The Atlanta constitution. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, March 15, 1887, Image 1

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

fi mm. fr. i vol. xvm. ATLANTA. GA.. TUESDAY MORNING MARCII 15, 1887 PRICE FIVE CENTS DO YODWANT $100? We cell attention to oar plan for distributing a box fall of presents to oar Mends, described on the last column of page six.of this week’s Issas. We want every subscriber to share In these presents. The plan Is simple. Yon send ns a new sub* Icribcr. Your name is at once written on stag and put In oar box of presents. On April 1, tile box Is shaken and the tag! mixed up, and a Deaunittco draws out a tag. The name on that tag gets tho $100 present. The second tag the $50—and so on till all the presents are taken. Of course every person who sends a subscriber will not get a present, bnt every one will bate ah equal chance. Tho lady who tends one subscriber may get the $100, Soiubodt fltnucLY will. Why not you! Bemei your name goes in once for every subscriber you send, and onee for your own subscription. If you tend live subscribers at one dollar each you get one of our superb pictures free. For fire subscribers at $1.00 each, by adding $1.25, a Watch and chain. For ten subscribers at $1.00 each, and at one time, a watch and chain free. In each cate your name goes In our present box for every name you tend. Now we urge every subscriber to be repre sented In our present box, and to send rw ran waves BAXLYSO as toavold the rath at the end •T vAHcn. Our CnatsTVAS, Nxw Yea* and Fkesxkt Boxes were so popular that we have -decided to have one for March. At this la the last one wo will have, we urge all our subscri bers to get up a club to as to be represented In this. There Is not one of oun 93,000 subscri bers who cannot get ono subscriber—that one subscriber may get yon $100. The box It closed March 31tt,promptly. No names will go Into the box except those tent In during the mouth of March. TWO BRASS BUTTONS. A Story of tho Christian Commission, BjH.A Foltz. In tho sunny corner of my study standi a Quaint, old-fashioned cabinet. While rummag ing aimlessly through its cedar recesses long ago I cumo upon a lot of rellca from tho battle-rield of Gettysburg. There vu a hand- fill or bullets batterod into curious ahapes, a grapesbot and the rusted fragment of a shell cut from tho stump of a tree on the crest of Culp’S Hill. Taking up a musty piece of leath er shaped liko a crescent I poked my finger through a ragged hole In the center. It was the "visor cut from tbecap ot a Pennsylvania volun teer, and tho ragged holo was torn by tho rlfio • ball that pierced his brain. And down In the ccrr.er of a lowor drawer my oyoo foil uptn a scaled envelope. I brushed away tho dust and read upon Its tlmo-:!alncd surface tho inicrlp- Atom 5 Donald Goxdow, Twxnty-xmhth Geoboia, C S. A., July 13,1803—July 13,1871. 1 broke the eesl—rcvorently.not carelessly— and there fell into my hands two brsm buttons. They wero tarnished end spotted with verdigris, for they had been eight yean under ground More they reaohed my cabinet. But still bright on the blackened background ahono the raised ahlcld end the letters C. &A, the initials of an empty name, tho heraldry of e loot cause. No commonplace rellca, these. The bnttonaJud a Story. In the spring of 18831 ins the young pastor of a new bnt rapidly growing mission In New York city. Scarcely e day that bronght its dried budget of battle new. but brought be- light be reavement to some one who had the right to look to me for comfort and protection. Yet I longed with the longing of yonth for work that was nearer the front. At lest the opportunity came. On the nlgbtof the 30th of Jane, 1883, my church voted me a month’s vacation. Twenty-four hours later I had determined how and where I would spend it, for the telegraph had thrilled the nnlae of tho north with the ominous newe of the Drat day’s fight at Get tysburg. The first relief train that left the Otty of Brotherly Love for the field where brother* had met in deadly bate bore a hundred Good Samaritans all bent upon tho same errand and -each, like myself, wearing upon his breast tho silver scroll hedge of the United States Chris- (Iip Commission. On the sultriest of July’s sultry dsn I en tered the little town of Gettysburg and found tho borcogn transformed Into ono great hospit al. Every building or considerable propor tion!