HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1939-02-23, Page 6PAGE SIX
THE SEAFORTH NEWS
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1939
'The Little
Orphan
aliamemmommommammin
Just then Mr, Greeley went running
hurriedly up the 'spiral stair on his
way to the type room. Three or four
compositors had gone up .ahead of
him. He tad' risen out ,of •sigiht when
we heard a aremendous uproar above
stairs. I ran nip, two 'steps at a time,
while the high 'voice ,of Mr. Greeley
came pouring down upon me like a
dlood, It had a wild, bteering 'tone, He
,stood near the landing, swinging this
arms and swearing like a boy just
learning how. In the middle of the
once immaculate shirt bosom was a
big, yellow splash. Something had
fallen on 'him and spattered as it
struck. We stood well out of range,
looking at it, undeniably the stain of
nicotine. In a voice that was no en-
couragement to confession he dared
"the drooling idiot" to declare him-
self. In a moment he opened his waist
coat and surveyed the damage.
"Look at that!" he went on, com-
plainingly. "Ughl The reeking, filthy,
slobbering idiot! I'd rather be slain
with the jawbone of an ass."
"You'll have to get another shirt,"
said the pressman, who stood near.
"You can't go to Washington with
such a breast pin."
"I'd breast pin !him if I knew who
he was," said the editor.
A ,number of us followed him down
stairs and a young man went tilt the
Bowery :for a new shirt. When it
came the Printer took off the soiled
garment, Enging it into a corner, an'd'.
S .helped him to put himself in proper
fettle again, This finished, he ran.
away 'hurriedly, with his .carpet bag,
and I missed the opportunity I want-
ed for a .brief talk with him.
CHAPTER XXXIX
My regiment 'left 'New York by
night in a Hare of torch and rocket.
The streets were lined with crowds
now hardened to the sound •of fife and
drum and the pomp of military prep-
aration. I had a very high and mighty
feeling in rhe that wore away in the
discomfort of travel, For hours after
the train started we sang and told
stories, and ate peanuts and pulled
and hauled at each other in a cloud of
tobacco smoke. The train was side-
tracked here and there, and dragged
along at a slow pace. Young men
With no appreciation,, as it seemed 'to
me, of the sad biusiness' we were off
upon, went roystering tip and down
the aisles, drinking out of bottles and
.chasing around the train as `it' halted.'
These ,revelers grew quiet as ,the night
wore 'on, The "boys began to close
their eyes and tie back for rest. Some
lay in the '
their 'heads
upon their
'knapsacks The air grew dhilly and
soon I could hear them snoring all
about me and the 'chatter of frogs in
the near .marshes. I closed my ''eyes
and vainly ,courted .sleep. A great
sadness had damn holed .of me. I had at -
ready given atio any life for my coun-
try—I was oifly going away now to
get as dear a price for it as possible in
the Ibioad of its enemies. When and'
where would it be taken I wondered.
The 'fear had mostly gone .out "of ane
in days and. nights of -solemn thinking.
The feeling II had, with its flavor 'of
religion, is what has made the volun-
teer the mighty soldier he has ever
been, I take it, .since Naseby and Mar-
ston Moor. The soul is the great Cap-
tain, .and with a just quarrel it will
'warm its sword in the enemy, how-
ever he may be trained to ;th'rus't and
parry. In my sa'crific•e. there was but
one reservation—I hoped I should not
be horribly cut with a 'sward or bay-
onet. I had written a long Netter to
Hope, who Was yet at Leipsic. I.
wondered if she would -care what .be-
came .of
e-came.of me, I got a sense of .comfort
thinking I 'would show her that I was
no coward, with all my littleness, I
'had not 'been able to write to Uncle
Bb or to my ether or mother in any
serious tone of mr,feeiing .ip this ent-
erprise. I had treated it as a ;kind of
Holiday, 'from which I :should' return
shortly to visit them..
All about me seemed to, be sleeping
-some of them were talking in their
dreams, As it 'grew light, one after
another rase and stretched 'himself,
rousing his seat •companion. The train
halted: a man shot a musket .voice in
at the car door. It was loaded with the
many syllables of Annapolis Junction,
We were pouring out of the train
shortly, to bivouac for breakfast in
the depot yard. So I began the life of
a soldier, and 'hate it ended with me
many have read in better books than
this, ,but ,trey 'story of it is 'here and
only here,
We went into camp there on the
lonely flats of east' Maryland 'for a day
or two, as we supposed, 'hut really .for
quite two weeks. In Nhe long delay
b.ta+t followed, any way traversed the
dead levels of routine. When South-
ern sympathy had ceased to wreak its
wrath upon the railroads from Balti-
more 'we pushed on to Washington.
