A FLAG OF TRUCE 4 S BOY and man, Col. Bryant j had been a soldier. As a boy his ambition had bwn JL JL a cadetahlp at West Point, and the army as a life areer. Blessed with wealthy par ants, there seemed nothing In the WT to the accomplishment of his Meal when the opportune time ar stved. At 15 he began a course ot tudy that would fit him to pass the inquired examination and admit him Id the United Stutea military acad emy. At 18 the opportunity cnme. There was a vacancy at the academy to be filled by appointment from his ongresstonal district, and he enter ad eagerly the competition for the coveted place, feeling confident of winning the prize. His mobt formidable opponent was Billy Edwards, the son of a strug gling clergyman, Into whose path fate had thrown no special oppor tunities, but who had Improved very chance for study that had been given him, and who wished the ap pointment merely as a means of se oarlng a desired education. The two had never been friendly, and on one or two occasions had had some boylBh quarrels over the atten tion each had attempted to bestow upon Blossom Nathan. When Billy Bftwards won the coveted appoint ment every semblance of friendship between the two boys caced, and Bob Bryant refused even to associate with anyone who called youns Ed wards their friend. Grievously disappointed at not winning the cadetshlp, -young Bryant antered a military academy with a ( i BESIDE THE WHITE STONE, determination to prepare himself for i military career, trusting to his lather's wealth and influence to se uire for him an appointment to the toe army. During their sohool days both ?oys kept up a correspondence with JloBsom Nathan, until at the end of !hree years Bryant insisted that she oould not retain the friendship of :th he and Edwards, and that all orrespondence between her and his rival must cease, or he would have nothing more to do with her. The young lady very promptly informed Jr angry suitor that she would ,-hoose her own friends, and lie ac cepted her decision. 81x months after Lieut Edwards d graduated from West Point and Altered the army he made Blossom lathan his wife and took uer to the western post, where his command ' &a stationed. Bryant in the mountains had fln 'atssd his college course, and not find aft It so easy to secure a civil ap tolntment to the army, had settled lawn to the study of law In his tome town, and confined his mili ary ambitions to a place In a local company of state guards. Then came the call to arms to save he union. The southern states had ooeded; the flag had been fired up o. Every available company of the egular service had been rushed astwartl for the defense of Wash ngton. Volunteers In companies, attallons and regiments were flock ig into the mustering camps. With lie volnnteers went Bob Bryant as aptaln of his company. With the -sgularg sent to Washington went first Lieutenant Edwards, while Irs. Edwards went back to her old .ome to await the return of her .lusband from the front. The four years of war dragged searlly along. Lieut. Edwards stuck the regular service and rose to be rank of major, and brevet lieu tenant colonel. Capt. Bryant of the olunteer service rose to the rank f colonel. At the battle of Gettysburg Col. Iryant was temporarily In command f a brigade stationed at Cemetery 1111. During the first day's fighting Is command In company with all . others' at that point In the line of attle had suffered severely. With -he reenforcemonts of the second day ame the regiment commanded by Aleut. Col. Edwards, and during the Vghting of that day Edwards foil . ind was buried on the field. The "war over, Col. Bryant found he wished for opportunity to enter -be regular service, and was sent to he far west as a lieutenant of cav alry . , For 18 years ho followed the rail of the red man, and then "the ood of the service" took him to "'Washington to serve for a time on lie staff of the general commanding the army. It was this that account ed for his presence on the Gettys burg battlefield on Decoration day, 1878. He walked over the ground sc fiercely contested In '63 and glanced at the white headstones looking fot the name of his comrades. At each grave there was planted a small flag, similar to one he carried Idly In his hand. At one grave ho noticed the frail staff had been broken and the flag blown away. He stopped to read the name on the sbone. It was, BVT. LIEUT. COL. WILLIAM ED WARDS. Instantly all the old animosity of the years gone by returned. The man burled here had stolen from blra his opportunity, had stolen the girl ho loved and then there came to him the thought that this man had sacrificed his life for the flag; that this man had lost his life In bringing success to him and his comrades, and hail helped In saving them from probable annihilation at the hands of the ene my. Reverently he stooped over the grave and planted the flag he car ried beside the white stone. As he did so a woman's voice close behind him said: "I thank you.' He turned. It was