Show A soldier santa claua BY II 11 QUAD J just u st outside the lines of the third army corps as wo me went into camp tor for the winter of 1863 4 was a log farm house inhabited Inhabit eLl by a woman and three children the wife and children of a virginia farmer who had shouldered his musket and marched away with tae confederates Confederate a two years before there were other farm houses further away amay other farm houses in front of other corps hundreds of other confederate war widows and helpless children on that neutral ground and we of the blue used to pity them as the nights came down dark and lonely and the north winds made one shiver and chill we were not warring against women and children and yet war had laid a heavy hand on them their scant crops had bad been trampled into the earth their live stock driven oft off their fences and barns burned littly left to satisfy their hunger or cover ther their nakedness many a so idlers rations were divided with gaunt faced women and wolfish looking children and if it was aiding and comforting the enemy we were willing to take the chances the farm house I 1 have specially referred to was not nol different ficia many others but the woman oman and calill 0 dren were different we offered again and again but they would mould accept no food at ou hands now and hen the m men on picket c t near the house saw 9 0 the tha children in the frozen ground for potatoes or the woman moman digging roots and wandering afar for ears of corn but when coffee bacon sugar and hardtack hard tack were offered them in kindliness they turned away their heads even it if left on the doorstep door step the food was mas not taken in we were their enemies they were hungry and cold and ragged but they could not accept aid at our hands it was only when company B of the tenth took its turn on outpost duty near the house that we got a word from woman or chil V cn n then it was corporal 0 OTo tole T ole lc b big ag good natured and always wearing a smile on his face who broke down the womanly reserve of the litle allt ten year old girt girl ile he found her half a mile from home one day and she was m as so overcome with the cold th t she made no resistance when he picked her up in his arms arena and carried her to the house when he kissed the frozen tears teara from her cheeks and said lie he had left a kid of her age back in the coith who was motherless the child reached up and put her arms around his neck the corporal bad conquered the child but not the mother it Is kind of you sir she said as the soldier entered the house with his bla burden never you mind the corporal would reply when we e guyed him a bit over hla his failure to soften the mothers pride christmas Is coming along and III play santa claus claua in a way to melt her heart bilde or no pride she can t stand up tip agin christmas ill fill the stockings of them kids A li I 1 L im court martl marti aled and shot for it next day three days before christmas we got ciders on the front to be unusually vigilant as it was waa known thet a number of confederates whose families lived within our lines had been furloughed to pay a brief visit our picket was wag doubled and every post had three men on it and it was certain that we turned back quite a number 6 r 1 T r J k al e t f f 1 4 I 1 11 41 ill ij beald aoel sing bory jj jr L rice ar 1 ji te my jod 1 I MAPLES WESLEY and you must let me gather some wood and supply aou ou with food he replied no sir I 1 can accept nothing from our hands bands cut but the children childen maam they must suffer with mith me ine str sir 11 the corpo corpa RI al amo out to the post and a haversack full of food and returned and begged tho woman to accept it lut but she fhe vaa as firm she enen cen chided the chil children dien for the hungry look in theli theft eyes the woman had bad softened a bit low nei at least towards one of us and from that day on little susie w aia ts permitted to speak and wilk with the corporal coi cui and che did not hide from the rest of us as re ce oie 01 e kindness had converted converth d he WWW ur c though our hearts were not in the work nork As corporal said one night when he turned out to h head had ad the midnight relief its our duty to otey obey orders ind nd well mell be shot if we vie don t but this turning back a poor soldier who hasa t had bad sight of his wife or kids for a couple of years and who wants mants nothing now nom except to pass a christmas with em Is no work for a soldier the day before christmas the corporal made coade lip ip a haversack of food brought out a few simple toys and a box of candy he had sent up to washington for and he auton put on a wig and false whiskers Ahi and showed himself oft off as a pretty good santa claua lie ile had the help and encouragement of a dozen of us ua and all day long we in bulged in the hope that the womans comans mans a pride night might gho blo way on this one ocia occasion sion tit at least the tha day had dragged along until an hour before dusk with everything quiet on our front when a bushwhacker fired upon and wounded one of our pickets this brought out a fresh order tor for vigilance and a sergeant and his squad beat up the forest and captured two confederate soldiers who were trying to enter our lines to visit their it was known that a third one had bad escaped I 1 and just after dark corporal 0 toole was ordered to picket the highway a quarter of a mike from our farm house when ho he hal had reached the spot and posted his bis men he said eald its all happened just right now IM rig up and play the santa claus act and youa you 11 see me back here within halt half an hour keep 5 our eyes peeled and it if theres anything eua bus niclous send jones along to notify nie me with har e long uray cray hair bair ot of his bis wig tossing in the wind his Nen venerable erable whiskers lying on his breast his fur eap cap on his head bead and a score of bells ti tinkling alding as aa he walked the corporal corp cral passed uj the road amidst the whirling snow with his packages on his back KB ire entered the farm house bouse without the wife sat hovered oer the poor fire and the chil dren sat eat on the floor quarreling over a bit of food santa claus swung Z 1 4 co hii package to the floor cut the string an aal I 1 the frightened children gasped 4 out exclamations of joy then lie he placed his haversack on the table abid and mas turning away without a word ahen v hen the woman rose up and said bald 0 4 I 1 know you you are the compoi corpo corporal ial al I 1 I 1 thank you kindly but its christmas eve maam interrupted the soldier and children are children the world over q dut but this food she ehe said I 1 cannot accept it you must confound it wom 1 I 1 I 1 beg your pardon maam but dont 1 I know that ou had a square meal for weeks past I 1 in no enemy to you and the kids but you must take it away but D it its As christmas eve woman its the via to torget forget and forgive arid and at that instant the door opened an and a stranger entered no not a stranger 0 but the husband and father the confederate soldier on a furlough to pass christmas with his bis family the corporal spotted him for N hat he was waa in an instant and before anyone had moved or spoken he turned to the woman and said eald its christmas eye eve and r present 0 you with 5 our husband and my best wishes t he strode to the other door and opened it and passed out to run into the arms of jones who had hurried up to say corporal ive just tracked one of them contends to this house bouse and heo hab now inside jones exclaimed the corporal as aa he be laid his bis big fist against the others cold nose you re a confounded marl dut but I 1 tell you I 1 saw and you ate are stone blind you seen a johnny for six months 4 and it if you or williams or finegan fenegan say that you have ill lam the three of yo ye within an inch of yer livest do you tumble to me or no oh well it if old santa claus puts it that way its not for the likes ot of me to dispute him P replied jones better a heap bet better terl 1 chuckled 0 toole and now by the right flank forward marchl and four days later little susie came out to the corporal and shyly put her hand in his and whispered pa thanks you and ma thanks you and we all thank you and pa went away amay last night and nia ma says it was waa 0 the best santa claus she ehe ever lilard board kofl the festival of the twelfth month Is not as the name would indicate exclusively clu a christmas hollday bri liday it was celebrated in much the same fashion as it ler now centuries before the christian era dy by the early romans it was celebrated as the satur saturnalia nalla or festival 6 to saturn and m was as marked by the prevalence of merrymaking merry making among all classes rici poor old and young t |