There I gat letters from Uncle Eb
and Elizabeth 'Brower, The former I
have now in my box of
trews re —
Y u s a
torn and ,faded remnant of that dark
period
"Dear Sir," it said '(the always •wrote
me in this formal manner), "I take
my pen in hand to lett you know 'that
we are all wel. also that we was sorry
you could' not come hon: They took
on terribul. Hope she wrote a letter,
Said she had not herd from you. also
that somebody Wrote to ther you was
going to be married. You had oughter
write her a better, Ba"lll- Looks tb me
so you haint used her right. Shes a
coanin:'hom i'n'Jolly. Sewed' corn 'today
in the 'gandin. David • is csff !byin ,caul.
I hope Gad will take •care uv you,
boy, ao good by from
Yours truly, Eben Holden."
II wrote immediately to Uncle Eib
and told him of the letters 2 had sent
to Hope, and of my effort to see her.
Late in -May, after 'Virginia had se-
ceded, some 'thirty thousand of us
were sent over to the south side of the
Potomac, where for weeks we 'tore
the 'flowery fields, lining the shore
with long entrenchments.
Meantime I wrote three letters to
Mr. Greeley, and had the satisfaction
of seeing 'them in the Tribune. I took
much interest in the camp drill, and
'before we crossed the river I had
been raised to the rank of 'first'lieut-
enant, Every •clay we were looking 'for
the big army of Beauregard, camping
below Centreville, some thirty miles
south. Almost every night a nervous
picket set the camp in an uproar 'by
challenging a phantom of 'his imag-
ination. We were all impatient as
hound's in leash. Since they would not
cone up and give us battle we wanted
to be off and 'have it out with 'them.
And ,the people were tired 'of delay.
guAt p.o2u2
that He's YOUR BOY!
ND, while we're still in a fanciful mood, let's
suppose he has suddenly become seriously ill—
Then, imagine yourself to be in financial difficulties
—your income, never more than $900.00 a year, has
ceased altogether because the factory has shut down
temporarily.
You think your little boy may be dying—the doctor
orders you to rush with him to the Hospital for Sick
Children — you Learn it's Pneumonia of the most
serious type — that serums alone will cost over $400.00,
to say nothing of the special graduate nursing and
expert medical attention required, nor of the cost of
hospitalization itself.
Could you be turned away because of this? There
is only one answer to this question. It has been the
answer of the Hospital for Sick Children for 63 years—
a youngster's real need for hospital care and medical
attention is the only ticket of admission required.
Race, creed or financial circumstances are not consid-
ered. We know the people of Ontario want it that
way.
This Hospital has met every emergency which has
developed during the 63 years of its existence. It is
famous throughout the civilized world for the success
and efficiency of its medical and nursing staffs and
for the low cost at which it is operated.
And who pays for this humanitarian work? The
doctors give their time absolutely free. The Ontario
Government pays 60c per patient per day and the
patient or the patient's municipality pays $1.7$ on the
same basis. That leaves over $1.00 per patient per day
of bare cost for which we must appeal -annually to'
humane and generous • citizens. This Hospital does
NOT share in the funds collected by the Federation
for Community Service because patients are admitted
from all over Ontario.
This year, over $83,000.00 is needed. That means
over ten thousand donations if they were to average
$8.00 each ---or over twenty thousand averaging .$4.00.
Certainly, a staggering total! So, please make your
gift as large as you possibly can. If you cannot afford
more—remember that even a dollar bill helps pay
for the care of somebody's baby.
Kindly mail your donation to the Appeal Secretary,
67 College Street, Toronto. We cannot afford to use'
any of our much-needed revenue for canvassers or other
organized effort to collect money.
Y° HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN
67 COLLEGE STREET, TORONTO.
The cry of '.'ste' .boyl" was ringing all
over the north, They wanted to cut
ins looseand 'be through with daily-.
Szag•
Well, one night the order' came; we
were to go 'south in the morning--
tl •ie'ty„t'housand .of Ifs, and .put an end
to the war: We did not get, away until
afternoon=i
t was the 116th �
I6 h of !July.
