Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-30

seemed himself. but he was more and
more inexplicable. When he sprawled
under a tree during their long mornings
Joe knew that he did not sleep, but
stared silently at the sky; and as they
trudged along many hours would pass in
utter silence. And SO. by devious ways,
they came to Gettysburg.
They had gone astray many times
when. at nightfall. they came unawares
upon the battlefield. fog born Of re-
cent rains rose from the wet earth and
hung in broken clouds. They paused be-
side fence, uncertain Of directions. Sud-
attention. Near at hand a horse and
rider seemed flung upward into the misty
starlight. The erect figure of the man,
the arched neck and appraised foot of the
horse. were startlingly vivid. The weird
spectacle held them fascinated. At any
moment the mystical horseman might
take flight and gallop into the enfolding
fog in pursuit of his lost legion. Other
figures, equally fantastfcal. and ghostly
monuments rose against the starry sky
out Of the drifting fog-ribbons. Joe
staring about. cried aloud in fear as he
stumbled against cannon. Wayne eX-
planned that they were on the Gettys-
burg battlefield and that these were me-
MORALS of dead soldiers.
ITS too WOODY for me- declared Joe.
and they sought the town and found
their bags and lodging for the night.
They woke in the morning to find it
Memorial day, with excursions of vet
Grams pouring in for celebration. They
followed their own devices keeping away
from the crowd. and late in the after
noon rested at the foot of Warren s
statue on Little Round Top. Wayne had
bought a map and he opened it to fix
the lines of Pickett's assault. His blood
tingled as he grasped the significance of
the famous charge. gazing down upon
the field of death. He explained it to
Joe. and they rose as by one impulse and
took off their caps.
"They were men, Joe: IT takes men
with the real stuff in them to do that"
Scattered over the field sightseers fol-
lowed the events of the long-vanished
July days. An old man in the blue blouse
of the Grand Army of the Republic
toiled slowly up Little Round Top and
stationed himself near them. He was
muttering to himself. and so intent upon
his own thoughts that he did not see
them. He pointed with his hat as though
demonstrating some contrOverted point
and shook his head. and Wayne and Joe
eyed him wonderingly. The veterans
lean figure was erect: he thrust his stick
| under his arm and looked down upon the
gray hair. He turned toward Cemetery
Ridge and the men behind him. a
wild look came into his bleared eyes and
| he graspcd Wayne's arm, whispering:
ITS in the bugle, It's in the bugle!'
"You were a soldier in this battle?''
asked Wayne. not understanding.
| Il was in many battles. young man.
| It's the bugle that does the mischief;
| pluck the heart out of the bugle and
drum and men won't kill each other any
| more Many a man I've bugled down to
DEATH
| He dropped his head upon his breast.
| A bird sang in the ,thicket below. On
| the heights beyond bugle sounded,
| faint as though from a, far-off time. The
/ old man shrank away; then he began to
speak. in the hoarse broken voice of
| an oft-told tale:
1--WE had a boy captain with beautiful
| brown eyes. who had left college to go
| into the army. That boy. with his hand
| full of cavalry, felt bigger than old
Napoleon and we were as proud of him
| as he was of us. Early in the war we
were sent out on scout along the
Chickahominy. and were going back to
our bigade when We ran plump into a
bunch of the enemy's cavalry that had
| been out feeling our line. They were
just coming up out of a ford and 1t was
a surprise on both sides, but our cap
tain laughed and said:
THE charge. trumpeter!
II let go with the bugle and we slapped
into them right at the edge of the water.
There was bad mess for a few minutes.
then back we went with the gray boys
at our heels. We fought up and down
the road. as Though We were only playing
a game: sometimes we drove them and
then they drove US. On our second dash
! felt my horses hoof PUNK soft onto a
dead man, and / remember how queer 1t
made me feel. We had to win that ford,
| and the other fellows wanted 1t just as
bad as We did. Well. 1t was nearly