Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-11-21

nav prosperity ana comforts ACCORDING
20 their enlightenment, passed from
life's stage, and a new generation made
the old house ring with life and laugh
ter.
Three sons We're born in quick sue
c~ession to j. & Almira Hawkins. In
'hat family, as in few. the children.
While prominent. We're not it's main
feature. The parents remained in com-
hland. They We're not crowded out to
make room for the pleasures of the
rising generation. as is sometimes the
case. They held the whip hand, which
prompted respect and gained obedience.
ne rod was not spared nor the child
spoiled. with the result that the Haw-
klns boys grew VI q credit and coln-
tort to their parents and the pride of
the district.
Then the civil war. The martial spir-
1t OF tne Revolutionary Hawkins was
transmitted to the grandsons. All
wanted to enlist. Samuel, Henry and
John. in their order. the eldest 20. a
company Of bucktails was being or
ganized at the county seat. There were
just enough bucks hides nailed on the
SCUM n OF the big barn for each boy
to have one of the famous insignia.
Thanksgiving day rolled around; but,
Tor the frst time in the history of the
hawkins homestead, 1t went by UNI
observed. 1t was spent in council in
front OF the great fireplace, where all
OF ilfe's problems We're threshed out
Tor them. The great fire roared, the
few scattering snowflakes beat against
the under the bowling nor'-
easter. but there was no cheer within.
n mother. a father. were called upon 10
lay on the altar of their country. IL
need be, their sons, for which willing
ness Abraham has been perpetuated in
history, though the blow which was
spared to him blighted many a Penn
sylvanla home of which history makes
no record-a call to which MANY par
ents responded with a devotion so noble.
so self sacrificing, that there is no COM
blnation of words in the English lam
guage to fittingly portray it.
1T was far into the day following
when the conference ended and the
en.bers died on the hearth. 1t was de-
go. and John remain at home. Sleep
settled over he house, but not on the
eyelids of j. & Almira Hawkins, He
sat on the settle beside the fireplace
with her in his arms. as he did the
night after the crane was hung and all
the guests had departed. She lay on
his heavfng breast and sobbed out
her heart for the costly sacrifice she
mad made. but with a conscious pride
that she had done so much for her
country In its hour of peril.
Another season rolled around. There
"o' ~ eiuIISS from the terrible battle
IN which the Bucktails were engaged
ana Won deathless renown, till Thanks
giving a came the news that both
Samuel and Henry had beer beheaded
by a bursting she'll. as they were fol-
lowing Colonel Kane over the enen1y's
and had been buried with
thousands OF others in a nameless
trench. A few embers flickered in the
great fireplace at the end of the haIl,
Only the clocks dull tick and the sound
OF weeping broke the stiffness of the
big house.
Then came the call for more troops,
and John expressed determination TO
go. They discussed it long and prayed
into the late vigils of the night for
guidance.
Only a boy" his father said
Ihey never could let their youngest go:
Two already We're lying dead
Under the feet of the tramping foe.
But after the evenings work was done,
And the frogs We're loud in the meadows
swamp.
And stealthily followed the footpath
damp.
Across the clover and through the wheat,
with resolute heart. and purpose grim:
Cold were the dews on his hurrying feet,
And blinded bats. fitting. startled him.
John left a brief note of love and
esteem. He said the spirit of the revo-
lutionary grandsire was too strong in
him for him to resist. Would they par
don his disobedinece, the first in his
life. but his country needed him so?
Can you imagine The shock to them?
The gray hairs multiplied in the moth
er's head until 1t looked like ~snowbanks
in February, n she stopped percep-
IDLY, while ]. Hawkins went about his
work as one in a daze. hardly sensing
what had happened. The hearth fire
fickered In h great fireplace.
The two still sat together there,
The red light shone about their knees:
For all the heads by slow degrees
Had gone and left that lonely pair;
o voyage fast! o vanished past!
The season rolled around. The time
of Thanksgiving once so much loved
and celebrated, j. & Almira Hawkins
were beginning to dread. fearing that
manifested to them at q time in which
prayers of praise should reign in their
hearts and their home. The blow fell,
News came hat John had been cap
tured, and there We're later tidings on
ftrming his death while trying to es-
in the sanctity Of their silent home
they asked God ove and over again
why He had smitten them so, and there
seemed to be no reply to the wall OF
their desolate hearts. The hearth fire
yet flickered.
The red light shone upon the floor
And made the space between them wide;
They drew their chairs up side by side,
Their paled cheeks joined, and said
Once more: 20 memories! o past that ISL
Thanksgiving day. the unobserved,
had come again. There was to be q
union service at the Methodist church
at the county seat. and 1t was to be a
memorial to John Hawkins, the vouns
cavalry officer. 1t would be fitting, the
n4ighbors said, if the aging, sorrowine
parents could be present. So, smoth-
ering their grief. they occupied the