Blossom Na than. The same Blossom, though a sad, sweet-faced woman now, Instead of the chit of a girl he had known eo many years ago. The years of ex posure and hardship had changed him so she did not know him. "It lii my husband's grave,'- she explained. "The wind has evidently blown the flag away and I have been looking for It, but without success. It seemed so lonely without a flag like the others. "Blossom!" he cried. "Don't you know me?'i The voice brought back to her tho days of her girlhood; the Impetuous boyish lover. She gave him her hand and to gether they left the battlefield where hope had died and hope was born j again. A few months later she ngaln Jour- j neyea to the west to spend tier life at an army post a soldier's wife Quoted Scrip! urc. "At the second battle of Bull Run,'' remarked a member of one of the New York posts, "the famous 36th regiment from Jefferson county, N. Y., sufferod terribly, and efforts were Immediately made by the friends at home to fill Us thinned ranks. Among the first to spring to its rescue was one Augustus Duel, who was famous as a hunter In John Brown's tract, and distinguished for being a capital fellow and excellent marksman. His uncle, Deacon Weath erby, met Gus a day or two after he had enlisted, and said: " 'Well, Augustus, I understand you have endisted In the 35th?' " 'Yes, uncle, I have,' was the re ply, 'and I am to start for the regi ment tomorrow morning.' " 'That's right, my boy; that's right contlued the deacon, 'I am very glad you have enlisted, and you have my prayers and blessings. And now, Augustus, boy, let me give you a little advice. When the order Is given to advance on the rebels, I want you, my dear boy, to remembsr the Scriptural injunction, 'It Is more blessed to give than to receive.' " Paradise Lost and Won. Many an amusing Incident of army life Is given in Lew Wallace's autobi ography. For example he writes thus of a tented "Paradise" which was lost and won at the battle of Shiloh: "Within our lines there was a drinking tent, on which was writ ten 'Paradise.' It was taken by the Confederates In the first day's fight, and the victors wrote beneath Its name 'Lost.' By Beauregard's order all camp furniture was left Intact, as he expected to possess the whole field In the morrow's struggle. The Un ion Army recovererd their ground by the second day's battle, the pleas ure tent was retaken, and to the two names was added the word 'Re gained.' ' Civil War Figures. The enlistments In the union army during the civil war reached the enormous total ot 2,898,304. It la cot possible to know how many en listments there were In the confed erate army, because the confedera'e state failed to keep a reliable record of the number of men furnished to the service, and juch statistics as are to be had are Incomplete. It is estimated, however, that there were between 600,000 and 700,000 men in the confederate armies, and that fully 200,000 of this number d'ed In battle or from wounds and disease. California Alligator Farm. One thousand alligators ranging from the length of a lead pencil to monsters that could crush a man In their Jaws, arrived from the south western part of Louisiana and were landed loose In a 'gator farm In East Los Angeles. They were brought In a specially arranged freight car over the Southern Pacific. The in creasing demand for alligator leath er which Is converted Into pocket books and handbags, makes the con signment of Baurlans valunblo aud accounts for the new Industry started here. Los Angeles Correspondence, Baltimore Sun. I Baby's Corpse Sent by MuU. The postmaster of Portales, New Mexico, recently reported to the Chief Poat-Ofilce Inspector of Den ver, that the tiny body of a baby t. - i i m l .. . . 1 1 THE COLUMBIAN, MAR CHEEKED GRAY, When the Federal Troops Sainted Stonewall Jackson. . Few generals were so beloved and revered by their soldiers as Stone wall Jackson, the "great flanker," was by his. His simplicity, strength, daring, skill and Indomitable will en deared him to his troops, while his successes roused thetr admiration. Whenever great cheorlng was heard in Jackson's camp those who were detained from being present would say, "Here comes either Jackson or an old rabbit!" At one time when Jackson's camp was on the southern bank of the Rap pahannock and that of the Federals on the northern bank of that river a Irlendly Intercourse, not only con fined to the exchange of coffee and tobacco, existed between the outposts of the two armies, and friendly greetings were often exchanged across the river. One day when Jackson rode along the bank ot the river and the Confederate troops ran together, as was their custom, to greet him with a yell the Federal pickets shouted across the river ask ing what It was all about. "Stone wall Is coming! ' was the reply, and immediately, to Jackson's astonish ment, the cry "Hurrah for Stonewall Jackson!" rang out from the Federal ranks. Thus the voice of north and south, prophetic of a time of renewed