—courthouse, church end score—wee on improvised hospital ward crowded toraffoca- •tlon with mei Iin every stage of mortal agony. Even the public square la the centre of the -village was filled with mangled forma. Then they lay, poor fellows, thslr heads pillowed on the suu-bakod ground, unsheltered from the burning heat of midsummer, suffering, groan ing, dying. Thero were not eurgeons enough to ears for half of those who sorely needed their skill. There were not homes enough to shelter half of tbo* who were dying for leek •of the commonest comforts. Confusion reigned everywhere. In the garish rad brick ware house fronting the square on the west, where in the Christian Commission had established headquarters, I presented my credentials and mi aulgcea to doty in i poxtion of tho field IxocplUl of tho oecond corps. As night came on darkness threw e kindly mantle over JtheJ repulsive sights, bat the hor ror of the situation was hardly Ian acute. The only illumination of the place came from the widely yellow glow of an army lantern. A square box-llko contrivance hung from a Joist, with an oil lamp in the middle and four cracked - ’ m soiled that the doll yellow tgled through them. The men of anil nubia to fi’-CCD—tOSSCtl raved in wild delirium. The weather-beaten born resounded with a horrid chores of curses, Imprecations and groans that wounded doubly awful at dead of night, and the old army lanterns’ glimmering light wrought weird, fantastic shadows among tho cobwebbed rafters of the roof. remm- Tl It was la this chamber of horror* and on the “Take him in her* boys. 1 ' Then the lantern Hashed momentarily on the grim relics on the ■oneoa’a table seer the doorway, there wee a iEStog of feet apon the threshold end two men entered end deposited e stretcher apon the finer. Behind them came* third, who were his Kft aim In a sling rudely Impravl.d from a cartridge belt end a handkerchief. The two who was* able-bodied claMvd a sped by remov ing tho body of a poor fellow who bed Jam breathed hta last. Tbs corpse was taken out side to be burled la tho morning, sad then Donald was lifted tenderly from the atraWw end glaced In the spot where the dead man In the flickering light of the lantern I ssw his face, handsome, though pole and haggard uob suffering. It was the face of s young men —he was barely *0—end every feature was an Index of manliness graced with the highest culture and refinement. Lieutenant Gordon was—to nso In i!s best sense a phrase that ha* aomettimes been abused —a southern gentlemen. Between him and his folthfol comrade, Tom Spaulding, tho wounded ■ ’ ’ **-• “ > voice had dt- jer whore to ley their harden, there existed that peculiar type of affection that la not uncommon betweon men of widely opposite attainments. Gordon wee the ran of e moderately wealthy manufac turer of Columbus, Ga. He had graduated from college with distinction, and when the war broke out, though he had Jut completed hta course in a theological seminary, he enlisted with the member* of the Columbus Light Guard In the 28th Georgia. Spaulding, who was a sergeant In the same company, was a big-hearted fellow of noble impataes, but not e man of brilliant parts. It wai a schoolboy friendship begun In the schools of ColombUs end never outgrown by either, though the one had far outstripped the other la scholarship and social rank. The lieutenant was wounded dangerously, A grape shot, oho of tho drops ir the iron storm hurled from Hancock’s guns, bad •truck aud shattered hta right lag fust abort thoknee. The sergeant's wounded arm, pain ful but not aerlona, did not prevent the many acta of ministering kindness that proved hu loyal devotion to hta comrade. Early in the day following that first wretched night ln,the barn hospital Donald Gordon’* shi wss amputated; but ha never rallied from the •hock. He eank steadily day by day end when tho down of July 12 lighted up the gloomy corners of the old barn It was plain that before another sunrise came the etrugglo would be over.- Gordon knew the end ares near end awaited it srith patient orange. Tom Spauld ing, kneeling bcsldo him,preesod hta hand and asked gently what he could do to cheer him. From force of military habit the subaltern bed addressed hta friend as ’-Lieutenant. 1 ‘•Drop the lieutenant, Tom.” aatd Gordon, with a faint smile; “we’re both off doty now. y rafters of the barn it was clear that the soldier’s mind wss clouded slightly by the raging fever that bad racked hta body for for ty-eight hours. “Don, old fellow, do yen want anything!’ 1 whispered Spanldlng. “Yeo,” he fisltertd. “Tom, I—I want to bo dressed," and then, with a straggle to make hta meaning dear, he went on faintly: “Tom, yon know 1’vo lived Uko n gentleman. I know It’s hqfd to do much here, but I think I’d fool hot ter tf you could wash my feet ami cool my hands.’’ Thon, aftor a pauso, ’ * “And, Tom, can’t you dress me In . 1—I don't feci clean. You know, old follow, I’vo livo liked a gentleman, and—well, 1 want, to- to dlo liko a gentleman.” Tenderly aa icon could, wo f pongc.l tho f: vrred body with tepid water and ,1 reared tbo dying sohlior insonio neat linen taken from the hospital stores, Hta faco expressed the grati tude he was too weak to speak, but as ho sank bark upon tho blankot that served as a rudo pillow ho noticed the two llttlo cameo studs that still remained screwed into the soiled shirt front. “Pat In the (tads, too,” he said. “Mother F ive mo thoao. Let mo keep them until—until go home again.’’ We did aa ho bade us, and then, apparently satisfied, he aenk- into e qnlet •leep. Toward evening he routed again. " ■" as still beside him, but my dntlee had celled me etaewhere. HU sleep the two lay aide by side. It entrusted to Tom Spaulding hta last menage*. Whet paseeQ between the men *t that time I do not know,end If Ididtheaacredconfidence of that last half hoar ehonld remain Inviolate. I only know that sundry little trinkets, among them a ring, the gift or hta father, and a me dallion locket enclosing a portrait of the wo man who hoped to be hta wife, passed from the hands ot the dying lien tenet to those of the sergeant who still Tioped to eee friends snd boms again. Shortly before midnight I joined them and remained until the end. I asked the jronng officer if there was ought I could do for "Nothing,pastor,’’ ho answered. (Itwise ftney of hu to cell me paator.) “Nothing; Tom has taken all the messages I want to send. He will see to everything. Yon’ve been kind, pester. I thank you." He hesitated a moment and then added: “Yta, only one thing: do the beat you can to giro me a Christian burial.” Then, turning from mo to hta comrade, he fal tered: “And you, Tom, when you can—when tho war la over—take ma hack to mother aud Hattie.” Then the weary eyelids drooped, the soldier fell Into a painless stupor and Just as the sickly glewof theold army tentorn began to lie in the coming dawn of another sultry day onald Gordon died. The son was beating dawn upon the trench in the stubble field with the fierce splendor of neon when we carried the body out for burial. All that waa possible had been don* to give the deed lieutenant the Christian bnrial ha craved. Tho waited form was wrapped closely in * blanket and about tho soldtor'e hied end thee I tied hta military locket, fastening the ileeras around hia neck. Then tho llttlo funeral party started from the barn toward tho trenches. Two of tho mourners, a confederate prisoner end myself, carried the body, on* at either end of the etrctchor on which the wounded eoldler had entered the hern a week before. The third, Tom Bpanldlng, walked silently beside it with downcast bead. We bed not Ikr to go. Follow ing the well-beaten path through the btrnyard end sc:oss a matte bridge that spanned s small rivnlet, we entered the stubble field end tramp ed on.a hundred yards perhaps, to the open end of the second of the two psreUol trenches. There we did what little we cenld -to make a Christian burial. From the tide* ot e pilr ot cracker boxes, framed over end around the body as It lay in the trench, ws improvised the best substitute for ecoffin that the exigencies of war would permit. Then from short burial service. 8 with uncovered heed, a from memory I spoke * Spanldlng knelt betid* me I, end,srith a terse butaol- he lay In the shallow trench, slept srho died for the same lost eaose: next to him the herculean frame of John Briggs; a Florida soldier, who gave np the strnggla only twenty minutes alter the lieutenant died and was hurled an hour before him. On hta left, le the sun* serried ranks of the fallen, w* had laid, befeie I left the wretched barn forever, 200 more of the army of Northern Virginia. Through all the later heart of that fanenl day Tom Spaulding set, knife in hand, patient ly carving letters ft the lid of abox that I had nailed to the threshold of tho barn so that he might work npoo it with hta on* uncrippled wlt£ t nemo written on them huriodly won’t Itvnd the wesiher long. Thta will do bettor, I think,” So the next dty we drove the board deep Into tho ground at the head of the spot where Donald Gordon lay and left It there, an humblo monument to mark a soldier's grave. Three werka longer I tolled on amid the Ghastly scenes of the barn hospital, and when 4t list I kissed my wife end babtoe at home •fain I had a little battle of my own to fight; six wetk’s tussle with malignant typhoid the medallion and the portrait never retol those dear onee In Columbus, end they heerd not * of how Don Gordon died. Poor, faithful Tom Spqnldlng’s fate, we* even more terrible then hi* comrade’s. Ho recovered from hta wound, was exchanged eoon after, rejoined the army Northern Virginia, end area shot dead In the disaitrooi attack *t Mine Ban. Had I known tbit at tbs time my story might not bo worth tho telling, for I might have done, ft part at lrsst whet Dontld Gordon left to him to do. But I did not know it. Andso foreight yetrt Donald Gordon slept beneatk the field of Gettysburg, while hta comndo't body ley I know not where. I only know thpt totaowhore ft the battle searred south, on Ah* field where be fell, or ft eome soldier's-cemetery, per- ’» body llea,aufttlgulfi- unnumbered army of the unknown di o £reat Onoplearsnt evening in July, eight Years the battle of Gettysburg, th iking her after the battle of Getl steamer Oriole wss .... northward over the waters of Mol ifongar ht^trlp over e religious convention end gladBH again on my way home,! had sought th* hunt I cane deck and dropped Into a comfortable con- vis easy chetrto rest. I had long since cowed to harrow my aonl with recoUeetlofip of those