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Show ' . The Dark Before Dawn. Oh, mystery of the morning gloam, Of haunted air, of windless hush! Oh, wonder of the deepening dome Afar, still far, the morning's flush! My spirit hears, among the spheres. The round earth's ever-auickening rush! A single leaf, on yonder tree, The planet's rush hath felt, hath heard; And soon all branches whispering be! That whisper wakes the nested bird The song of thrush, before the blush Of dawn the dreaming world has ever stirred! The old moon withers In the east The winds of space may drive her far! In heaven's chancel waits the priest Dawn's pontiff-priest, the morning star! And yonder, lo! a shafted glow The gates of day-spring fall ajar! V Scribner's. A War-Time Incident Several months ago, when Department Depart-ment Commander Weber of the Grand Army was in Chattanooga looking after a site for the Ohio monument to her .soldiers who fought at Mission Ridge, he met a Capt. Smart. Incidentally,, Incident-ally,, in the conversation, Commander Weber spoke of the charge of the Union forces up the ridge, and of a Confederate battery which tried to escape, but snagged one of its guns on a stump. He spoke also of one of the boys of his company who dropped a red cap near one of the batterymen. Capt. Smart gave him the address of Capt. Dent, who commanded the battery, bat-tery, and the commander wrote to him receiving the following interesting re-Ply:;- :,v:--V---- "I commanded what was known as 'Dent's battery' at the battles of Chick-amauga Chick-amauga and Mission Ridge. My battery bat-tery was on the ridge and not far to the left of that part of the Confederate Confeder-ate line which was opposite Orchard Knob. My battery was divided when the assault was made on the ridge. I had two guns at the left of a public road, and four to the right of said road. I think the road wa3 the Shallow Shal-low Fork road, but am not sure. I had six brass 12-pounder Napoleon gans, and lost five of them in this battle. "I feel satisfied from your description descrip-tion of the battle that it was my battery bat-tery that fired on your flank, or at what the comrades regard as too high a rate, established by the railroads rail-roads for the trip to the National Encampment, to be held in San Francisco Fran-cisco in August. Seventy-three' dollars dol-lars from New York is regarded as too high. They cite the fact that the Christian Endeavorers, when their international convention was held in San Francisco, were given a rate of $52. Massachusetts veterans have taken the matter up seriously, and a committee of six will be appointed to act with the Department Commander of that state in securing lower rates, if possible. A meeting of the present and past officers of the Department of Massachusetts and delegates was held in the state house in Boston recently re-cently to consider the subject. It was resolved to ask Commander in Chief Stewart to use all proper influence in-fluence to get as good rates to San Francisco for the week of August 17 as was given the Christian Endeavor society. Colored Man Was Grateful. "I had a pleasant reminder of the war the other day," said the Captain. "It came in the shape of a silver cream pitcher and sugar bowl, accompanied ac-companied by a well-written letter, which my people liked very much. The letter abounded in references the significance of which was apparent only to .myself. After one of the hot engagements of the war I came upon a young colored man who had been between the lines and who was like a man paralyzed. I spoke reassuringly reassur-ingly to him and hurried after the retreating re-treating enemy. "In the evening some of my men brought the young negro into camp, and as I passed the group I heard the boys explaining to the young fellow that he was free and could do as he pleased. They wanted to know what he was going to do about it, and intimated in-timated pretty strongly that if they were in his place they would take the job of cooking for a certain mess in their own company. As I passed the colored man came toward me and stammered that he didn't know what saulting column got under the hill so we could not reach them by front fire, we turned our guns so as to infilade the assaulting column as much as possible. pos-sible. One of my guns, the one nearest near-est the road, got away. When I found the fire so heavy that I could not hope to escape that way, I tried to take the guns over through the underbrush. under-brush. "Ic going down L remember the axle of one of my guns caught against a stump. I tried to have it lifted over the stump, as the ground there was quite steep, and got the front axle over, but before we could get the hind