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Show ObUlIRD OENERMION ttielr days, or left an arm, like me, at I'etersburg or somewhere else 1 really real-ly couldn't say. There must have been hundreds of thousands crippled like that." The boy fondled the empty sleete of the ola blue coat thoughtfully ana nestled closer as he murmured: "I'm sorry they got you, grandpa, but you never run away from them, did you?' he added proudly. This In a tone of r confidence rather tf? j eflTM A than inquiry. ft , jfXLJlT? "D I d n't I, though?" laughed AMj A'Si the old m a u. ffl(Jwm ', "You'd a-thought I WNUVjI ' A was one of those WmfAffl what do you cult 1 J 'em? Marathons, a F the way 1 ran filMif down there at 'O. ido "9 tvjKe Manassas, laddie JS! was plenty of oth- j VJhT ers ol us In that ly'V'r.'l Si P scramble. Why, we J never stopped un- J i?- ' ' til we got across h M, the rotomac and it ps , Into Washington. ' Li V we were so keen ' f' In that sprint. Hut s,! Mk then," added the U veteran, npologct- I l iiVl'' Ically, "there were JJ nJrVj. times afterward 1(M. when the 'John- t ilW. tiles' had to run, 'W too, for that mat- ty, I. ter." rr-fcS' "How many sol- diers did tho 'Johnnies' have, grandpa?" grand-pa?" The old soldier stroked his beard contemplatively with bis one remaining remain-ing band. "Well, son, we have to admit ad-mit nowadays that we outnumbered the 'Johnnies.' Their records are not so complete as ours are got lost somewhere In the shuffle, I guess but during the four years they mustered somewhere above a million men altogether. alto-gether. Toward the enu their recruiting recruit-ing officers fairly robbed the cradle and the grave for soldiers, as we used to say. After February of '04 old Jeft Davis forced all the white men or boys between seventeen ana fifty years old, to go into the army and stay In until ttu end ol the war Ana we Yankees may as well admit to their credit that most of 'em didn't need to be forced, either." "Lots of them got killed, I suppose?" said the child. "Yes, Indeed, laddie boy. Their losses were as big as ours In proportion propor-tion to numbers engaged heavier, I dare say but they don t know Just how many were killed and wounded on their side. And, besides all the loss of life and the sorrow and sui ferlng, their homes and their farms were ruined, so that they haven't recovered re-covered from it yet, and the war cost us In money hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars." The big. wondering eyes of the little lit-tle chap were drooping now. Hcdtime had come for the little men ol tho third generation since Appomattox. He sighed with a sleepy but comfortable sense of perfect security and content "Anyhow, grandpa," he murmured, "It's settled all right now, lsn t It?" "Yes, laddie boy, It's all settled and settled right, I guess. It's only one country hero now and there are no slaves In It, and It's growing bigger and stronger and grander every minute." min-ute." The tousled head snuggled closer to the empty coat sleeve. I glanced up from my desk, w here t had been listening to their warlike dialogue. The boy's eyes had closed In slumber. Soon the old soldier, too, hud settled back Into the sleepy hollow chair and was off to the land of Nod, the lad well launched on the dreamless current cur-rent of childhood sleep, the veteran perchance to live again In visions through youthful days of camp and trench and battle carnage. Let him sleep, I thought; he will need all his remaining strength for the short tramp tomorrow with the remnant of the boys In blue. New York Herald. The Old flag. I come with a full heart and a steady hand to salute the flag that floats above me my flag and yeur flag the flag of the L'nlon the flag of tho free heart's hope and home the star-spangled banner of our fathersthe fa-thersthe flag that, uplifted triumphantly trium-phantly over a few brave men, has never been obscured, destined by the god of the universe to waft on Its ample folds the eternal song of freedom free-dom to all mankind, emblem of the power on earth which Is to exceed that of which It was said the sun never went down. Col. Henry Wat-terson. Wat-terson. Ever-Narrowing Circle. In addressing the Grand Army of the Republic shortly before he died. President McKinley said: "The circle Is narrowing One tame after another Is crossed out by the black pencil vt grim death. Day after day at roll call we hear of veterans vet-erans who are 'not present' but 'ao-counted 'ao-counted for.' They have gone to Join the greet majority of our comrades who sleep tonight beneath the low green tent whose curtslLs never awing outward." w a y 1IY did they want A to kill one an- HA I other, grandpa?" yyill It was the eve . 