The herald., 1911-11-23
A LONG TIME
COMING
B, LOUISE B. CUMMINGS
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1871.
B, LOUISE B. CUMMINGS

WHO SIOOu at Tue uOoI VI ii III huuVuSS'
She was about fifty years old and the
questioner looked TO be ten years
older.
"YOu don't seem strong enough TO
work" said the woman sympathetical-
", 'but come i'll and I'll get you a
snack"
There was something in either the
old mans appearance or the tone of
his voice that reminded her of some
one she had known before. Surely
that walk was familiar. She fed him,
and when her son, man of thirty,
came in she said:
Jake. this man wants to help us
out for the harvest season. Can't you
hire him."
1--WE need help. mother. but fear
the old man is hardly able to work
all day in a field in the broiling sun"
Il reckon there's some work in me-"
replied the stranger. Anyhow. got
TO earn a Twin or go TO the poor
farm. and I'd rather kill myself work
in than live on the county"
"Where do you hail from?' asked
the younger man.
81 don't know"
Don't know"
"You see, I'm one o those persons
who suddenly forget everything. 1t
was about thirty years ago. l reckon.
that I was discharged from n hos
pital / remember comm out Of it.
but don't remember goin' in"
THAT was about wartime, wasn't
it," asked the woman. much interest
ed
81 reckon 1t was. for they told me
that when I went in had on q coat
with brass buttons on it I'd been
there so long and there had been so
many changes that no one could tell
any more than that about it"
The old man looked so lugubrious
that the woman turned the subject
81 tell you what you'd better do,
Henry" she said to her son. You'd
better let him work for his keep and
do as much or as little as he likes"
Just as you please, mother" said
the son.
So the old man stayed with them.
working sometimes a whole day and
sometimes half day. There hung
about him that melancholy to be ex-
pected from one who lived in world
from which the earlier part had been
blotted out. Those who had taken him
in were a widow, Mrs. Hardenburg,
and her son. She had been widowed
thirty years, having lost her husband
when the boy was a baby. Indeed,
Henry had never seen his father. His
mother had been married to a soldier
boy who a few weeks later had gone
to the war and had not returned. He
was never heard Of after the battle
Of Fair Oaks in Virginia and was sup
posed to have been buried among the
unknown.
One day when the old man suffered
from a pain in his back the widow
proposed to rub the affected part with
liniment. His shoulder blade was ex
posed. and she noticed large mole on
it. She started. She had seen on her
husbands shoulder blade just such
mole The shape of both were pc
culiar, being of oblong shape with
protuberance on each side, the Whole
being not unlike a clover leaf. Mrs.
Hardenburg said nothing to the old
man about 1t, but that night when
alone with her son told him that she
believed the old man was her husband
and his father. Henry considered her
assertion a mere within. His father
he had always heard had been killed
in battle, and the mere similarity OF
a mark on their visitors back to one
on his fathers was hardly sufficient to
bring the latter to life.
From that time Mrs Hardenberg
treated the old man with every kind
ness and attention. But she said
nothing more about her discovery to
her son and did not mention 1t to any
one except her son.
One day while at work in the barn
the old man was kicked in the head by
q horse. He was removed to a hos
pital and examined by a surgeon, who
found that the new wound happened
to be in the same location as one
that appeared to have been made by a
bullet. The patient remained uncon-
scious. and the surgeon decided to re-
move a small portion Of the skull that
was pressing on the brain. AS soon
as the operation was finished and the
sufferer had recovered from the effects
Of the anaesthetic that had been ad-
ministered he looked at the doctor and
asked feebly:
did we lick 'emT'
Lick whom"
"Why, Johnny Reb! You must be a
contract surgeon. aren't you? Any
way, you're not in uniform"
whats your name and regimentT'
asked the doctor.
"Henry Hardenberg, til Pennsyl-
vania."
"Well, Mr.. Hardenberg, you have
been a long while coming to your own,
but you've got there at last. The war
ended over thirty years ago"
When Mrs. Hardenberg was told
that the lost man." as the neighbors
called him, was her husband she ex-
hibited no surprise. saying that she
knew him from his walk when he first