Show ONCE FOES NOW FRIENDS A story of two veteran of clau war two veterans of tho civil war keep bachelors hall in a pretty new england town saya the des mainos la leader both are but both are modest so out of respect for their feelings they will be designated here as federal captain thomas and confederate captain williams they had been college and tho three weeks preceding the first shot at charleston were spent by williams at the home of thomas the same house where williams now does tho carving because his host has but one arm and where thomas does most of the walking because his guest has but oho leg As soon as it was certain that war was inevitable the friends separated and went to the front one donning the blue and tho other the gray the war was nearly over when they first met as foes it was on the field of one of the terrible last battles early in the fight thomas who had become a captain of infantry had his right arm shattered by a fragment of a shell that exploded above his head in his excitement he did not perceive how serious his wound was but simply placed the wounded member in a sling made of his handkerchief 1 took his sword in his let L hand and dashed to the front again the battle grew hot and furious A position at first held by the confederates was usurped by captain thomas i and his company who by their au dacita were drawing a heavy fire from in gray for a quarter of an hour they were unable to advance one inch and were constantly charged by a reckless company of cavalry led captain thomas soon perceived by his friend williams presently one of these charges proved disastrous to tho confederate captain he fell from his horse midway between the opposing forces and lay motionless in an extremely dangerous spot whore shells from a distant part of the field dropping every minute captain thomas saw that hia friend was still alivo and made up bis mind in an instant como on boys ho shouted and dashed forward followed by his men five men fell before they had advanced fifty yards still shouting encouragingly cou ragingly to his followers captain thomas ran to where his wounded friend lay raised him to his shoulder and darted toward a largo rock which offered shelter from the flying shells and bullets tho rock was only a dozen paces distant but a shell burst almost at his feet covering both with dirt when the coveted place of safety was reached captain thomas collapsed A little later he was found by his victorious comrades lying insensible bo aido the man choso whoso life ho had saved captain thomas carried away tho stump of abarm and captain williams the stump of a leg as souvenirs of tho fight and when tho war was over they laughingly agreed to form a pool of sound limbs and keep bachelor shall for the remainder of tapi |