unity, mingled In acclamation of a great soldier. Los Angeles Times. WHEN COLUMBIA CROWNS HER DEAD. What hath set the rtrums a-beatlng 'neath the tender skies of May? Why troop the children from the fields with flowers fresh and gay? I see the vet'rans gather In their but toned coats ot blue, With here and there an empty sleeve to prove the wearer true; I hear them talk of battles In their youthtlme long ago, Where side by side they stood and met the onslaughts of the foe; And now the voice Is silent, and each soldier bows his head, For well they know this sacred day Columbia crowns her dead. The flag half-mast is flying and the air la filled with praise Of those who by the Nation stood throughout her trying days, When strode the God of battles In his fury o'er the land! And crimson grew Potomacs tide and red the Rio Grande; When the cannons tore the cedars In the green vales of the South, Where now the blue-bird builds her nest deep in the mortor's mouth; But ah! the snowy wings of Peace above those fields are spread, And Columbia, like a mother, comes to crown her gallant dead. I No more I hear the rumble of the battle's brazen car, I have to part the flowers fair to find the wounds of war; hear a robin singing where the col onel bravely died, And a butterfly Is hov'ring where the legions multiplied; The bugle is no longer heard on fields we love to name, And the roses bloom in beauty in the sacred camps of Fame, And down the street a-marchlng, with Old Glory at their head, Come the vet'rans, for Columbia bids , them all salute her dead. Sleep on, O wearers of tho blue! the meed of praise you've wan, Sleep on the long, long summer thro' In shadow and In sun; The sweetest bloom that Nature yields lies on the soldier's breast, And nevermore war's clarion notes shall break your peaceful rest; The battle echoes vanish like a dis tant cannon's boom, Behold! Columbia gently lays a wreath upon a tomb, "My children! Peace be with you!" speaks she low with drooping head . Thon she kisses all the roses she has laid upon her dead. Coffee was first produced In Ara bia in the fifteenth century. It was first imported Into England about tt" BLOOMSBURG. PA. DECORATION DAY. Importance of the Proper Ofoerv ance of This Solemn Festival. Decoration Day is a solemn festl ral for the Nation. . All over tho land the patriotic and true-hearted citizen and his family make ready and go out with appropriate cere monies and a wealth of blossoms to mark another milestone on the Na tion's highway of peace and prosper ity. Truly, It Is a fitting and beauti ful way to emphasize the story of the great and good work wrought by the patriot souls and the faithful hands of the fathers, sons and broth ers of this grand and glorious Re public. And with every passing year the proper observance of the National day becomes more important. To the children born since the war It lacks the heart-touching and tender senti ment and the tearful memories that cluster around the days when our loved ones were brought home to us from the field of war and were laid with reverent and trembling hands in hallowed graves and bedewed with the bitterest drops of anguish that can fall from human eyes. "Slain in Battle." "He fell with his face to the foe." These were the messages that were flashed over the wires and sent to the waiting ones at home by brave and thoughtful com rades. Those who lived through those trying times need not be re minded how sacred Is the trust com mitted to our charge. They know what the day means In all its compre hensive and broad significance, and it needs no burst of martial music, no flourish of trumpets or beating of drums to tell the story. They know the history of those trying days and the most eloquent efforts of ora tory cannot make It more clear or more dear to them. But to those who are to como after us those who know the war only as a Bad and awful tradition the day and Its meaning must be made plain. They cannot know the sorrow, tho pain, the tireless anxiety and the ever-present watchfulness that filled those wearisome years of struggle, and that had by the greatness of Divine power, strength and courage to wait for the fullness of time, that bright and shining and glorious time wfaen the youngest Nation of the earth should shake oft the burdens and unloose the shackles of discord, and rise in her might, a daughter of the gods, divinely fair, divinely strong and royally gracious in her supreme and conscious strength, and stand once more, clothed and in her right mind, in her own proud posi tion as the grandest and most to be envied of all the Nations of the earth. Romance of Andersonville Prison. Discussion of the movement to ward erecting a monument to Cap tain Henry Wlrz, who was command ant of the Andersonville prison, has brought a hitherto unpublished story to light. The relator of the story, a resident of. Americus, Ga., often visited tho prison where her husband was doing duty for the Confederate Government Upon one of her visits Captain