axle over your people; got very close and opened fire, killing, as I now remember, re-member, one man, and wounding several sev-eral others. I was with this gun, and a bullet went through my coat sleeve. The gun, of course, "was abandoned there. "The red cap which your people found there belonged, I think, to the man killed there his name ' was Schaub. When I say he was killed I know he was shot through the neck and fell, and judging from the way the blood spurted, I saw no chance for him, and we left without ceremony. "My impression is that the officer who rode the white horse in that battle bat-tle was Gen. Patton Anderson. Gen. Anderson was afterward very badly wounded in the battle of Jonesboro. He died a few years ago in Memphis, Tenn., but went into the army from Florida. "My battery was reorganized, but with only four guns, and I was in all the battles from Dalton to Atlanta, and was wounded July 22, 1864, in the battle of Atlanta the day Gen. Mcpherson Mc-pherson was killed and later was wounded ij the battle of Nashville. I was also in the battle of Pittsburg Landing, as some of your people call it and was wounded there. "The war is over. I have a son in as he pleased he would do whatever I wanted him to do. "He became my cook and man of all work at company headquarters, and remained with me to the end of the war. I took him home with me' and in due time established him in business. Then I came West, and after my location in Chicago did not bear from my protege for thirty years. He, in the meantime had changed location, had prospered in business, and after thirty years' waiting wait-ing sent me the silver creamer and sugar, and a letter testifying to his gratitude and affection. I liked that, you know, and I was as glad to hear of his success in life as I would be to hear of the success of an old comrade com-rade in arms." Chicago Inter Ocean. Few Fraudulent Claims. Every now and then is heard a remark to the effect that many applicants appli-cants for pensions are frauds, or that many claims made by soldiers are fraudulent, and the unthinking believe be-lieve it. The last report of trials and convictions for one year shows there were 226 convictions, against 159 persons, per-sons, as follows: Soldiers and sailors, 11. Women's roll Claiming as widows (after remarriage), re-marriage), 22; bogus widows, 11; claim as mother of soldier, 1; false witnesses, 4. Civilian's record, men's cases Attempting bribery, 1; conspiracy, con-spiracy, 2; false certifications, 23; false claims, 22; false personation, 1; forgery and perjury, 24; prosecuting claims while a government officer, 3. Offenses also against pensioners Embezzlement from minors, 1; charging charg-ing illegal fees, 15; personating government gov-ernment officers, 13; retaining pension pen-sion certificates, 2. Only eleven soldiers and sailors appear in the above list, two of whom were deserters, and one other served in the Spanish-American war. the navy who took part in the Spanish-American war a few years ago so you see he fought for the flag in that war, if I did follow the stars and bars in the war of 1861-65. "S. D. Dent, Eufaula, Ala." In a postscript the captain says of the battle of Mission Ridge: "One incident of the battle you may tecall. As your column advanced up the hill just opposite where one section sec-tion of my battery was posted, which was to the Confederate left of this road, in firing on the column with the lnfllading fire, we cut down the only tree, as I remember, left standing. ,T"he tree fell right on the advancing column, and, as it rolled down the steep hill, it carried with it one man, -Who had evidently been caught in the limbs of the tree. The picture of that man as he was carried down by the tree is very vivid in my mind." Think Railroad Rate Too High. There Is a good deal of comment in Grand Army circles in the East over Raising Fund for Encampment. An effort is being made to raise a fund of $100,000 to pay the expenses of the coming ex-Confederate soldiers' reunion in New Orleans. One contribution contri-bution of $1,000 has been made, and is the largest thus far. Three of $500, one of $300, and five of $200 have been made. The Union Veterans' Association As-sociation has given $10, regretting its inability to give more, and saying: "We are prompted to this action by the kind treatment always accorded us by the Confederate veterans during dur-ing our residence among you." Postpone Meeting Till October. The Society of the Army of the Tennessee has decided to postpone its meeting in Washington, D. C, from May to October 15. This action has been taken on account of a desire to have the President present at the unveiling of the statue of Gen. Sherman. |