Vashon Island news. [volume] (Vashon, Wash.) 1907-19??, 1915-06-17
PURE PATRIOTISM
A Story of the Flag.
By Frank iIubbell


NOT Americans who would be a little
short of pure patriotism. were they
tested IN a severe ordeal
recall a time nfiy years ago when
SIX escaping prisoners Of war were
put to test on lhat point. These
unfortunate soldiers having marched
steadily the greater part Of the might
and day for thirty days with scarcely
sufficient food to sustain their emaeci
ated bodies from wuicn the uniform
had rotted on from their confinement
OF twenty-one months in Libby and
other prisons OF the South.
We were ascending Bald Mountain
in Tennessee, in those last three day
without knowledge of how near we
were to the Union lines; with no habi-
tation of any kind in sight, nor q
mouthful of food to satisfy our fast
failing strength; menaced on all sides
by mountain bushwhackers. guerillas
and rowing bands Of desperate men
on this tedious and severe route
often falling over down trees and
logs, becoming tangled in brush and
vines, our feet swollen and bleeding
from sharp-cutting rocks. Our scuryy
aud torn limbs became so painful that
at times we would forget our neces-
sary discretion and cry out in our
agony Some times in our extreme
suffering we would doubt the wisdom
Of being so controlled and wrought
10 such spirit Of devotion to prln.
ciple, that humanity would be willing
to make such sacrifice which was
far beyond the pangs Of death.
No one knows this excruciating
pain without the miserable exper.
fence, and even in the less dstitute
condition of abandoning all that was
dear to him-al that was life-all
that was worth striving for to make
that life home, wife. children, mother
and business, and suffer both pain
and hunger almost beyond endurance.
and yet maintain that feryid love Of
country and its glorious institutions;
standing to the end imbued with
patriotism and loyalty above all else
ON earth
We cannot wonder at the effect Of
the American soldier, the greatest
embodiment of pride and courage I'M
der the stellar canopy of heaven
Arriving at the top Of Bald Noun
tain, three complained of their ter
rible condition We consulted with
each other, When they declared to
go further was utterly beyond their
ability or human strength, and begged
to be left that death could relieve
them of the misery
The end of their vitality Sss-es-'!s
dent when 10, our attention was
directed down the mountain side on
our backward path to a poor, miser-
able, creeping, crawling figure, strug-
Cling up in the storms fury. The
wind howled around that desolate
spot. bending the trees as the light.
nings fearful thunder rolled through
the tops as though the huge rocks
would be loosened from their fast
ness and go tumbling down against
this poor last vestige of humanity.
With GREATNESS silence we watched
this almost inanimate form at times
on his feet, then the ground catching
his body; who and what is It? The
history of the dark ages could not
picture more pitiful sight The
most forlorn object TO live and breathe
imaginable TO the human mind A
soldier of the Civil War, hero of
the prison pens of the South. D. Y,
Lytell. Of the s1st Ohio, an escaped
prisoner from Andersonyllle stock
abe, who never would have reached
the outpost at the Tennessee lines
had not merciful heaven guided him
10 cur trail How he told us of his
long journey, Of his comrade, his
partner whose form he left beneath
the dropping limbs OF lonely tree,
where the sycamore towers along the
deadly trail OF the escaping prisoner
OF war And how he took from his
bosom, in which he had so long
secreted, miniature flag six inches
square Of the Stars and Stripes the
first we had seen for mauy months
Old Glory" How we kissed its folds
as the sordid tear fell upon the con
stellation. What a panacea for our
crushed and bleeding limbs and desc
late hearts, The inspiration burst
into song "oh, Say Can You See,
by the Dawn's Early Light And the
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