The Huron News-Record, 1892-04-06, Page 7alarm Ne us cord
i,69 a Yestr-V,,20 in Aeraeca.
TIredaegcllaTT' April 641), *59.*,
ORMIN .OF ALL, FOOLS'
DAY.
SWIM; TIII'7' FOOL$ NOR TIlE %1'ISx
NEN, 4AN 139ILVIE IT;
Mueh,curiosit... a
y .bee been expressed ,°
at di,l1'ernut tithes as to the Origin of
All fool' D*y, and the beginning
ii
a mystery, but it is certainly
'ver auoia t, as • we. find oonjeotursa.
about iXin the earliest of printed
,magazines, The Gentleman's Mag-
aziue for July. 1793, suggests that -it
td4Xx�a an allusion to the mockery
of; Oitrisk by His persecutors.
Ep'sCztien Correete"1,.
A aatell named Enr'sont.so. they ways
(lot off a party thing ane day,
About a ebap—1 dont ,know 'who-
' Who }'buildedbettet'tgaa he knew."
In spit* of glow, now, Iowan;
He eves `built on a Gurus plan,
Acoordln' to a i rnoga aloe
Thet don't at all resemble met
In spite of all that I can de
I've builded worsen than I knew.
'Another old authority says that
,loAh-e•nt the. clove out of the ark
`dn,' that day on a fool's errand.
"Poor Robin's Almanac" for 1760
eavi :—
The'let,of April, some do say,
set apart for All Fools' laity ;
But why the people Dell it en
Nor k nor they thernselvee do know.
The Hiudoos celebrate the ter.
Valuation of 'their feast of Hull,
larch 31,'in a similar manner, the
prevailingides being to send friends
w,i:th messges fancy to personages or"
individuals sure to be absent.
Swift, in. his journal to Steele
coder March 31, 1713, writes about
`"u lie for the morrow" which Dr.
Arbuthnot, Lady Maahem and him-
eelf had been contriving. This
?shame was to circulate a report
that one Noble, hanged a few days
before, had come to life again, and
was in the Sheriff's hands at the
"Black Swats" in Holborn. Swift
writes later that the idea was not
sucgeesfully carried. This is pro-
bably the earliest allusion to fool-
ing.
D. Goldsmith, in the "Vicar of
Wakefield," says of the rustics that
they "showed their wit on the 1st
of April."
Servant girls would send a swain
to the bookseller's for a "History of.
Eve's Grandmother," to the chemist
for a little pigeon's milk or to the
opbbler's for some, strap oil.: In
the last case the messenger was apt
to get a hearty taste of the article
on his shoulders which lingered in
his memory.
SCOTCH PLEASANTRIES.
It used tobe said that what com•
pound is to simple additition so is
Scotch to English April fooling.
The excursions of the canny Soot in
that line are often the, result of
rofo.p d labor and forethought.
ag No. 1, we shall say, intends
to be -fool' asiznple Andrew, so sends
him with a letter to a friend two
•ilea distant, professedly desiring
bme valuable information, but
robably containing the couplet:—
This is the that clay of April.
Hunt.the gowk another mile.
i'Wag No. 2 grass the idea readily,
fd gravely tells poor Andrew that
9 is "quite unable," &c,, but he'll
ive him a note to another man
mile or so further on who will ac•
�A,
ommodate him.
4'And so the unfortunate" wight
'fill keep this up till some kind soul
ligh.tens.lea,m,.,�.ma w.• un _...
The word "gowk" or "gawk"
't►ns properly a "cuckoo."
n France they indulge in poissons
vril, and did so at an earlier date
in England. It is told that
nois, Duke of Lorraine, and his
escaped from captivity atNantes
'April. 1. Dread as peasants
started off boldly to pans the
iea. Some one perceiving their
tity, ran ahead to warn the
de. They laughed outright,
ver, and shouted knowingly,
i1 fool !" So the supposed
`fits esoaped easily.
teen, a Sweedish traveller of
It century, says : "We set
e n April 1, but the wind made
;tl ;;`fools of us, for we were oblig•
stunt beforeShagen."
he Sunday and Monday be-
fo , `=nt the Lisbonese are wont to
et •; el freely the ' ancient and
hi?;+ esteemed .privilege of fool.
t is thought vastly funny
the o throw water or a handful of
o; ;t. ;.r in the face of any one pass
To do both raises the author
highest pinnacle of fame.