awfrl deys in the old barn hospital. I don't know why It Is, therefore, that on that partic ular night my thought! persistently reverted to that fttnaral scene by the trenches In the litnhble field and Tom Spaulding’* headboard with It* simple epitaph. Perhaps it wae only I the coincidence of time, coupled with tho senso of being beneath southern sklea that recalled the memory of tho southern soldier. Abandoned to my own matings, I at there watching tho wondrous play of phosphorescent light in the steamer's wake and quite ancon- scion* of the presence of tho portly, middle- aged gentlemen .who at opposite ms on the star board jsldc, and was the only othcroecupant of that pert of tho deck, Hta abortive efforts to strike a match and a mildly Impatient excla mation of hta failure reminded mo that I had n neighbor ft distress. I was about to rlso and offer him a light when ho came toward mo. “Thank yon,sir,” ho said,pleasantly,as lio drew tho flsst puff from Ills mild Key-Wost. “laoom to liavo lost my old-time knack of striking tiro inabreezo.” Thon, as ha glanced at my f-too for tho first time, ho smiled and extended his bund in greeting. ’’Why, doctor, glad to seo you. I didn't kunwyou Terre aboard. Pilr,ion me for intro- duc:ng myself. Yen don't koow roe. bat I heard your addicts lust evening in Mobile.” Aa ho s]H.ko ho woo fumbling in htawallotand, producing a card, ho handed it to mo and bowed slightly. Then, comprehending that It was too dark to road it, ho added: "My namo is Charles F. Winthrop, air, of C'olumbns-Co- lumbar, Ga.” Wo oat down together and chatted awhile of tho lito convention and Us doings, and then whon tho conversation seem, cd likely to flag I did what a chanco aoualnt- nnco always dora who has little to guide him aavo tho nemo of tho town one hnlto from. I sought to nemo tome mutual friend. I might I have named a Christian minister of Columbus I whom I know quite well; but aomohow the in stant the middle-aged gentleman aid “of Co- I Iambus—Columbus, Ga.,” I had Jseen again in I memory that pine headboard, with Its oarved Inscription, “Lieutenant Don Gordon, 23th Georgia, O. & A.” And so I limply foUowod my first Impulse when I sold: “Do you happen to know a family In yonr town named Gordon; had a son, a splendid young fellow, killed in the srart” “Gordon! Caleb Gordon! Why, yee, I know the old gentleman well, sir, A neighbor of mine. In fret, end a member of th* seme church.” Mr. Winthrop TO affable. He was evidently pleased that my mental grappling Ifore mutual friend bad been to fortunate In I Its very first venture, end bis face wee beam ing with gratification as he added: “You know Caleb Gordon, then! Flue old gentlemen, sir; true aa steel and gentle as a woman; generous, generous to a fault.” ■go," I aid quietly, end with t touch of ad nets, “I don’t know th* father, hot I knew “Don, was it! Yee, yes, poor Don! That was a sad blow to th* old gentleman, and Isn't it strange, sir, with *11 tho money end time Celeb Gordon has spent to get at the facts, that he never learned the first word of how poor Don died, or where he was buried. That •ctmstobe the saddest part of It; sir; don’t yon think sol Lcetl Simply lost to them end not a ant knows the lkcti! Many such cases I daring th* war, no doubt, all through the— ltowlnthrop stopped and looked up In my irop stop; face. I had dropped my Th* half desultory Interest I had shown In tho conversation wss gone and I wu looking ea gerly Into hta eyes, my voice shaking with rap- irrssed emotion as I laid: “Stop a moment, lid you my Donald Gordon'! body was never recovered!” “Neverreeovered! Why, air, there’s not a clue—but whet' at rui tell you my eagernea “It is bccaua—because I can re cover that body; ibr I buried It with my own mdi.” It wss now Mr. Winthrop'* tom to be rar- r free tncrednlonsly * prised; end he studied my tec moment atanoat as though he mistrusted me. I plained to me bow Caleb Gordon bad only icard that hta son had fallen at Gettysburg, how he bad vainly exhansted every possible means of learning further details, and Still clung to th* fond hope of eome day recovering the body, An hour later Hr Winthrop and mysef part ed. I never aw him again. He took the train for Columbus, end I continued my jour ney north. I am * telrly good traveler, and I had a “middle-lower” berth hot I did not sleep well. I was restless, and whan at last I fell into a troubled alnmber my dreams were haunted by th* horrors of the field hospital at Gettysburg, smiths ramble of the cere seemed to my fevered brain th* groans of dying men. IV? On the third day after my return to Phils- dtlpbta the servant brought to my study n card healing the name of Caleb Gordon. He bal come from Columbus to recover the tort body ef hta eon. Theold gentleman vu Impatient, Mger to lav* for th* field at one*. 