Putnam patriot., 1914-05-29

/ SAAHihS Win tears.
Il am sure of that" she said.
He turned insistent eyes toward her
and his voice was low and tense with
| feeling
You know why / tell you this?"
Yes, she knew. It was like that
frank honor that looked out from his
eyes to tell her whatever there might
! be in his history that would seem
/ clouded. --=----- ------
"The camp was attacked immedi-
ately after and it was all the living
could do to save themselves. The
dead were left to bury their dead" i
They stood for a long time IN ST.
lence with their eyes fixed on the
marble shaftzthat bore the name great
before the world. But they did not
! see the monument OF the name. They
3aonly ssawHa lonely grave somewhere
! with no shaft to mark its place and
no name to show whose loved one had
kbeen elorified with the chfism of death.
Alone in her room that afternoon
Elsie remembered what day it was for
T her. a-z'is'
MY birthday" she said. 81 am
: twenty and the war has been over
I twenty years. Today l was to know
the story of the unnamed grave"
She opened her trunk and took from
1t a silver casket, which she unlocked
with a gold key. In it was a folded
manuscript that she held moment
| reverently in her hands. Her mothers
hands were the last to touch it, when
she put 1t away in the casket to be
read on the twentieth birthday. At
last she opened it and read:
When my child is twenty l want
her to know the sad story Of Alan Gold
win. | am writing 1t down that she
may read it for herself should I not
| be here to tell it
| II suppose a girl never knows why
she prefers one man to another; that
is, if she really loves him. Almost
anyone might say that Alan was finer
than Will Melwood and better adapted
/ to win admiration and confidence. But
these, important as they are, are not
exactly love- Alan remained my
friend, but soon after my marriage he
went South and a few years later
heard that he was married.
when the war began our people
were about equally divided in senti-
ment between North and South. VIII
| Joined the Union army. In skirmish
one day he was taken prisoner and
confined in tent to await transpor-
tation to Libby prison next day. AS
night fell a sense of loneliness en-
veloped him in darkness. He had ex-
pected to be killed in battle and was
prepared to die for his flag as is a
soldiers duty A dash or to the field.
a hand -to-hand struggle, sudden dark
ness-that was a soldiers death.
Suddenly the door opened and the
sentinel stood before the prisoner, who
turned toward him. wondering why he
had come. Was he to start tonight
| on that long journey to the tomb?
VIII Melwood. don't you know
me?'
".Alan Goldwin!'
For a moment they stood silent
with clasped hands Then Alan I'M
wrapped parcel he carried under his
arm and displayed a ragged, discoi
ored suit of brown clothes.
| i.'It makes no difference what kind
of clothes you wear, SO they cover up
your eolors. Our uniform is more dis
tinguished for ununiformity now than
anything else.
"What are you going to do with
me?"
81 am going to save you for-her.'
HE led Willfrom the tent to little
| pathway throughfa cfunp of trees,
/ "'But you--wkat will happen to
your rs -
Nothing. Remember only that
you are going to her.
HE turned back and VIII went
down the path and was picked up the
next morning by a detachment OF his
own regiment and taken by circuit
| GUS route unknown to him back to the
! camp from which he had escaped.
The Confederates, outnumbered, re-
treated. leaving a dead man lying near
the tent where VIII had been confined
| the night before. Bending over him
\ VIII recognized the face OF Alan Gold
win. 7a'as~
1--WE have killed my best friend!
"'No, you nebber, said negro. who
came up from the little belt of trees.