OCR Text |
Show A MEMORIAL DArSrORY Claire Wallace, Hynn r--Q r) HE rat-a-tat of the T2 drums and the ipfj. ' .' , , dauntless voice of w "f-af the fife be&an to NJrfSify awaken the quiet 3 'KB' M Ptreets early in the 7 ill EmwSS? morning. Adam ) HlfY Roth, brought to his ifilr Bra i m window tne in" .SvJP J sistent call of the 8h5 fifes' raised nis eyes vptSKSSS &c the cloudless blue BrjQlTo of tlle sprins sky crfx7) and then let them vtfL.Ji d shift back uneasily to his shabby room. As the sounds died away, Adam went and stood beside the bed. On it was laid the full uniform of a Zouave, discolored with the smoke of many-battles, many-battles, ragged and worn with the stress of weary marches. Near one shoulder a faded stain spoke of a wound received at Alexandria. Adam looked long on this uniform, and then, brushing away a mist before his eyes, he whispered the name "Dan!" Dan, the brave brother who had first donned them in '61, who had with unabated love and energy and pride worn them on every Memorial day since the first, had gone to the great "assembly," and only Adam was left. And Adam! There was no part for him in all these half pleasant, half was dead! The whole post had heard of it nearly a year ago. Who, then, was this silent, mysterious figure, springing suddenly from the crowd and joining them? "Who are you?" asked the man. Adam wavered a moment before he answered. The simple query blotted out his cherished dream; perhaps it would make the continuance of his march impossible. But finally he turned and answered: "Dan Roth's brother." Suddenly he felt the silent eneoui agement of a handshake. The veteran vet-eran meant to be his friend. Then the command of "Forward march!" came to them, and they were off once more, this time flashing warm, triumphant, triumph-ant, into Riverside drive. The long march was over. Beside him stood the color-bearer, holding aloft the tattered glory of the regiment. The words of the orator floated on the quivering air, and the cannon boomed from the gunboat in the river; but all sounds now seemed to come to Adam from a great distance. dis-tance. He was aflame with the spirit of devotion; the darkened lamp of patriotism had been lighted anew in him, and in the whole world there was nothing else. Presently Adam's kindling eyes fell upon a man among the crowd of spectators, spec-tators, a man whose haggard face and "There Goes One of Those Grizzly F ighters, Boys." sad, reunions, these enthusiastic parades pa-rades through the great city, these glorious awakenings of memories ot deeds well done in the past. That was what ate into his soul and blotted out the light in his face. He had been a coward coward! In those, days, when the uniform before him had been a bright red, and the gun, leaning against the foot of the bed, had sparkled and shone, he had failed to answer the bugle call of his country. The sounds in the street below grew louder, and the sun streamed into the room, sending a sudden riot to Adam's heart. The veins in his temples throbbed like ceaseless threshing machines, ma-chines, separating all the chaff of his long life of failure and cowardice from this strange, burning prayer that sprang up within him, that he might once, only once, go forth in the uniform uni-form of the country he loved, to march behind the flag he had failed to protect, pro-tect, to be an American soldier! He found himself taking off his coat with shaking hands, and, almost before be-fore he realized it, he was hurrying into the uniform He dusted the moth-eaten moth-eaten fez and put it on his head. The worn tassel fell over his ear, and he tossed it back with a new, free fling of his head. The mantle of Dan seemed truly to have fallen upon him, bringing with it the spirit of '61. A man leading two little boys by the iand pointed him out to the children. "There goes one of those grizzly old fighters, boys. I tell you, they did great work!" The words reached Adam and sent a gleam tc his eyes. With one great throb of his heart Adam stepped into the street and swung into line. The man next to him glanced in his direction, and his face whitened. Dan Roth! Surely old Dan Roth twitching body marked him apart. Rage, wild, unreasoning rage at fate, cried out from all his features. With some fascination Adam noticed that his eyes were fastened upon the flag, or all tha't was left of it. But what a gaze. His glance was a menace, his look burnt with the hatred of one whose hand is forever set against the' insignia of law and royalty. The ceremonies were drawing to a close. A bugler stepped forward ana played the first bar of the "Star Spangled Span-gled Banner." From his higher place Adam saw the man whom he had been watching push his way to the edge of the crowd, directly facing the flag. The people were singing now. The man's arm shot out. Something gleamed in the sunshine, something sang in the air above the words "in trimuph shall wave," and an old Zouave stumbled and fell forward upon the while stones. The commander of the post stooped over the fallen man and lifted his head. The man was a stranger to him. He looked at a Zouave standing near, silently questioning him. "He pushed In front of Peterson, sir, just as that scoundrel fired. He tried to grasp the flag. sir. 1 guess he saw what the fellow aimed at." "Who is he?" asked the officer. "And what is he doing here? He is not one of my men." "He was Dan Roth's brother. We have all heard of him he was the boy that wouldn't join In '61. But today to-day h e h e ' ' The old man knelt down beside Adam. Just below the dim stain on the shoulder shoul-der of Dan's jacket, the stain which marked that day at Alexandria there was a new, fresh one. The heart that lay heneath it was at peace. (Copyright. 1009. by J. B. Uppincott Co.) |