The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1908-07-23
AN ECHO or THE BATTLE.
Carrie elizabeth Logan.

| Gettysburg we came in with General
Meade to take part on the bloody stage,
so lately a green n peaceful valley.
In the white moonlight we mustered Sill
emily among the hills and changed the
destinies OF North and South. The fol-
lowing night was rande on my menu
DRY forever. Heavy smoke OF battle
hung over the valleys n bullets still
Missed and ploughed into the ranks of
the fallen blue under the trees. l lay
grooming with a bullet in my right leg.
"Comrade," said a man who had lain
so Etill that ! thought him dead, ARE
you lone for?'
mo. 1 don't think it's mortal. It's
my Leg"
"csg you take a message to my lit
'Ill do my best" ..
II live in Washington. My little
motherless girl is with my sisterinlaw,
who isn't exactly kind to her, and she'll
have a hard time when / am gone. I
did not trust the woman. Here his
voice began to grow faint and his mind
wandered. It's a low ceiled room, with
heavy watnscoating. Back of the-side-
board-panel-money. Press rose and
leaf a..
/ waited. what is your name, COM
rade2 At that moment 1t seemed that
the forest fell on my shoulder and I
knew no more. ~. H..
A couple OF years after the close Of
the war my wounds helped me to Sc
cure a position In the treasury depart
ment In Washington. I boarded with
Mrs. Blake, and promptly fell in love
with her pretty daughter Maude. The
d~aintiness of the young girl attracted
me. She looked like a Dresden shep-
herdness with her faint coloring and in
nocent blue eyes. Her simplicity in
dress satisfied the demands Of my soul
The only disagreeable factor in the
Blake house was h presence of Lor-
eta Blake, maid of all work, and niece
Of Mrs. Blake. She was a girl of IT,
slovenly and sulky, who ven around
with a gloomy face and eyes that
showed much weeping. Patient Maude
sighed when she came e and shook
her head sympathizingly in her moth
er's direction. ... ,
Yes, Mr.. Dunlop, poor has
had so much trouble with Loretta's
sullen disposition, but che is an orphan
and would be homeless IL we turned
her out" ,
"She might at least be grateful" I
said, and turned my disappearing eyes
on the slatternly girl.
Spring in Washington Is very delight
full. 1 noticed the young leaves peeping
forth and crocuse rearing their golden
heads as I took a stroll through Lafay-
cite square to have a quiet smoke and
dream of Maude.
A young girl on a bench in an obscure
corner attracted my attention. She was
evidently in great distress. AS 1 ap-
preached / recognized the ~lachrymose
Loretta.
Miss Blake" I said. gently, ''can 1 do
anything for your" Her dress was ILL
fitting and badly soiled. Her feet were
slipped In ragged shoes and the hands
covering her face were scratched ind
coarsened by toll. though not ILL
shaped.
She stopped crying in surprise, and
raised q pair Of pathetic brown eyes to
my interested face. 3
why do you cry?" I asked, as / sat
down on the bench beside her.
Because / am unhappy. Because my
father Is dead. Because 1 have no one
to love me-. al
Your aunt Is good to you. Where
would you be II 1t were not for herr"
Every one says that" said the girl,
impatiently.
IT am sullen, ungrateful, lazy. Yet I
work like a dog, and am treated worse"
/ had considered Mrs. Blake a charit-
able woman. but I would look into this
case a little. Loretta, do you go to
| school? "f n
mo. Aunt says that d~rudgery. not
books, is for the dull and stupid"
h was bad. Mrs. Blake should
certainly send her to school. why do
you not mend your clothes, and take
care not to soil them?"
II did not tear his dress nor grease
it. 1t belonged to the washerwoman."
This evidence was stunning me.
Gould you not wear Maude's clothes?"
They are too fine for me. Aunt sends
them to the church for the Christmas
box"
Surely, your cousin. Maude, is good
to your"
She looked at me with wise, sad eyes.
You like Maude, and I shall not tell
YOU" Then she caught my coat in her
hands. Don't tell them," she pleaded.
Aunt will beat me. and I am too big"
G home, little girl, and come some
other evening to talk to me here. 1 can
keep a secret"
On second thought I should not pro-
pose to Maud until I was satisfied of
her attitude to this child with haunt
ing dark eyes.
Poor Loretta! Nagged by her aunt
and sneered at by her cousin, she had
led a miserable existence since the
battle Of Gettysburg deprived her Of
her father. Every device that would
degrade q sensitive girl had been prac-
tised by Mrs. Blake and her daughter
while posing as martyrs to charity.
Finally I decided to take Loretta to
her uncle, a physician, In Georgetown.
She dressed in her poor best and met
me In Lafayette square at our usual
trysting place. I had grown to love
this lonely girl, and only her tender
age kept me from disclosing the state
of my feelings.
AS soon as I entered the Blake
homestead I felt a strange sense of
familiarity. "A low ceiled room. Side
board. Panel. Money" echoed in my
brain, accompanied by the roar of can
non and the groans of the dying.
You shall never go back. Never,
daughter" said the doctor, when Lor-
eta told her story.
In the course of the evening I Of
fered to tell them a story Of Gettys-
burg. Loretta fixed her bright eyes
hungrily On mine. AS I told them Of
the interrupted message I seemed to
speak with a tongue of fire that
aroused both the senses and the spirit
of my audience.
"Mr. Dunlop, 1t was my brother"
said the doctor, but Loretta wept.
We moved the sideboard. We pressed
the rose M leaf in the papered wall
just above the wainscoting. The spring
| t,oArFa1 1tanlnotrn N rAonog nNI - ~anI.