Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-02-01
DAILY. STOR Y.
THE LAST COMRADE.

plates for eighteen persons. No seat
was occupied except that of the cid
man himself. and as the clock on the
mantel licked away the minutes no one
else appeared. Indeed, the one occu-
pant of the room could not have eX-
pected any one else, for his own dinner
was on his plate. At each place was
bottle OF wine. but the only bottle I'M
corked was that before the one diner.
At the close of the Mexican war
eighteen officers who had taken part IN
il and who lived not far from one an
other decided to celebrate the peace
with a dinner. 1t was Il jubilee. Dur
ing the evening Il proposition was made
and decided upon that once Il year the
feast was 10 be repeated, and as each
man dropped out his plate and bottle
were to be set the same as if he were
present
All We're either young or compar
atively young, and it was some years
before single place was vacant. Then
| chill passed over every man as he
entered the room and saw the empty
chair, the plate, the uncOrked bottle.
of their late cOmrade. All had looked
upon battletields. but none had eXpe-
rienced this same peculiar sensation i'll
viewing the dead and dying.
Several years passed. The seventeen
| men We're beginning to become some
what accustomed 10 the one vacant
| chair when the clock of their lives
| struck >. They missed one of the
! youngest, merrieSt of their number.
Then it became apparent that the
| spontaneous merriment of their first
| dinner would wane under the increaS-
| ing vacant chairs and eXertiOn must BE-
| made to keep the dinners from grow
| ing painful. \ resolution was passed
| that each man must contribute some
! thing-a song, Il story, Il joke. what
| ever he pleased-to enliven the occa-
! sion.
Slowly the diners watched the i'll
! creasing vacancies till the number gone
| eQualed the number remaining. When
| the nine living men met and drank to
! the nine who We're dead, it was with
an effort. Some one proposed that they
! should sit together at Il living hale of
! the table, leaving the other half for the
dead, but the proposal was voted down.
and the living and the dead remained
side by side.
| Their clock struck 10, il, l., and two
| thirds of the original number had pass
| ed away. Six men whose boards We're
| gray sat together and drank to twelve
who had gone. To them the dead re-
manned at the age they departed, some
/ on the threshold of manhood, others
at successive ages.
1t was years before there was an
other vacancy; then two empty plates
dropped into line like figured disks re
cording the revolutions of an engine
shaft. Another dropped in three years
another in two.
BY this time all who We're destined
to reach the ordinary limit threeScort
years and ten. had dropped out. OF those
who We're to become OctOgenarians
or centenarianS but two remained. FO.
! eleven years two old men sat down
| together once year and drank to six
teen comrades whose bottles We're uu
| cOrked. 1t was not now a question o.
which should be blessed with til,
longest life, but which would he soon
est relieved from Il painful duty. A
they glanced over the uncorked bottles
Il it seemed that their dead comrades
We're drawn up in line to receive then
when they should appear upon the
eternal parade. With trembling hands
they raised thin glasses to their lip!
and drank-drank as much as ther,
was hope of asSimilating with theiI
wornOut syStems-then set their glass
es down and without word left 4;
room which from Il banquet hall hai
become a sepulcher.
And now the last man, eighty-nin'
years old, sits alone. a myriad O
wrinkles radate from a scar on hi
forehead, the remains of wound re
ceived at ChurubuscO. y few snow
white hairs are scattered over his
head. His eye Is a flare of intelligence
about to go out. His dinner is untast
ed, except n little toast water, of which
he has taken Il few sips. He sits Il
one end of the table and looks dow
the long line of bottles on either side
every bottle representing a dead com
rade. He raises his glass and speaks
not with his lips-lips are not needed
to address the dead-but in spirit.
| Comrades, |, about to die. gree
you. 1t has pleased our great con
mander to place me in charge of til
rear guard. l have seen you all safel
over the river, and now. my work be
l ing finished, l am permitted to eros
| myself. The din Of battle sounds fl
from me-a confused muunur of shout
ing, of musketry. of cannon. l hav
no desire to return to mingle with i
| / only wish to join you in your Ion
rest. Comrades, l greet you"
1 He touched the rim of his glass t
his thin lips and set it down. The
he rested his chin on his breast an
closed his eyes.
The door opened. and a group o
: children burst into the room, followe
: by their parents.
Grandpa, wake up, We have com
Z to cheer you for the loss of you