When we were off, horse and foot, so•.
that I could see miles of the blue col-
umn before and 'behind .nre, I felt ser-•
ry 'for the mistaken ;South. 0,n the ,ear --
ening of the a 18'Nli :.
g I our camp .firesan
•either sidle of the pike at Centreville
glowed like the ltg1lts of a city. We
knew She enemy was near .and began
to' feel a tightening of the nerves. I'
wrote a letter to the folks at home for
post mortem delivery, ,and put it into
my trousers' pocket. •A friend in my
company ,called me aside after mess.
5'Feel of +that," he said, laying his
hand an a full breast.
"Feathers! he whispered signifi-
cantly. "'Balls can't go through 'eon,
ye know. Better'n a steel 'breastplate.
Want 'soiree?'"
"Don't 'know but I do," said I.
We went up into his tept, 'where he
had a 'little sack 'full, and ,put a good
wad of them 'between my two shirts.
"I hate the idee o' thein' gait 'a the
heart," he said. "That's too awful."
I nodded my assent.
"Shouldn't like t' have a ball in my
lungs, either," he- added, " 'Tain't ne-
cessary for a mean t' die if the can -Only
breathe. If a man gists his leg shot off
an' don't lose his tread an' keeps
drawin' his 'breath right along smooth
an even, I 'don't see why he can't live,"
Taps 'sounded. We went asleep with
our 'hoots on, bit nothing !happened.
Three ,days and nights we waited.
Some 'called it a farce, some swore,
some talked of going •horne, I went
about quietly, my bosom under its
pad of feathers. Phe third 'day .an or-
der tame from headquarters. We were
to break 'camp at one thirty. in .the
morning and go down the pike .after
Beauregard.. In the dead Of the night
the half'drums sounded. I rose, half asleep
and heard the long roll far and near.
I
shivered in the cold night air as I
made ready, the boys about me buckl-
ed on knapsacks, shouldered their
r1Hes, and fell into line. Muffled in
darkness 't'here was an odd :silence in
the great caravan forming rapidly and
waiting for the word' to move. At each
command to :move forward I could
bear only the rub of leather, the click,
click of rifle rings, the stir of the stub-
ble, the snorting of horses, When we
had marched an tour or so 'I could
hear the .faint rumble of wagons far
in the rear. As I tante high on a hill
tap, in the bending .column, the moon-
light fell upon a league of' bayonets
shining above a cloud of dust in thevalley—a splendid picture, fading into
starkness and mystery. At dawn we
;passed a bridge and 'halted some three
minutes for a bite. After a little march
we left the turhp5lke, with Hun'ter's
'column bearing westward on a cross
road that led as into thick woods. As
the sunlight sanknin the 'high tree
tops the first 'great 'battle •af the war
began, Away 'to the left of us a can-
non shook the earth, hurling itsboom
into the still :air. The sound rushed ov-
er .us, rattling in the timber ,like a 'fall
of rocks. Something: went quivering
in me. It seemed as if my vitals had
gone into a •big 'lump of jelly that
trembled every step I took, We quick-
ened our pace; we fretted, we com-
plained. The weariness went out of
our legs' some wanted to run, The
men before and 'behind us were
shouting hotly, ''Run, boys! rnml
The cannon roar was now continuous.
We could feel the 'quake of it. When
we came over a low ridge, in the open
we could .see the smoke •of battle in
the valley we were to break into 'cons -
of smoke leaped out' of the far thick-
ets, .left of us, as cannon roared. Going
at double 'quick we 'began loosening
'blankets .and haversacks, tossing them
into heaps along the line of maroh,
without halting. In 'half an hour we
stood waiting in battalions. the left
;flank of the enemy in front: We were
to •oharge at a run. Half way across
the alley we were to 'break into com-
panies, and, advancing, spread uhto
platoons Mid Squad's, and art last into
line of skirmishers, 'lying down for
'between 'rushes.
"Forward!" was the order, ant we
were off, cheering as we ram. 0, itt was
a .grand sight! our colors flying, -Ourwhole •front 'moving dike a 'blue wave
on a green immeasurable sea. And it
had a voice like that of many waters,
Out of the woods ahead ,of us came a'
lightning flash. A ring of smoke reel-
ed upward. Then came a deafening
crash of thunders ---one capon another
,and the scream of s'hel'ls overhead.