11 l before Memorial ( v ! jf 1 T head of my boy 10 a 2 nestled contented ly beside my father's fath-er's grizzled beard. The veteran had been chnttlng remlnlscently of the old Homeric Civil war days, of bivouac, forced march and battle Held. He had taken from his closet tho dusty blue coat, with the bronze star In Its buttonhole, and had furbished It up and tried It on, to see If It would pass muster for the stress and glory of one more' Memorial day parade on the uorrow. The lad was a good listener and a good questioner. Snuggled there on the patriarch's knee, he playfully twirled the bronze star In the lapel of tho blue coat. He had been absorbing absorb-ing a lesson In his country's history. The veteran ran his gnarled fingers through the boy's hair fondly as he heard the question, but the old man lad grown thoughtfully silent. "Why did you have to shoot each other, grandpa?" An Indulgent smile mellowed the deep lined face as the soldier made answer: "Ah, laddie, boy, that's a question that has puzzled many an older head than yours. But, you see, the country was divided about some very Important Im-portant matters. The north and the south couldn't seem to see things alike. Well, they tried to tlx It up one way and another, but finally It came down to this question whether tho United Slates of America was to bo one country or more than one. Koth sides thought they were right, no doubt. They couldn't agree about It. and both sides were so sure they were right that they were willing to die for their belief. So In the end they just had to fight it out and settle It. Maybe we'll find a better way to H ttle these differences some day, but that won't be In my time and perhaps not in yours either, laddie, boy " "Well, your side won, didn't It, grandpa ?" "Y'es, my boy, there's only one coun-try coun-try here now," said tho old man slm-I'ly. slm-I'ly. "Y'our side was the bravest, wasn't It, grandpa?" "No, son; we used to think so once, I suppose. The other fellows thought they were the bravest, too, but we all got better acquainted at Hull Hun and i'hanccdlorsvllle and Gettysburg and Spottsylvanla Court House, and some of those other military sociables, and I guess we're all content to call quits on the question of bravery. Our side bad the most men and the most money what they call resources, you know but 1 wouldn't like to say today to-day that we had the better soldiers." "How many men were on your side?" was the lad's next question. "Oh, more than you could possibly Imagine, my little man. Those were big armies, but my "iL.' A old friend General I Jy I'oynton had It fig- yjli, v V ured out that un- ' der President Lin- - f'A coin's nine dllTer- ' Sli d 1 ent ca"g for troons l' lncre were about '7x 2.K0U.0UU northern ' "n'cJ-"-ry soldiers called In- zyi 'sXy, to the field during x-, - war lasted. That "rv f'.'Tj included the men 'rzC-'jf"f,''i no onl served 'ft hort time and 'TjZj-t . SZ? the old codgers :c- J" ik me. who eren'1 flt for rX:S'J j.- niuch else and who enlisted for the KiVVr whole war." j.'" were big with won- iA ' 'ti'd ,JT to comprehend the ---'I'CtTZ&L figures. Then In a - voice of chlldiBh awe he whispered: VJ'V -How many of an 1." those men got " " J killed?" "Nobody knoss that for sure, laddie boy," said the veteran solemnly. "Y'ou see, there were hundreds and hundreds of th'-m Just burled in trenches after the Mg battles, and In all the national ceme-I ceme-I rles there are long rows of grates even now wlt.t no names over them. Put I was talking about It with our port commander the other day, and he told me the best figures In the pension office show that the Union armies lost by death from a'l caue during the war about 360,0x) m-n. There were about 136.000 of these who were either killed outright in battle or else died of their wounds. The rest died from disease. How many j were only wounded brought some j lead souvenirs borne with m to car- j ry vit srfh them for the reet ot |