' ,'Et( "Myrtle Navy" plug correctly
represents the whole plan upon which its
Ines facture is conducted. There is not
a frrbtionel part of a cern expended upon
`Wrapped
mere appearance. It fi neither
in. tin foil nor worked into
Macy ihopes, nor put in fanny oases, nor
,dbjeot'to any kind of expense merely to
the eye or captivate the fancy,
he `' tnufecturere rightly believed that
tobacco was not purchased for ornament,
but for smoking, and therefore all ex.
er n✓ gene expense was avofded and added
to• the quality of the tobacco. the pub -
lid have testified in its ease that they
,refer Pealing their money for a high
quality' ef_article than for ornament out
apiece.
frig}
tq:t.
aa -II was reported from Brussel.,
tint., `yesterday that McIntosh &
lleTsggart, private bankers there,
f18ct suspended.
AT HOmE AND ABROAD.
l?hysiclans, traveller., •pioneers, set-
, invalids, and all clams of people
of stay degree, testify to the medicinal
d
onto virtues of Burdock Blood Bit -
we, the Meet popular and effective med-
s eXtiint, tl Oates all diseases of the
stpptstlh,• liver, bowels and bleed.
1 wan a young and lazy lout,
But bad my palace all planned out;
Its beauties never can be told—
Rosewood, mahogerny an' gold;
It was a scrumptious sight to see
With all its gilt an' filagree,
But my real house scarce stops the rain,'
An' basun old hat in the pane;
IAid the best that I could do,
But builded worser than I kuew.
I used to build my stately ships
Biu' Munch 'ern gran'ly from the slips,
Au' in my dreams did I Behold
Their freight of ivery an' gold.
Oh, they swap' gran'ly roue' the horn
An' rode the ocean like a swan;
But the real ship I set afloat
Was nothing but a leaky boat,
Without the scantest thread er sail—
I bele it with an of tin pail;
But for a flshin' smack 'twill do,
I builded worser than I knew.
Yes, Mr. Em'son, very few
Have builded bettor than they knew;
'Tis ten to one, howe'er we watch,
We'll make a buugle,an' a botch.
It ain't because I don't know how;
To set the beams from stern to bdw,
But my han' trembles so, I,vum,
I cannot got the timbers plumb;
An' so it is, my life all through,
l've builded worser than I knew.
—)dam Walter Foss.
CUPID IN CORPS BADGE.
By Captain King,
The guns had ceased their angry growl.
The last echoes among the rocks in Waynes-
boro' Gap had died away. Lee, with his
war -worn divisiorfs, beaten back from the
crest at Gettysburg, yet dauntless and defi-
ant, had turned on his pursuers at the Poto-
mac. A 'great and desperate battle had
been fought—three days of fierce and deter-
mined grapple in the hot July sunshine,
and the South fell back only when it could
afford to lose no more. With grim delib-
eration the men in dusty gray withdrew to-
wards the mountain passes to the south-
west. The sunshine had turned to pouring
rain ; the dust clouds that had heralded
the coming. host on the Chambersburg pike
gave way to low -hanging mist wreaths all
along the range. We had won a glorious
victory, but there was little elation. Who
end lifeless form •"Perhaps this is what.
he wanted you to take," Aud Ile hold ,out
a little pauket of letters tied• with, a faded
ribbon,
"No, he's a 'Bucktail'; said he lived near
here.
"Ie there anything to chow what his
name was, Lovel "' asked Sidney of the
sergeant.
'Macken this does,'air," was the answer,
as the Carolinian held out a little "house-
wife" such as so many of our soldiers
brought from the loving hands at home.
"Corporal Abner Beacroft, Company—,
laOth Pennsylvania, •Fairview Farm, Aflame
Co., Pe."
"Why, this is Adams County," said the
young colonel. "The young fellow must
have dropped close to home."
"No closer than many a' fellow in my
regiment has done," said a Virginia cap-
tain, with a sigh, as ho glarf*d back to the
skirt of woods through which Broaken-
borough's men had fought their way.
"Sometimes I think men fight harder with-
in sight of home than anywhere, else. The
Lord knows those Yanks have given us a
tussle to -day. What aro you going to do
with the boy, Sidney ? He isn't big enough
to count as a prisoner."