Wlrz said that he needed her assistance. He conducted her to a small tent Just outside the prison stockade. Within was a woman a Federal prisoner with a day old babe in her arms, while by her side sat her hus band, also a prisoner. The woman In male attire, had been brought to the prison pen a few days before. The captured party, including her husband, were Ohio tans, and when surprised by the Con federates she hastily donned a suit ot her husfband's clothes In order that they might not be separated. When the real situation had been discovered the day previous, through statements made by her husband, Captain Wlrz had the couple hastily removed to the tent outside the pris on, and there the babe was born. In the visitor the poor woman found a friend. She quickly re turned to Americus and secured for the mother and babe neoessary cloth ing and medicine and such food and comforts as her then limited means allowed. Soon thereafter the Ohio lan, his wife and babe, were sent away from the prison. New York World. A Story of General Lee. When the great war was over and defeat had come to the armies Lee had led, he was visiting the house of a friend in Richmond. With that love of children that always charac terized him, the old hero took upon his knee a fair haired boy. The proud mother, to please her guest, asked the child, "Who is General Lee?" Parrotlike the expected an swer came, "The great Virginian who was a patriot, true to his native state." And then came the question, "Who is General Scott?" and the reply, "A Virginian who was a trait or to his country." Putting down the child and turn ing to the mother, the general said: "Madam, you should not teach your child such lussonB. I will not listen to such talk. Gneral Scott Is not a traitor. He was true to his convic tions of duty, as I was to mine." From Hilary A. Herbert's Address Over the Graves of the Confederate Dead in Arlington. Memorial Day. From out our crowded calendar One day we pluck to give; It Is the day the Dying pause To honor those who live, Atlantlo Monthly. SECRET ot the ROSES A Story of Decoration Day. FAR away In the olden days and golden, folk held tho roso a flower of silence, wisely discreet at to all which come within Its ken. Times change manners with them why not flowers ns well? Possibly It la nature's kind provision. Otherwise but a story should begin always at the proper beginning. Somehow, In spite of tho muflU-d drums, the arms reversed, the lino of scarred and grizzled veterans, now grown pitifully short and thin, there was distinctly a holiday air about the crowd which streamed Into the rag ged cemetery. Indeed, there could not help but be for the lilacs, snow balls, orldal wreath and flowering al mond were all riotously In blossom, the syrlnga clumps green miracles of swelling white buds. In the faco of that youth could not be sorrowful, even though It came out to mark the land's old desolation. It was mainly those too young to re member that time, save as a vast vague cloud of storm and distress, who came In line beyond tho veter ans to deck their comrades' graves. Not a man in the flre-new Graysvlllo cadets, marching as escort to the old soldiers, was over thirty. And AT HIS FATHER'S GRAVE. . though for long men and matrons of sober years had counted it their priv ilege to bring hither flowers md greens, upon this day the work had fallen wholly to the girls and young er women. The light frocks and fluttering rib bons, massed or singly, seemed to re peat and accentuate the tints of the flowers In bloom there In the ceme tery, and tht knots and wreaths and loose handfuls .they bore in their baskets or heaped In the hollow of tue arm. But nobody was quite so much the day's embodiment as Peg gy Farley who had on a white gown, fine and clinging, u broad blue sash and a theaf of red, red roses made fast to her belt She was easily the prettiest girl in Graysvllle t!ie best liked, too, for all she had certain lit tle willful proud ways. Over against them were to be set the kindest heart, the readiest hand, lips wholly free from guile. Everybody had re joiced over her engagement to young Grahame, the tone, tall captain of the cadets. So when the engagement was broken with no word said In explana tion on either side gossip ran riot, nor were there lacking shrewd folk to note that the break came Just a week later than Miss Barbara Gra hame's return to the old home. She had been five years away seeking vainly to escape her arch enemy, rheumatism. Captain John Grahame, the elder, had not died in battle, albeit he slept well to the head of the cemetery's joldlery. He had come from the long fighting with a bullet In his sbest, but had grown within a year )f peace so much his old self, hand ome, hearty, sunny-tempered, that he had married rejoicingly, the iweetheart he had left behind him. When young John was born it seem d there was nothing left to wish !or but almost in the first Joy of 'atherhood the end came. His widow sobbed plteously, but n a year