buttons, the glitter of
E%cabbards. the glare of bright steel,
danced along innumerable waves OF
infantry and cavalry. 1t seemed as II
the coil steadily rounding the hill would
never end.
This coil, this relentless coil. was in
deed the leash, the rapidly loosening
leash, that held the dogs of war. They
were freed from the mighty strain inn
posed by long inactivity. Soon they
would be ut the eneiny's throat. The
fire that tipped their guns, leaping
from file to file, would soon be dimmed
by the awful glare of battle.
Suddenly a flash split the air in line
with the Widows vision. A Shrek hat
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 its
foundations. succeeded SO swiftly that
the widow shut her eyes. And then
his r. e,-- .,--, "a, ,,I ~, ~. u-itl III