This touches our little drummer in a sore
spot. It is bad enough to be captured, but
it is un outrage to be looked upon as of no
account, The blue eyes enap vengefully
and the chubby little face flushes even
through the coating of dirt and, powder
black. He looks up at the tall Virginian
with a frown that makes Sidney laugh.
"Steady there, Garnett," he chuckles,
Puck will chal:euge you to single combat
if you don't watch out. Would you fight
him, sonny ?"
"You bet I would," is the prompt and
vindictive answer. "He wouldn't be the
first Reb I'd fought either."
This is too much • even tor battle -worn
soldiers. The little Yank's spirited speech
provokes a shout of laughter, but the sud-
den appearance of a staff officer puts a stop
to the fun just in time to save the boy from
a breakdown. Hunger, fatigue, excitement
—all are tugging at his heart strings, and
to be laughed at is the last drop in his cup
of sorrow. Tho tears stand in the wrathful
blue eyes and threaten to boil over. The
little fists are clenched. He is just ready
to throw himself on the ground and burst
forth into indignant protest, "They
wouldn't dare to fool with me this way if I
had a squad of the Twenty -Fourth here,"
when Sidney comes to the rescue.
"You're all right, lad," he says, laughing,
"you're a little man if you are ced the wrong
side. Now, this is my prisoner, gentlemen,
and he won't stand fooling, either. Come
on, Johnny. No !. What is your name?"
ever triumphed at such a cost? Regiments "My name's Peters." •
that went cheering into the fight on the first "Johnny Peters ?"
of July, full five hundred strong, set forth "What then? What's our first name?"
on the sullen pursuit with but a string ofY
ribbons to represent their flag and five score
nien to speak for the hundreds who were
gone. In two hours' fighting along the
Seminary slopes a brigade of Western boys,
fellows who wore the red ball of the First
Division, First Corps, on their black slouch
hats or forage caps, had strewn the fields
with the. ,dead and dying of Archer's and
Pettigrew's and Davis' brigades; had lugged
away the guns of their precious battery
from the very teeth of the foe, giving in,
exchange the bodies of more than a third
of their own thinned numbers. .A Badger',
regiment left 40 per cent. of its membership,
along the bloody backward trail. Its com-
rade in battle, a Wolverine battalion from,
across the lake, fought its way out along-'
side, bringing only 133 of the 490 it threw
in. A gallant young brigade commander,
when at last the gray lines crowned the
ridge and the blue fell back through the
smoke -wreathed town, turned in his saddle
and looked over the mile -wide belt of fields
through which his Carolinians had fought
their way, looked over the windrows of
dead and dying, the blue and; the gray in-
...termingled in the last long sleep, and then
across the mile wide valley to the east
where'oncoagain the thin blue lines were
sturdily forming under the stars and stripes.
"We've wasted a fortune 'in winning a fig,"
he said, as he threw the reins on the neck
of his exhausted horse. "Hello ! Sidney,
what you got there ?"
"Don't know, colonel," laughed a leiuten-
ant iu a new gray uniform, "blessed if I
can tell just what it is myself, Where'd
you come from, sonny ?" And the young
fellow mopped his sun -blistered face and
looked down quizzically at an odd little
figure in a suit of blue full two sizes too
big for the wearer, a little figure surmount-
ed by a huge forage -cap cut down as to cir-
cumference so as to fit a six -and -a -half
head, but otherwise uncur•tailed as to its
dimensions—a cap whose dusty top was
decorated with a red sphere of the First
Division, and from beneath whose
leather' visor there peered forth a
chubby, freckled, dust -begrimed face
with a pair of moist blue eyes, and com-
pressed lips that had begun to quiver
piteously about the corners despite every
effort of the diminutive patriot to show no
fear in the hands of his captors. Barely
four feet four 'stood this pigmy hero in his
worn brogans. He was well nigh swal-
lowed up in the big gray blanket rolled
over one shoulder, and the drumsticks, still
clutched in a dirty brown hand, seemed
longer than his sturdy little legs. Under-
neath the shattered axle 'of a gun carriage
a yard or so away lay what was left of
his drum, the batter head rent from rim to
rim, the snares dangling in the dust. Close
at hand, half reclining on the splinter bar
of the limber, a corporal of infantry had
just gasped his life away, the blood from a
gaping wound in his side mingling with the
water now gurgling from the mouth of tine
canteen the little druminer had dropped
when lifted to his feet. •
"That your brother, youngster ?" con-
tinued Lieut. Sidney, indicating the dead
soldier.
