Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1914-07-21

C06 W8vluB nlb uWOEV allu EuuyiuS utS
men with an eager and excited cry
when they fred in obedience to ges
ture and Major Taunton dropped.
II was over In ten minutes more and
Doubledick returned to the spot where
he had laid the best friend man ever
had on a coat spread upon the wet
clay. Major Taunton's uniform was
opened at the breast and on his shirt
were three little spots Of blood
"Dear Doubledick." said he. II am
dying"
"For the love Of heaven. mol" ex-
claimed the other. kneeling down be-
side him and passing bis arm round
bis neck to raise his head. Taunton!
Ny preserver. my guardian angel, my
witness! Dearest truest, kindest Of
human beings! Taunton! For Gods
sakel'
The bright dark eyes-so very, very
dark now in the pale face-smlled
upon him, and the hand he had kissed
thirteen years ago laid itself fondly on
his breast
write to my mother. You will see
home again. Tell her how we became
friends. It will comfort her. as It COM
forts me-"
He spoke no more. but family signed
for a moment towards his hair as It
huttered In the wind. The ensign un-
derstood him. He smiled again when
he saw that and. gently turning bis
face over on the supporting arm as II
for rest, died. with his hand upon the
breast in which he had revived soul.
No dry eye looked en- Ensign Richard
Doubledick that melancholy day. He
buried his friend on the field and be-
came a lone bereaved man. Beyond
his duty he appeared TO have but two
remaining cares in life-one. to pre-
serve the little packet Of hair he was
to give Taunton's mother; the other. to |
encounter that French officer who had
rallied the men under whose fire Taun |
ton fell. A new legend now began to
circulate among our troops. and 1t was |
that when he and the French officer |
came face to face once more there |
would be weeping In France.
The war went on. and through 1t
went the exact picture Of the French
officer on the one side and the bodily
reality upon the other. until the battle
Of Toulouse was fought In the re-
turns sent home appeared these words: |
Severely wounded. but not dangerous
ly, Lieutenant Richard Doubledick."
At midsummer time in the year 1914 |
Lieutenant Richard Doubledick, now
Drowned soldier seven and thirty years |
Of age. came home to England inva
lided. He brought the hair with him. |
near his heart. Many French officer |
had he seen since that day; many
dreadful night. in searching with men
and lanterns for his wounded. had he
relieved French officers lying disabled.
but the mental picture and the reality |
had never come together.
Though be was weak and suffered
pain, he lost not an hour in getting |
where Taunton's mother lived. In the |
sweet, compassionate words that natu-
rally present themselves to the mind
tonight, "he was the only sou Of his
mother, and she was a widow"
1t was a Sunday evening and the
lady sat at her quiet garden window
reading the Bible: reading to herself in
q trembling voice that very passage in
It, as I have heard him tell. He heard
the words, Young man. I say unto
thee, arise"
He had to pass the window. and the
bright. dark eyes Of his debased time
semed to look ut him. Her heart told
her who he was: she came to the door
quickly and fell upon his neck.
HE saved me from ruin. made me II
human creature, won me from infamy
and shame. o God. forever bless him
A. he will. he will!''
"He will!' the lady answered 81
know he d in heavenr' Then she pits-
ously cried, "But. oh. my darling boy.
my darling boy!"
Never from the hour when Private
Richard Doubledick enlisted at Chat
ham had the private. corporal, SER
geant, sergeant major, ensign or lieu
tenant breathed his right name, or the
name Of Mary Marshall. or u word Of
the story of his life. Into any ear ex-
cept his reclaimer's.
But that night remembering the
words he had cherished for two years.
Tell her how we became friends. 1t
will comfort her as 1t comforts ME" he
related everything. 1t gradually seem.
ed to him as II In his maturity he had
recovered mother. 1t gradually
seemed to her as II In her bereavement
she had found a son. During his stuy
In England. the quiet garden Into
which he had slowly and painfully
crept q stranger. became the boundary
Of his home. When he was able to join
his regiment in the spring he left the
garden thinking was this indeed the
first time he had ever turned his face
toward the old colors with woman's
blessing!
he followed them-so ragged. 80
SCARED and pierced now, that they
would scarcely hold together-to Quatre
Bras and Ligny. He stood beside them
In an awful stiffness of many men.
shadoxy through the mist and drizzle
of q wet June forenoon. on the field Of
Waterloo And down to that hour the
picture In his mind of the French otfi-
Ger had never been compared with the
reality.
The famous regiment was In action
early in the battle and received its first
check In many an eventful year. when
he was seen to fall. But 1t swept on
to avenge him and left behind It no
such creature in the world OF con.
sciousness as Lieutenant Richard Dou-
bledick.
Through pits Of mire and pools of
rain, along deep bitches. once roads.
that were pounded and ploughed to
pieces by artillery. heavy wagons.
tramp Of men and horses and the strug.
gle of every wheeled thing that could
carry wounded soldiers: jolted among
tho dying and dead, 80 disagured by
blood and mud as to be hardly recog-
nizable for humanity; undisturbed by