Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-08-20
WHO COMES
HERE?"
By M. DUAL
Copyright, 1915. by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.
BY M. QUAD

AA9 OAC A. ~ NA(
sign
1t was the relief going the rounds to
change the pickets, and | was dropped
out at post No. Z. We had fought Lee
all day long on the strangest battle
field of the whole warm the Wilder
ness. From right to left flank, from
front to rear, we were hemmed in by
forest and thicket. There were swamps
In which lizards and serpents lurked,
thickets in which the coy whippoor-
will built its nest, dense spots of for
est which seemed never to have echoed
the ring of the woodman's ak.
Post No. 7 was under a large tree on
the edge of a thicket. 1t was a lonely
place, well away from the camps, the
dead and the dying, but | was glad to
be alone. l had been nearly an hour
on the post without anything happen.
ing to alarm me, when l heard a per.
son moving in the thicket across the
open strip.
Rustic, rustic! Step, step! It was
a cautious movement. Whoever it was
hoped to reach me without discovery.
but there were dead leaves underfoot,
and the thicket was dense, A hare
could not have moved without betray.
ing its presence.
"Who comes here?"
There is silence for fifteen seconds,
and then a woman's voice answers:
81 can't lind the place! It's so dark
l can't find the placer
Aye. it was a woman's voice, and 1t
had a sob in it, too-a woman there in
the darkness between the hostile lines
with powder smoke still in the air,
with stray bullets darting through the
thickets with a whiz as of some great
insect stirred to anger.
"Who comes here?"
81 wish it wasn't so dark! I am 10
tiredi''
And then she comes across the open
strip toward me, making no stop, new
er h%esitating. walking straight up to
me, as If she could see as well by
night as in the sunshine of day.
81 can't find the placer she sobbed
as she came to a stop within arms
length.
Good God, woman, what are you do
ing here?" | gasped. almost terrified at
her presence.
"See! See." she replied, holding a
bundle out toward me. Zone time l
saw a beautiful spot in the woods and
said to myself that If he died l would
bury him there. but / can't find It'll
can't find til"
.What is it, woman? What have you
got there?"
"Seel See. Don't be afraid. He's
dead. He can't speak or move. Take
himr'
she put a bundle into my arms, and
l cried out and let my musket fall.
1t was the body of a baby about a year
and a half old Dead? Yes-dead
from a cruel bullet which had pierced
its little body and left a great wound,
which looked horrible to me in the dim
light; dead and cold and bathed In
its own blood-dead for hours! And
when | reached ont and touched the
shawl or wrap worn by the mother my
fingers burned at the feel of blood!
Was it your baby? Did you live in
the cabin beyond the thicket?" l asked,
still holding the little corpse.
HE was so happy!' she said as she
patted the little bare head with a
motherly hand. "And l was so hap
by too! He won't ever laugh and
again. will be? I've got to find
that beautiful place and bury him.
haven't 1? And you'll help me? Yes;
/ know you will, for you don't swear
and curse at me-"
She had lost her mind. Think of it.
an insane mother wandering oyer a
bloody battlefield with her dead child
in her arms. She had but one idea
to bury ii in a dell which she had once
visited and remarked its beauty. a dell
in which Federal and Confederate were
doubtless then burying their own dead.
| knew not what to do. l could mot
leave my post. and l did not want her
to go wandering farther. ! was trying
to soothe and quiet the woman when
she suddenly cried out:
"Ah, it's not so dark now. and | can
find the place! I'll go on ahead and
dig the grave, and you follow on with
the baby. Poor baby. He won't know
that he is buried, will he? can find
the place. and you
"Come back. Come backr' 1 called
to her as she fled away in the dark
ness. but she was 200 feet away as
she answered me:
"IIl find the place. Poor. poor
babyr'
And when the relief came / told the
story and pointed to the bundle rest
ing on the ground beside me.
GOD pity herr. whispered the SER
geant as he lifted his car
God pity her." echoed all the 9TH
ers as they stood uncovered around the
poor little corpse.
Time meant human lives that night.
Grant was moving by the flank. Lee
was moving nv tha flank IN match