A shake of the head was the only reply.
"Any relation at all ?"
"No."
"How'd you come to stay by him ?
Wasn't that your regiment we were flghting
right here ?"
"He begged for water," said the boy,
with a gnlp at the throat that told the
effort it cost him to keep "a stiff upper lip."
"Then ho grabbed my hand and wanted me
to do something for him. I couldn't get
away."
"Belong to your regiment ?" asked a ser-
geant, who had been bendy g over the limp
laughs Sidney, showing all his handsome
teeth and evidently enjoying the tun of
having this broth of a boy to amuse him
after the heat and burden of the day. An
aide-de-camp from the division commander
is just explaining the,,lay of the land to the
south of the old Moravian Seminary to the
colonel._, It is evident that the command is
about to move into a new position farther
to the front. A sergeant of Sidney's com-
pany steps up at the moment, saluting his
young officer.
"Lieutenant, I'm sorry, sir, but the sur-
geon says I must go to the rear, I cannot
carry a gun." And half proudly, half pain-
fully he points to his heavily bandaged
arm.
"Then here, Burrows, you take this
youngster with you. Don't turn him over
among the prisoners. You'll find my bov
Jack somewhere in the woods yonder. Tell
him I say to cook you both a gond supper.
He's got chickens enough for a dozen, I
reckon. Hungry, Cupid ?"
Tho boy looks up with quick wonder-
ment.
"How'd you .know ^that was my name ?"
•"I didn't; I just reckoned. You looked
like it. If you were only divested of the
dirt and those clothes," he adds laughingly
to himself.
"Well, that's what our fellows call me,"
says Peters. "And I am hungry, I'n1 damn
hungry."
"Cupid, you shouldn't say damn even to
a reb," laughs Sidney. "What would your
mother think of such language?"
"Ain't got any. Father's dead, too."
"And so you 'listed to put down this un-
holy rebellion, did you ? Well, run along
now and get something to eat. I'll be your
daddy for the time being."
Cupid picks up the shell of his drum, re-
gards it ruefully a moment, then dragging
out n handspike he deliberately smashes
the painted maple. "Tain't no good to the
any longer, but you fellers can't have it,"
he says, peering out from under the cap
visor at the pale face of the sergeant.
"Come on, you young whelp," growls that
official. "What do you mean by showing
so little respect to an officer ? Don't you
salute your own ?"
"Course I do, but I ain't saluting none
o' yours, if that's what you want to know."
"The — you're not ! I've a mind to
teach you better manners. Now you up
and salute the lientenaht ofi I'll baste you."
"I won't," says Cupid, sturdily. "You "A wounded officer did you say ? Oh, can
can't make me give aid and comfort to thelyou tell us anything about the battle and
enemy." This provokes another roar ofjwho were killed? He might know soind'
laughter, both the sergeant and Mr. Sidney thing'about Abner, uncle."
joining in. The latter is scrawling a few! Cupid's heart weut up in his throat with
lines in pencil at the moment, but he a sudden bound.
catches the drift of the conversation. "Abner who ?" lie stammered.
"Now leave him alone, Burrows," he "Abner Beacroft, my cousin ; he's in the
says, "the boy's all right. .Just give him 'Bucktails.' Did you know him ?"
his supper and let him go to ale(p. Poor "No -o," stammered the boy, though the
little rat I" i face of the dying corporal flashed upon his
"I won't give my parole not to escape," memory, and all on a sudden he realized
truculently proclaims Cupid, whereat thane that it could be no other than their Abner,
that this most be Fairview farm. Yet how
Bence and faith, end the little roan's heart
tank in his breast. Madly he longed to
breslt sway, eosz►ehow, and steal through
the guarded linea to tell Gen. Meath) sU
about the enemy's plane ; but *ttempt, was
neeleae., rho Carolina sergeant laughingly,
but decidedly, told him he was thereto stay
and, stay he must until they were ready to
march. Finally, Mr. Sidney rode in for e
moment and bade Jake fetch him some sof,
fee at once, and while he was waiting fell
sound asleep under the tree, and only twen•
ty minutes' sheep did the young fellow gel
on that hot afternoon of July the 3rd, for,
with tremendous bellow, the cannonade be.
gan which prefaced for two hours the grand
final assault on the union center. Up he
sprang, dashed some cool water over his
weary head,' drained a cup of coffee, swung
into saddle and then caught sight of his
tiny captive,
"Hello ! Cupid, pack your traps and be
all ready. We start for Washington in two
hours," he laughed, then rode blithely away
towards the low heights where the shells
were now loudly crashing.
The next time Cupid naw him was just M
nightfall three days after when, with tears
streaming down his black face,. Jake led the
little fellow away from the muddy, crowded
mountain road into a patch of dripping
woods, and there under a rude brush shel-
ter lay Lieut. Sidney, unconscious of hie
surroundings, bleeding from a gash in the
head, and shot through and through the
shoulder.
"We've got to leave him," moaned a
Hampton Legion trooper. "The very last
of the army's going by now, and we'll be
gobbled if we stay. There's Yankeecavalry
all around us at this moment. The whole
country back toward Gettysburg ie ono big
hospital. You're sure to find surgeons and
nurses, Jake, and this little fellow'll help
you, won't you, Yank ?"
And Cupid nodded his head.
.lead'
*Non.tieat with. both heeds. Cupid
barely time to scud back to the woods to
search in Lieut. Sidney's coat pocket and
to and' jttet where they :had .boon rtftowed
the first day of the fight• the little packet
of letters and peer Abner Beacrott's bleed-
utslned "heuse.wife," Theo he hid in the
roomy breast of his blouse, and when the
wagon carne was all ready to help lift his
eonsoless charge into its straw -covered
depths. The girl was the first to spring to
the ground, and at sight of the bloodless
face and the gray uniform she turned very.
white. Her uncle was the first to break
the silence.
"Why, dang my akin, it's a Reb 1 Here,
you," he turned fiercely on the boy, "how
could ho have been talkiug with my son ?"
"We was prisoners, lots of ue," saki
Cupid, stoutly. The 'Bucktails' was in
Stone's brigade and they went in 'longside
of us. We're the Iron Brigade," he ex•
plainod, proudly, as though lie thought all
the world must know their faine.
"Sure he knew Abner ?" again queried
old Beacroft, suspiciously.
"Oh, uncle, how can you doubt it?" cried
the girl eagerly, impulsively. "Tell him
again what you heard frim say," she said to
Cupid.
"Abner Beacroft, corporal company some-
thing, 1d0fh Pennsylvania, Fairview farm,
Adams County," said Cupid, sturdily. "He
had it on a little needle case, too. I seen
it."
"The very one I made him, uncle," cried
the girl, hor eyes filling, her fair face gttly-
ering. "Oh, do get this gentleman to the
house and.send Jerry for Dr. Paine."
And so, four days afterwards, when con-
sciousness returned to Lieut. Fred Sidney,
he found himself lying in an old-fashioned
four-poster bed, in ,a clean .white room,
through whose windows the soft summer
air was wafting the fragrance of rose and
honeysuckle. A round, sunburt, freckled
That night fever set ip, and the young face that he dimly remembered seeing be
officer tossed in delirium. All night the fore was grinning at him from over the
rain pattered down on this lonely bivouac: footboard, and the only familiar sight. was
Other sounds had died away, though once Jake's black head, the only familiar sound
or twice Cupid thought he heard the crack Jake's joyous blubber. ,"'My Lawd, Marsr
of whips and the expletives of the drivers Fred, I done thought you'd never come seemed to care little for such work. The
as they urged their wearied battery horses round." And then Dr. Paine came in and lieutenant had raised his cap at sight of her
up the dismal road. They were well over smiled benignly on his patient and told him pale; tear -stained, face and expressed' his
to Waynesboro' Gap, so the boy had learn- that he was a wounded prisoner in the regret at having such duty to perforin. at
ed as he was hustled away with the wagon hands of a Pennsylvania farmer's house- such a time.
train) two days before, and there Jake got hold, and if he were quiet and well-behaved "But I assure you," said she, "there is
orders to wait for his young master. The he might sit in the sunshine in the course not another of your men about the place."
wounded sergeant, no longer able to resist of a fortnight ; meanwhile he was only to
the impulse when he found things going the talk when permitted.
wrong way, had returned to 'his regiment, Then Cupid got into a scrape.
and no one seemed to have time to bother "The boy here says you met Abner Bea -
with a four -foot boy. Cupid was left to his croft the first day of the battle—that he martial and shootin' for all your cock and
own devices and to Jake, He had decided was a prisoner in your hands. Is it so?" bull story about guarding property."
it was time to break away from the train,' And Sidney shook his head. • I "Water your horses before you start,"
hide in the woods until all the Reiss got by' "He was too I" proteste' said the officer, shortly, "and let that boy
alone."
ale,hac.k and, with troubled eyeit old Bear
rroitl met them at the western *anti,
"Mr. Ileacroft," sold he, ",i•neigitbor ot
yonrs,hab informed the provott.t' marshal as.
f>lettyiburg that you have one er more de.
eoatertrhero end my orders art to aeat'oh."
And at that luokleas rncmopt who should
come lunging around from the other side of
the house‘ but Cupid.
"Ili, there ! you young cub witlhtiie First
Corp!. badge, what regiment do you belong
to?" ,hailed the sergeant. "Don't you 'know
you're•liablo to be shot for desertion?"
"Not much I ain't 1" panted the boy,
frowning: and indignant. "I'm on duty
guarding pre—" and then with a gulp he
stepped short. What would happen to his
enemy friend, Mr. Sidney? What would
Miss Ruth say ?
"Guarding.property, are you ?" laughed
the sergeant, hilariously, yet bent on
frightening. the boy. "Where's your ord-
ers, youngstrer? Here you, Jim ; you and
Jones. just search that little scamp. and( see
what papers ho has."
And, despite Cupid's wrathful) protest
and'etruggles, in another minute poer Ab-
ner Beaoroft's blood-stained packet of let-
ters was dragged forth from the inner pec
ket of his blouse and the old farmer gave a<
cry. of recognition and dismay.
"Whoreed you get these? Where's iny
boy?" he cried. And then our little drum-
mer broke clown•utterly.
"He's dead," iso sobbed. "Ile•was-shot
night alongside of us, and gave me these
before he died.. I—couldn't bear to t—ell
—you."
Half an hour later the detachment
mounted, Cupid with it, perched on a farm
horse. He had dried his tears. His lips
were compressed. Ho owed Miss Ruth a
deed of reparation now. She too hadwept
when Joe led his cad old father into the
cool, dark sitting -room and told her the
news of. Abner's fate, but she would weep
more•piteously still,. as Cupid well knew,
were the soldiers to bear away Mr. Sidney
with them. There had been time for her
to guide him to the loft and secrete him iu
its remotest corner. The . search bad been
unsuccessful The troopers themselves
And so he had ordered mount and away.
"Now mind your eye, youngster,. when
we get to Gettysburg," said the sergeant,
"the least you can look for will be court -
when Jake's orders carte,' and. together—Wolverine. "He don't remember not
the black boy and the white—they sat cause he's been knocked on the head.
with Sidney's soldier orderly by the roas-1.1 will though, sure ; you see 11 he don't
side and saw battery after battery, brigade' But whether he did or not makes
v, 'be -
He
"Indeedyou must be kind to• him,"'crena
Miss Burnham. "The poor little fellow
little escaped from his captors just near here.
after brigade of Lee's retiring army go' difference. That was the lever which Surely he cannot he punished fun that I"
"No,not for that," said the officer, sadly,
"hut for failing to report himself to the
nearest command.. It is practically deser-
plunging, plodding by. How stern and sad Cupid had worked to have his wounded
were the war -worn faces, yet how they roof
"Johnny" taken unde`r the farmer's
Lighted with love and hope when that It,would take levers much more powerful'
grave, gray -bearded soldier with the kindly' to move him now, for Fairview farm was tion, Miss Burnham, for lie can give no
reason for staying here..." „,. caeca-,
Again the�lump rose 'up in Cupid s liot
throat.- Again he flushed -at being accused
to think of his being so close to Gen. Lee Burnham, the brown -haired girl With the of so shameful a crime as desertion: Again
that he could touch the spur upon his boot -I "angel face," as Cupid called it, and Ruth
heel ! Then, another day still, the squad -1 Burnham left school in Philadelphia just in
rons of the cavalry covering the retreat time to have the most eventful vacation of
cameo lattering up the winding road, and' her life and to meet her fate in the very last
still no Mars'r Sidney for whom Jake so� way she would have supposed possible
eagerly inquired. "Got his horse shot! when she made that housewife for Cousin
under hint last night," said a brother officer! Abner when he enlisted, in the "Bucktails"
who knew him well. "He'll be along pres-I the summer before. Poor Abner I he had
ently with Gen. Hampton." I been in love with his pretty cousin ever
But when Hampton came bis troopers since he was a boy when, with her mother,
were striving hard to shake off the union' she came summer after summer to the old
cavalry following at their heels, and it was! Adam's County farm, and poor Abne
in the midst of a savage skirmish that & shared the fate of many a country bred 1a
saber whack and a Spencer carbine bullet who has lost his heart to city bred maiden
knocked brave young Sidney out of the sad- Ruth was fond of her good-hea
dle and ho was borne senseless into the earnest, but rather gawky p
woods whore his faithful servant found
eyes reined out of column to look them over, not old Beacroft's property. Every rood of
as they passed him by. Cupid held his the land, every stone of the old house was
breath and gazed with all his eyes. Just' owned by his dead sister's only child. Ruth
Then came sunshine lgatn, an(j %n loot
pursuit the blue jackets, 'trimmed with yel-
low braid and red, troopers and horse artil-
lerymen wore rattling by for hours, and
Cupid, peeriug out from the eastern edge
of the woods, saw the farm people gather.
ed about a cosy old stone homestead well
away from the mountain road. He might
get food and medicine and a surgeon by
appealing to the rushing horsemen on the
one side, and thereby turn Jake's master
over as a prisoner ot war. He might get
food and medicine and perhaps a country
doctor down there among the farms and
not surrender his charge. "He's my pris-
oner now," reasoned Peters, "and I'm re-
sponsible for him." And ■o it happened
that a Pennsylvania farmer, with his hands
deep down in his overalls' pockets, looked
him over in utter amaze -as this urchin in
the bol -Hz, blue suit aceosted him.
,•e got a wounded officer up there
in the v >ods; can't you help a feller ?"
"Who be ye?" was all the granger could
think to say.
"I'm a drummer in the Iron Brigade.'
And then Cupid stopped short in embar-
rassment, for on a euddon a tall, brown -
eyed, brown -haired girl, with what seemed
to him "a real angel face," had stepped
quickly forward and placed herself by the
farmer's side.
is another shout of laughter, and the ser-
geant is shaking with glee as he leads him
away.
That night, worn out with fatigue, the
little drummer slept dreamlessly hour after
hour rolled in a blanket at the foot of a
tree near Willoughby Run. All the next
day and all the next he stayed there among
the wounded and the waggoners,wonderiug,
wondering what could be the upshot of it
all. On every side he heard the wounded
soldiers, even the laughing negro cooks,
talking about how quick Mars'r Bob would
burst through the staggering veil of Yan•
koes on the crest across the low valley n.u,l
go thundering at the gates of Washington.
On every side was the same supreme con:5►i
could ho toll what he knew, that they
would never look on thr'r soldier's face
again. But an idea occurred to him. "He
did, though," he said quickly, then, re-
lapsing into ,vernacular and explanation,
"him that's wounded up in the woods."
"How d'ye know ?" asked then farmer,
auspiciously.
"'Cause I seen him talking to Corporal
Beacroft in the 'Bucktails.' The corporal
said he came fromsFairview farm, Adams
County."
That nettled it. In ten minutes the
horses were bitched and the old man was
lashing them up a stony lane, his son and
the blown -hailed gal hanging on to the
he looked in her sweet face and, bowing,
bore his burden in silence.
"Ready, sergeant?" queried the otlicer, ,
presently.
"All ready, sir."
"Then move on,"
The little troop, started, a soldier riding
beside Cupid and leading his horse. The
lieutenant gazed lo;,gingly back, for Misa
Burnham, covering her face, was sobbing
violently.' The next instant she looked up
deuly, dismay in her eyes, for a
uick step was. heard in the hall and
ut into sthe twilight came a tall, pallid
ung soldier in a suit of gray, at sight of
m the lieutenant's eyes fairly popped
aymate and W
that was all. He knew it w leavhen he fro their sockets.
marched awaydto join,dthe "Bucktails" the "Stop one moment, sir," were the words
previous summer, 'reeving his father and
younger brother Joe to run the farm.