was consoled a twelve nonth later married again. Then lius Barbara adopted little John, mylng grimly as she took him upon ler knee: "John you are never to 'orget It Is through tho wickedness : war you are fatherless anf. worse ,han motherless." She was not of the throng of to lay; her old enemy had her hard ind fast in his clutches. But she lad Btripped garden and green-house tor tho Uower-hearers. Three, whoEe laskets Bho had filled, were talking tagerly together as they stood lis ting to the minute guns that mark id the close of the ceremonies, "I asked If these were not espec ully for her brother, and oh, the look she gave me!" one pretty crea ure said. "It was petrifying," said her mate, 'and only fancy her saying: 'I (vlsh you children of to-day would inderstand It Is tho cause, not Indi viduals, met one honors. Give my irother his share, but no more-' "Do you know, I am as certain as in ba sho Is at the bottom of that." mm will the third said, nodding faintly to. ward the place where Peggy sni Captain Grahnme, In unlooked-r,r encounter, were Balutlng caoh other with elaborate If tremulous Indiffer ence. "Oh! that couldn't be! Whj! Miss Barbara could not hang a raj of objection anywhere about Peggy. She has grown up here we know J that Is to bo kaown of her her mother Is tho loveliest sweet lady and her grandfather almost tt richest and quite the best man in th, village." "Hut her father mn bo yx.n have never heard that he fought through the war on the other side and all the time engaged to her mother whom he had met at college Harvard, I think '. "Hush! There comes Peggy with her grandfather and threo heanx. That must be Interesting for Captain Grahame, Peggy, dearest, aren't you glad !'. Is all over and that everything went so superbly, Just as you had planned?'" Peggy nodded with her most daa zltng smile. All day she had been very gay and high with those about her. Tho cadets had whpcled for the countermarch. Now they camo trooping past tho group In the snails at the wayside. Again fate Ret the captain of them where his sweet heart's eyobeams must stream straight Into his heart. The poor lad was no stoic. He felt himself color, and for a minute saw all things blurred and dim, because, forsooth, a young creature who did not come up to his shoulder had waved her hand at him and Hung him a rose from the cluster on her breaBt. The soldiers were out of sight, the town folk for the most part well homeward when Peggy who had lin gered unaccountably and was Junt outside- tho cemetery gate, said hur riedly: "Oh, I have forgotten some thing; don't wait for me," and ran back before anybody could ssy a word. She ran bo deviously th.it though they looked after her her companions could not keep track ot her. When young Captain Grahame gut home tc his delayed dinner ho found his aunt In wait for him with a most unusual look In her eyes. She trem bled all over, too, and there was an odd break In her voice as she bade him sit beside her so she might take his hand. "John, I am a wicked woman; I have brought Borrow to one w'o Is but listen: I did go to the cemetery today; after all the crowd had gone I wanted to touch your father's shaft and read his uamo on It, and the names ot the battles he fought in. I was Just coming to It stiff, hobbling, a bent and withered old woman when I saw a vision, some thing white, with the motion of the wind. It ran and knelt by my dear grave, softly kissed some royal roses, touched the blossoms to your fath er's name, and hid them In the green ery about the shaft. Then It said: 'Oh, Fathers up In heaven! surely you two understand and forgive and are happy. Please help John to bo happy I can bear everything but that." "It was not wholly you," John said wretchedly. "I had too little patience. I raved when I Bhould have soothed her; toid her she did oot care for me, If she would le'. scra ples of her father's memory or any thing come between us " ."You have n time to waste recall ing folly," Miss Barbara said se verely. "I shall never forgive you If you do not go to her at once and fetoh her here, that I may ask her pardon !' Peggy came stately under her mothers wing and peace was made upon the InBtant. But the why and wherefore Is still a secret in Grays vllle. Everybody knows though that there will be a brilliant wedding very early in the fall. Two Mourners. Sleep,', quoth the one with the sil ver locks, "Sleep till the llf0 anew; This flower Is red for the blood you shed In tho struggle us sixty-two." i Sleep,"quoth tho maid with a throb bing heart, "Caressed by a sweetheart's tear; for my love la there 'neath the roe fair, On the grave of a volunteer." Lived Simple Life, lteaclicd 102. David Howard has died at Stroud Infirmary at the age of 102. He worked on farms In the Btroud dis trict all his life, being employed on one from between sixty and seventy jears. He attributed his longevity lo simple food, hard work and no vorry. London Standard.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers