Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1911-05-25
A Bullet From Antietam.

her room, and if any one enters she will
be found shrouded in gloom. When
we were little children we used to ask
mother what made aunty so diSconsolate
on memorial day, but she would frown
on us and caution us not to say anything
about it to aunty, adding that it was a
matter we were too young to understand.
When grew TO womanhood, while hunt
ing for something in the old lady'S bureau
drawer that she had asked me to get her,
opened a box of those little treasures
that so many of us keep with infinite care
and found in if leaden bullet. | asked
her if it had history. She said It had
and told me about it. This is her story:
81 was seventeen when the civil war
broke out. Seventeen is very impress
sionable age for girl. She is likely to
meet some young man she has never seen
before and open her heart TO him at once.
At any rate, | was OF that kind. Near
our house was field in which was en-
camped regiment that was getting ready
TO march south to the war. One day
when was out at the we'll young SOL
dier with stripes on his arm came over
the fence and toward me. He was grown
up, which meant good deal TO girl
who was still considered to be mere
chit. had never received any attentions
from a grown man in my life.
"The smile he gave me is with me to
this day. He had auburn curly hair and
light brown mustache. He asked me
if would let him take away some water
in a Tin pail which he carried. And when
| said he might he gave me another smile,
and smiled and somehow felt a strange
happiness. He was long while getting
ready to fill his pail, long time filling
it, pausing from time to time while he
was doing it to say something nice to me,
and a long while getting away after he
had filled it. insisted on helping with
the we'll bucket, and once his hand touch
ed mine. 1t sent thrill through me.
"The regiment was delayed in moving
for long while. The young soldier used
to come every day for water, and used
to watch for him that might be out in
the yard when he Came. He said they
were waiting for shoes, and then for
blankets, and after that for ammunition. !
hoped they would never get any OF these
things, for dreaded the day when they
would march away and my young soldier
would 90 too. But our meetings at the
we'll house continued, and one evening
while we were standing there it grew
dark. felt his arms stealing around my
waist, and then he kissed me.
"That one kiss sealed my fate. could
neither forget it nor the man who gave it
to me. When he left me he took my
heart with him.
al lay awake so late that night thinking
of the strange new happiness that had
come to me that awakened late in the
morning. looked Immediately out for
the camp, as | had become accustomed
to doing, and my heart sank. Not a
white tent was there. The regiment had
gone. Oh, shall ever forget the desc
late feeling? My soldier had gone. |
should never see him again. He would
be killed. But had no doubt that if he
returned we should be reunited. | did
not dream that he would forget me.
at is strange to me now how one man
seen by young girl but few times can
| fix the status OF her whole life. Perhaps
at that tender age il is more possible than
when she is older. And yet | know that
most young girls have what they call a
first love that is succeeded by several
others. Mine has been the first and only
love.
"a year passed. We used TO hear OF
the great battles, the boys crying extras,
with list OF killed and wounded, certain
houses with the shutters all closed and
afterward the persons living in them ap-
pearing robed in black. would have
seized the lists eagerly, bat didn't know
my lovers name, not even his regiment.
| could only hope that it would come
back, encamp where it had encamped be-
fore and would meet my dear love at
the well.
"And so it did. When the war ended
one day the regiment marched into town.
But how different from what il had been
four years before Some 200 men, most
of them looking as if they had just been
discharged from hospital, struggled on
to the ground, and the strongest OF them
got up the tents. What an awful wait
that was for me till should see my lover
dragging himself across the interval be-
tween us | would not LET myself think
that his body was in grave or a trench
in the south. He did not come the first
day nor the second, and | was obliged to
consider the possibility of his having been
killed.
con the third day saw an officer COM
ing from the camp. With my heart in
my throat, went, carried by my trem-
bling limbs, TO meet him. We came to-
gether at the well house. But he was
not my lover.
"Did you,' he asked, form the ac-
quaintance OF young sergeant when this
| regiment encamped here four years ago 2
"a tried to say yes, but could not.
knew this man brought amessage from