But he had hoped to win a soldier's re-
nown in the great war, to come home with
a commission to lay at his pretty cousin's
feet. She was the only. girl in all the wide
world in his sad eyes., He treasured every
line';she wrote him, and in his sprawling
hand he sent her a page for every word.
Poor, gallant fellow I he was fighting like
h hero when the death blow came, and the
only soul to hear his last sigh, his dying
message to the loved ones at the home-
stead so close at hand, yet new so far
away, was that mite of a Michigan drum-
mer ; and now Cupid dare not tell the
news. -
The armies wore once more south of the
Potomac. All around Gettysburg the
country was one great field hospital, one
great cemetery. Every fairday nowMr.Sid-
ney was carried out oh a lounge into apretty
vine -covered arbor and lay there fc r hours,
watching Ruth Burnham's fair face as she
read aloud to him. Shoat through .the
shoulder he had become in effect a prisoner
of war nn the 6th of July. That wound
was fast healing. No guards surrounded
him. Cupid was the only "Yank" in uni-
form about the premises. But long before
the end of the month Lieut. Sidney, C.S.
A., was doubly a captive, this time pierced
through the heart.
At first he had wondered at the refine
ment of this young farm maiden, as he sup
posed her to be, but little by little he dreN
from her the story of her life—how she
had spent her girlhood in the great city,
coming to the farm with her mother only oc-
casionally in the summer time. Her father
had died when she was a mere child, her
mother three years before,and now when not
a visitor' at Fairview her home was with an
aunt in Philadelphia. Cupid had shown
him Abner's packet and recalled to his
memory the corporal's death on the field.
Already it had cost him many an ugly
twinge. What if she should have given her
heart to her soldier cousin? At least she
wrote to him often, for there was her let-
ters. She, too, questioned him eagerly as
to his recollection of the conversation the
boy declared had taken place. He replied
with truth, yet deceiving, that he could
reinernber no such talk as Cupid described,
though he believed Cupid was right in his
statement that Corporal Beacroft had been
captured by Heth's division. If so, it
would he long before -she could hope to hear
frotn him again.
Just after sunset one lovely evening there
rode in an officer with a dozen troopers at
calm and bfieur;"tlia fellori "$fie evening air.-
"You say that boy must suffer punishment
for desertion because he has no proofs to
Offer that he was on service. I am his
proof, sir."
"Who aro you ?" was the query in re-
sponse.
"I am Lieut. Fred Sidney, of the con-
federate army,. aide-de-camp to Gen. Hath.
I was shot in a skirmish near here and
brought in. by that boy.. I ala his prisoner,
sir."
And then to the amaze of the halted
squad of troopers, Ruth Burnham rushed
to Sidney's side.
"You cannot—you shall not take him,"
she cried. "He is weak, wounded. He is
not tit to go." And, clasped in his arras,
bowing her bonny head upon ,his breast,
she gave way to uncontrollable weeping.
* '* * * * *
Tiro years later, a month after the sur-
render at Appomattox, a number of wound-
ed union soldiers, convalescents, were be-
ing helped ashore at the wharf at Wash-
ington. Among them, with pinched and
pallid face, but with a pair of brave blutn
eyes looking out from under the visor. of
his cap, there limped a little fellow of 14 -
years of • age, carefully assisted by a tall
soldier in faded gray, at which unusual
sight the bystanders gazed with undiagins-
ed curiosity. Presently there buret
through the throng a cavalry captain is
the red sash of the officer of the clay.
"Col, Sidney 7" he exclaimed, cordially
extending his hand.
"Capt. Brainerd?—for whom I was ex-
changed after Gettysburg?"
"The very same. We've been waiting
over an hour. The ladies are here."
How the blood mounted to Sidney's thin,
bronzed. cheek. A dozen strides, a quick
turn to the left around a huge stack of bales
and boxes, and there two faces peered •
through the open doorway of a carriage—
one young, sweet and fair, suffused with
happy blushes. With ono bound Sidney
was at her aide.
"Ruth—darling I" was all lie had time to
whisper. For two or three minutes Capt.
Brainard was busily occupied looking after
the luggage. When next he neared the
carriage the young girl with the lovely face,
with the tear -wet eyes, but with such a
'world of joy in them, had released herself
from Sidney'r clasp, and bending down had
thrown an arm monad the little soldier's
neck and kissed his flushed and astonished
face.
"Now you're our prisoner, Cupid, and we
never mean to let you go."
•