1 to aniloui to help him end hopeful ef M I canceled eome engagements, postponed others end ft forty-eight hours was again on th* way to Gettysburg with Donald Gordontotititgtomd side me. During tLo first' be bad drawn from me •fusion's death and burial, every UUle Ini cident I could remember of hta last hours of u’a tether be- life. After that the tether relapsed Into silent brooding, but as I watched hta tees I knew that the hope of eight yeera—tho dearest hope of on oldman's life most be realised or blighted by the outcome of that strange journey. We etopped In the borough of Gettysburg only tong enough to enlist too services of two helpers—one of them Dr. Kneel anil, an elderly physician, who had made a study of the bnrhu trenches and had thereby been instrumental in recovering many bodies; tho -other, the Doc tor's negro driver, who wss e epsdo and e long, narrow box. together down the old Baltimore pike. Tho toe tie was a perfect pictnreof peace and thrifty industry. I never realised before whets won derful difference an insignificant an element as the presence or abeenco of a tot of erasy fences makes In tho ensemble of a toudseep*. Until we had forded Rock Creek at the ame shallow ford and spproeehed the old term- house, It seemed to me almost like * strange country we were traversing. But there at last was the ame shambling poreh where I first taw the long Unes of wounded and dying men end the ame vlne-clsd trellis that sheltered them from the cracl hat. Thecrimson holly hocks in tho dooryard wero blooming in ell thslr splrndor—jnst as they bloomed eight yesis before. It was on the 13th of July, eight yean to * day since Donald Gordon died. It waa tliv same place, and yet It mi not the rtme place. My first bitter disappointment came when I learned that thero waa not s tool In that house wjio could help ns aocompUsh onr purpose, for the Wcrti term had passed bain bite vanished too. Tho absence of the hem confused me, but I walked after the Doctor as he followed the direction Indicated by Ills memoranda. It waa not hard to locate where tho stubble-field bed ban, for It was a apaclooa tract vf many acre*, but to locate the piecteo line ef the trenches was a ter more deli cate task. The itnbble-fleld, moreover, wu a Istobblo-field no longer. It waa waving high srith corn. The Doctor paused in the labyrinth of little comhllb. “According to my notion," he aid, “thetrenohes ran right slang here, about thirty feet from the present fenco line," “I think you are wrong," 1 returned. “We've not gene far enough.” “Well, we can soon test that," he answered. Then at htadireotlon the negro struckhtaapade Into the l(i] between tiro hills of corn. Aa he dag down beneath the raperflelal stratum itwai plain to a practiced eye that the iub-aoll had never been disturbed. I could seo that the Dtctor sras discouraged by bis failure, though not | ready surprised at it. Upon some pretext bo culled mo apart from Calob Gordon, who had been an eager spectator of the toil, and then he said to me In whispers: “This thing, I ftnr, Is hopeless. It was a foolish thing far tbo gentleman to como a thousand miles ou an orrni-.d Uko this. You mo yourself It's liko hunting a needle Ina haystack, and ifwoatrlko tho lino and find a body, howcau wo know it's the right ouc! It’s bard, vory hard, but really, 1 third- you'd better try to discourage lilm nod let br.u down oasy, so to sneak. A mi ,body fu a wilderness of coni stalks. The .thing is alpio-t Impossible." * “Discourage hlinv” I answered. “I cannot do that. I haven't tho courage.” “Then I must,” said tho Doctor, and In splto of my exhortations not to give upso soin,he called to Calob Gordon and tohl him what he had jnst told mo. The old man's faco grew pale, hut tho lines of hta month wero firmly drawn. This was hta resolute ronly: Doctor, “Iam note wealthy men, uocujr, nun have money enough to bny this farm. My wife knows I am lieroto-day. If Igohome without what I came for It will break her heart. De fine I admit that this task Is hopeless I will buy this plaeo aud dig It over Inch by inch until I find Ihobody of ray son.’’ Tho doctor flushod at tho tether'e answer, bnt I aw that if we wero to succeed it must be >y reliance npen myself rather than upon my collciguo. “Walt here for me,” I aid, end I started again toward tho fkrmhooao. Aa I emerged from tho labyrinth of com snd looked toward theeloverfieldbeyondlt,I noticed something significant that had'escaped onr observation, Acroa the even surface of the clover field ran ell and well-definc the surface of tho clover waa waving els In e rich dark-green, In sharp contrast th* sparse snd ragged growth etaewhere. Those were tho Una of th* trenches. If I could produce tbnso llna into the corn field snd then determine the point wherelthey ended I might yet succeed, with each eld as the mattsr-of-teetyonng tenner was able to giro, I located si nearly aa possible the sit* of the old ham, keeping *11 thp while in my mind’s eye the rotative position of thoa billowy linn ft the clover field beyond. Then I b in- bat I hospital end paced slowly like one walking in a trance. Once more I tru trudging *t the end of a stretcher srith the body of e dead