Something stabbed into our column
right beside .me. Many went.!headlong,
crying out as they fe'il'..Swdd'enly-the
colors seemed to halt,apd sway ;like a'
tree top in the wind Then down they
wen tl—squad and colors—and we
spread to pass them. At. the !Didier we
'halted and laid down 'and fired volley
after volley at the grey coats in the
edge the ,thicket. A'bullet 'struck.in
the grass 'ahead of me, throwing a bit
PROFESSIONAL CARDS
Medical
SEAFORTH CLINIC
Dr. E. A. McMaster, , M:B„ Gradu-
ate of University of Toeonto;
I D. Geluh cure
'Grad-
uate of 'Dalhousie University Halifax.
The Clinic is hilly equipped with
complete and modern x-ray and other
up-t'o-date• diagnostic and thereuptie'
equipment.
Dr.
Margaret K. Campbell, M.D.,
L A B.P., Specialist in Diseases in
infants and Children, will be at the
Clinic last Thursday in every month
from 3 to 6 p.m.
Dr. F. J. R. Forster, Specialist in
Diseases of the Ear, Eye, Nose and
Throat, will be at the Clinic the first
Tuesday in every month from 4 to
6 .p.m.
Free well -baby clinic,.. will be held
on the second and last Thursday in.
every month from 1 to 2 p.m.
W. C. SPROAT, M.D., F.A.C.'S.
Surgery
Phone 90-W.5Office John St., Seaforth
DR. H. HUGH ROSS, Physician
and Surgeon, Late of London Hos-
pital, London, England: Special at-
tention to diseases - ofthe eye, ear,
nose and throat. Ofifice. and •r,es'idence
behind Dominion Bank. Office Phone
No. 5; Residence Phone 104.
DR, F. J. BURROWS, Office Main
St., Seaforth, over Dominion Bank.
Hours 2'5 and 7 to 8 p.m. and by ap-
pointment. Residence, .Goderich St.,
two doors west of United Church.
Phone 416.
DR. F. J. R. FORST!ER Eye
Ear, Nose and Throat. Graduate in
Medicine, University of Toronto 1897.
Late Assistant New York 'Ophthal-
mic and Aural Institute, Moorefield's
Eye, and Golden Square throat hospi-
tals, London. At Commercial Hotel,
Seaforth, third Wednesday in each
month from 1.30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Auctioneer,
GEORGE ELLIOTT, Licensed
Auctioneer for the County of Huron,
Arrangements can be made for Sale
Date at The .Seaforth News. Charges
anoderate and satisfaction guaranteed
F. W.. AHRENS, Licensed Auc'tiot,
eer for Perth and Huron Counties.
Sales Solicited. Terms on Application.
Farm Stock, chattels and rail estate
prgperty. R. R. No. 4, Mitchell. -
Phone 634 r 6r Apply at this office.
' WATSON &'REID
REAL ESTATE
AND INSURANCE AGENCY
(Successors to• James Watson)
MAIN ST., SEAFORTH, ONT.
All kind's of Insurance risks effect-
ed at lowest . rates in First -Class
Companies.
THE Mc. KILLOP:
Mutual Fire Insurance CO
HEAD OFFICE—SE,AFORTH, Ont
OFFICERS
President, Thomas Moylan, Sea-
forth; Vice President, William Knox,
Londesboro; Secretary Treasurer, M.
A. Reid, Seaforth.
AGENTS
F. MCKeroher, Rad, Dublin; John
E. Pepper, RiRI, Bruce'field; E. R. G.
J!ar-rihouth, B'rod'hagen; James Watt,.
Blyth; C. F. Hewitt, Kincardine,
Wm. Yeo, Holmesville.
DiRECTORS
Alex, Broadfoot, Seaforth No. 3;
James S+holdice, Walton; Wm. Knox,,
Londesboro; Georgie Leonhardt,
Bornholm No. 1; Frank McGregor,
Olinton No. 5; James Connolly, God.
erich; Alex Mc'Ewing, Myth No. 1;
Thomas Moylan, Seaforth No. 5;
Wm. R. Archibald, Seaiforth No. 4.
Parties desirous to effect insurance
or transact other business, will be
promptly attended to by applications
to any of the above named officers
addressed to their respective post-
offices.
of dirt into any eyes. Another 'brushed
my ,hat off and I 'heard a wailing death
yet behind me. The .colonel rode up
wag'in'g a sword,
"Get up an' charge!" the shouted.
On we went, cheering loudly, firing,
es we ram. •,Bullets ,went by me hissing
in my ears,,and I'kept trying to dodge
them. We dropped 'again 'fat on our
faces.
A squadron of black -horse cavalry
came rushing out of the woods at us,
the riders yelling .as they waived 'their
swords. Fortunately we' had not time
to rise. A. •man near me tried to get
tip.