Midler. My mind obliterated eight years end I was •gain carrying the body of Donald Gordon out for burial In the blase of the midday sun. I only took, hut from the moment I creased th* perched stone* ft th* bed of th* brook I begin counting my atop*. Facing slowly forward srith my hud bent tosrard the ground I hardly knew I had struck Into the cornfield again until 1 had sealed th* fence end sras Impatiently brushing aside the taasilsd stalks that cum- .. —■' '— I know annneon- Mgjitir ter J had gone, bnt I folt that It sue Joata* far a<t had gone sight vara ago that morning, and, when my friends came harrying toward me In respona to my ahont, It sru In a tone of confidence that I laid: “The body of Dontld Gordon 11m within ten peers of where I now stead.’’ Dr. Kneetand aid I sras surely wrong; the trenches ley closer to th* fence line. “IAt the spado test that,’’ I replied, as I mo tioned to the negro todlg. He dog oat one hill of corn ten fret from where I staid, struck down s foot or two beneath tbo surface and found nothing. “Come clear to me end try again,” 1 mid. ne laid another corn stalk beside the fint and •track In bia spade almost at my fast. We stood In painful silence watching each spadeful of earth lewd out beside us. Tea inches below the surface tbo groued suddenly crumbled ft •pole and caved Into th* hole. "That settles it,” exclaimed th* Doctor. We're on the line of th* trench.” Ht ipptni only to snap my hand srarmly, be adde-t: ’Now, Bern, | more sped: Gordon bent hta silvered bad above th* aegis* Intent upon bis every motion. In th* third ■rsdefrl of loam Pam turned up something else —something long end bard with knobs at the ends. ‘ Stop,” said the Doctor. He spraag for ward, gnspid the retie end brushed away th* soil that dung to shnman bon*. He studied It carefully n moment srith e sort of professional scat, soliloquizing thoa as be brushed It clean snd sysd its proportions: “A thigh bone, the thigh bene of an ueuaoally toll man: see hew long It to. That man moat have stood over six fret tf he sras well proportioned.'’ Then hta keen eye caught another peculiarity. “Ah, see that," ne added, pointing to a ragged break In the knob that once made pert ot thehlpjoint. “This Is a fractured thigh bene. Thta man was evidently struck by sbnUet Just below the hip; the shot that killed him very likely.'' “A fractured thigh bone, a toll man struck by a shot jnst below the hip.” Oh, whet a nor Id of meaning that diagnosis had for me. It told me that Caleb Gordon's hope would not hebllfbltd. “That,” aid I, "ta the thigh bone of John Ilrlggs, * Florida told lor." Tbo Doctor smiled inendnlotuly. “And how on earth do yon know that!" “I know It,” I replied, “beeiuse JohnBi a great musentar fellow, who stood etx four, sras tho ono and only msu who died ft the barn hospital from a fractured leg who bad not previously had that leg amputated. Ho wu struck M high up and the hip waa so u •bettered that empatationsru Impossible.” “Well, t must admit that looks plausible," said the Doctor, contemplatively, plckiog the loam out of the ragged fracture with the blade f you her when this Briggs died—’’ “Exactly,” I Interrupted. “He and Donald Gordon died the ame night, end Gordon lira hta arms about my n now to ylold to nta dig ' ‘ wu too oarer emotion long. Sam sras where we fonnd the thigh bone of John Briggs. I Two more corn stalks bed been uprooted, and the tether of Lieutadant Gordon wae down on hta knea in the corn field posting Into the ilcriwntng hole end listening to the (lull grating of tho negro’* spede. A few minutes of patient digging and Sam turned np the rotten frag ments ofia hoard. Than, with careful hands, we removed one by one the decayed spUntere of the cracker box from which that rude coffin was Imprortaod eight yean before, and gradu ally uncovered tho whole length of tbo body. Tbo dank, mouldy shreds of tho blanket and the army jacket that shrouded tho soldier's form dropped to places as we touched them, bnt six brass bottom with tha letters a & A. stamped upon tho shield dropped from the damp shreds of the jacket, and Caleb Gordon eirzed them llke.aman who hu fonnd a pro- dons treasure. Then ono by ono the bona of Lieutenant Gordon’! body were lifted from the grave snd told each In ita proper plaoo apon the ground, until thero wu not a fragment mtaalnguvethe tower part of the right tog that was severed by the ampnUtlon. Caleb Gordon otooped again and took In hta hands tho skull of hta son. For a moment tha old man's eyes gazed In the sightless sockets of hta first-born: hta hands caressed the smooth frontal hones of the well-rounded forehead,end then he caroftilly examined tho perfect rows of teeth still firm and white. "It 1s he,” he bltered, “I would know my hoy’a forehead anywhere. Yes, there can be no doubt. Bee, even tha teeth complete the evldcnco. Those two gold fillings wore tha only impel fictions.” VVbilc tho old man stood lingoring tho skull snd pointing out, b< tiveon hta sobs, each evi- denco of identity, the doctor, who had boon searching iu tho shreds of tho rotted blankot that (hopped from tho dead man's ribs, made a (lJEcoiery tbatre moved tho last posslblo shadow donbt ItltltUU, Our task was tlono. Tho Identity wu estab lished beyond peradventnre. Caleb Gordon’s hope wu realized. We hid Jnitdlstarbed four bills of com. It sras well that wo succeeded when we did. A few months Ittor the task would have been hopeless, for sritbln e year the state of Virginia made sn appropriation end every confederate body still unclaimed wae disinterred end burled In the greet Midlers cemetery of Rich. V. One more scene end thta sombre eketob la finished, This, too, ta a ftncral scone, but not like tbo othsr-ln the etabble field. At Donald Gordon’s second burial tho bright annahlno of the south flashed upon radiant ehafta of mar ble and polished granite In tbs beanttfrl llttlo cemetery of Columbus. Tho second sepulture wu marked by such reverent ministration u became the memory of e Christian and aneh martial honors u were due the tense of ■ Mi dler. The survivors of tho Columbus Light Guilds wars there to do their pert. Their muskets spoke the martial requiem over their comtade'e tomb, end u the smoke of the funer al vt“ * Dona! BETSY HAMILTON. grave wcoplng tears of min gled Joy and eonow. The ono, care-worn and •liver-haired, wu hta mother; tho other, atilt yonny, a queenly aontbem woman, with hair •• black u the crepe veil that touched It, wu ft all but name hta widow. And u they tamed away at last, the tilver-belred mother entiled iwNtlv m too ■poke: * “We ehonld be tbankfrl, Mettle, very thank- frl,” she said, “for at last wo hare poor Don at bone inln,” ThlsTs tho story that came to bin vividly u I sat by a quaint old secretary and polished back tobrigbtneatbetwo braes buttons that Caleb Gordon had given me from hta store of treasures. It wu not much that I bad done. Chance—or perhaps I should uj Frovldenee— yet ul ut had done far more than I. I sru conscious of a sweet sense u rare u it sru exquisite. I did not atop to analyze the feeling; bnt perhaps It TO because I bed et last been Instrumental In fulfilling the last two injunctions of a dying man. Don ald Gordon had at lait recalved a Christian burial, and today be slaps beneath a bower of ma planted by the loving hands ot mother and Mattie. | - now women rign. From the Ben Francisco Chronicle. Did yon ever aa a woman fish! i non s mean a tomato fish, but a woman ft tho act of fishing. If she’s of pins or* yard „ — 5 —... , she’ll load herself np with a rubber end a psfr of arctice and sn umbrella and a nick protector. She ta too delicate tore drop of rain to teach her. Bat she’ll go eat tn a host on • wot day and let the rain corns down on her end thewavmduh ever her, end stand Making tike the hardiest Mltorman. There were four todtos onee went fishing. They selected a very rainy day, and they had ell their waterproof clonks and head and fret coming. They srare all by them- wives when they took a boat end went to flab. It sras In Maine. With tru frmioine ecu they started off without anything to tbo fish ft. They had in sit time until they raeght n pickerel. When caught the pickerel they didn’t knew whet to do with it. It TO alive and flopping. They had it in the bottom of th* boot They won dered why it didn't lio quiet. At last n happy and benign thought struck on* of them. ‘ Foot thing! lt’a getting all wet lying la tbo rain.” And tha whipped off her waterproof and snapped it up in It Each of the four caught n pickerel, and each of tha four wrapped it up to her waterproof end the rain wet them flbft aa* Com la Fink Xll* Tkamitlvet la a M#w Wor$t» d Drtia *pl«o«and Mak* Fraparattaaa (or tbo Jours ay-Talladafa os m Big Boom and Ivory bod* Tt$hvg Blob. Me and Cousin Flnk'e a filin’ to git off t« Texas. Fean like ita hud work to git .started —women folks alien hu so much to do. Notr If we’d tr been men we'd er done bcon thar an' tack. Wo sru obleego to go to town. Both of os waa plnm out’n Sunday shoes and couldn’t trust pap to plek ’em, ksao ho alien gits ’em » mile too big, and Cousin Pink, sho hadn’t I bought her airy hat seneo rammer before lut when she went to Bln-Cler to tho ’aoclatlon, and I wouldnt er had nalr*n author only Cotuln Lou-l-sy sho gin ms her lut winter’s hat. Hit looked u good aa new, and I knowed no body ont thar wouldn’t know it wu her ola tin. We hearn that wonted sru agwlno at fifteen cents a yard, and Cousin Fink alio takes s green one with a bine Rower, end I taken • red ono with n jailer flower, ksao if than any thing I do Uko it* yaller end red. We wu plum fixed when wo struck np with Cap Dewberry and Mr. Turnlpicod and they taken ns to Mr, Towers’ and paid for onr din ner and gin ns a pniplo neck rlbbln a piece. They sru np thar e apeckerlatin In land. Dirt’s done tla in Tklltdcgy town tel error body thata got a little pleco of ground u big as onr tater ratch feels plnm rich. A month ago land that monght er bln bought for n thousand dollarecantakasely bogotnowfor flvo or six timet that much. A little atrip of land that n man paid a hundred and fifty dollars for sold tother day for fonr thousand. Tho tosrn’s alive with strangers e steppla ahont in high braver hats and shiny boots a mintin' of ther gold headed walkin' sticks 1b evezy direction a talkin' .boat corner lots end front feet. ■Now's tho time fur e body theta got a little money to buy land In Tall.ulegy; tho prloo ta a t wino np higher and hlghor tel fua thing you now poor folks cut tetoh a foot of It. They My some of the men fblka hu dune mode so much money cflTn thor land seneo It rls that they cant sleep of nights for think In' about it, nnd tho women folks toy awake studylu’ how to spend it. hathnn Quaddlebum mads e right smart ofi’n hta land and ta gwlne to put him up a new home. Ills wifowu a tollin’me and Couila Fink about it tother day whan we ares in towB and ’lowed sho wu a gwlne to dlvido the frost hall from tho beck hall with pot-yen. Hhe goes in powerful for fashion. Mo and CouaiM Pink didn’t know what pot-ycre was, but iro nesor tat on. Pap he ’lows TaUadegy ta ou stilts and she'* a steppin' high and fur, lut she’s got ererthlng to make her go ahead. Hlta th. bealthleM .od prettiest place iu tha state. Then's three railroads a runnta’ through It now and three more e cornin'. Two big rnznsees Is t gwlne to ho built soon and they will fetch In a hup of new folka. Tha (leaf and dumb asylum ft thar, and tho legisla ture has glvo'rni money to build a home for and good preachers, ana they got a freo school tho blind folka They got nice mootin' hou srhoolln for nothin’. They got itgu and boxes on the lamp potto. The waterworks to groat; tho water comos from tbo big town spring and ta clear u glass andevor body drinks It. They done found coal In thru mile of town, end 1 know In rouln this country cant bo teat for tat pine and good hlok’ry and oak wood. These hero mountings Is chock full of Iron, gold, silver and copper, and pap he 'Iowa the Iron oro ta tbo beat In the state, kue Its the brown hematite, and pap knows. He'lows thst gold it tiiddeo’s mlno Is the yallerest evor through to the skin, but they kept theta Osh dry*U the*— boom dirt tint so cheap. Thoy uy over la Blimlngbsm Its mighty nigh worth Its wolght In gold, end Tslladcgy Is on tha high road to ketch np to her. Cousin Pink snd mo had a power of fun > coming homo from tosra thst dsy. Pap and them went on a head in tho waggln and Ukon onr things and Cousin Pink she rid longer Mr. ' ‘Tedjehewasa tidin’ of Clndyltobor- auu.uiuMoLandsboilntno race nsg; I sru a tidin’ of ola Lace, eho'e blind In ono oyo, but she gits over ground “nevertholon notwlth- ' lading,’’ u pep uye, end Cep Dewberry ha ,.j| a tidin’ of hta llttlo bobtail mule ha bought out’n a circus, and long u our critters could out go thorn, me end him token the told. Cep he didn’t much smut to go ahead— courtin’ folka never doe*,—hot old Lnu wont stay behind. Ho begged me all the way not to G to Texas, and when Cousin rink rid up I lowed from tho stay sho looked that aha had bun court ed. I nuoptd on quick to kcop hoc from setln! how I looked. Betsy Hamilton. THEWATEIt IS RISING. Mrxrma, March 8.—Tho overflow of th* Mississippi bis Inundated tho truck of tho Memphis and Llttlo Bock road from Ilapollold, opposite thta city, to Madtaon, Ark., a distance or forty miles, making travel Imjiractlcabtw., Llttlo Bock trains now go over tho KsoaasCIty road to Nettieton, and thence orer tho HolonB lranch of the Iron Mountain rod to Formt City, Ark., when they regain their own track. The weat bank of ths river from Mtaaonrf to Memphis ta almoatwholly under inter. Loveu below tho city are still intact. . Vicumraii, Mlo, Hatch 13—Advices front Richland end portions of Madison partah re port tho outlook In that rectioa gloomy. Th. Epps plantation Is partially rabmergod. and tho witer 1a siting ft tho Bayou Macon at th. rate of an Inch In four hours. The thigh place, on Jonra bayou, is about half cor- eredwltiiwater, which la rising there at the rate of ebont three toehe* in twenty-root hours. The Cunniniham place, on Tones* river, b all submerged and the water ta rising- abeuttix inches* day. The Ouquot place, at lection five, ta also covered srith water. T ne private leva, built by tbs tote Oolonol Elward Richardson snd other planter*, which ta about rix milra tong and four foet doom udjaia- Unded to protect the eart bank of thobayoa Mzcoa. hu glrtn sway ft about twenty places ftive Wytaya Monttotilo place. Alth .ugh a e neral overflow to not antieftatod, thoro still much damage dona by tho water coming through the openlnp to tho Arkanoo front, also by that coming in at Diamond |bend, and Reft Crevane-Tbo nows sras recelrod from Bold Otvasa tonight to tho effect that tha United Btatcs Engineer Corps had racceeded ft pro tecting the ende of the levee, thus arresting a. further cutting array of the embankment. Hie Card, From tha Ttoy Tm*'.* ' . torrent girl to mistress—'There'! a gentle- mu at tie door. , Tern, Ltthimft,".