Page:The Story of Aunt Becky's Army-Life .djvu/109

Rh lieutenant were from Holyoke, Mass. The young officer was a noble looking young man, and his struggle with death was hard, so much life and hope he had.

He said to me, "Will you look at my feet and hands, and tell me why they are so cold and numb? "Will I, can I ever get well?"

They were purple even then. I said honestly, "I think you can live but a short time," and sighing, he replied slowly,

"Well, I am not sorry that I came here, even if I have got my death, but it will be very lonely for her."

He seemed to dwell upon the thought very calmly, and went on saying, "If the country forgets me, she always remembers me; there will be a monument raised in her heart to my memory, and it will always live."

He died as peacefully as a child goes to its slumbers—dropped away silently without a struggle, and as I closed his eyes, and looked upon the great noble figure stiffening in death, I thought how her heart would ache, when she knew that her head could never more be pillowed upon his bosom.

The doctor recovered slowly, and remained an efficient aid in our Medical Corps till the army was disbanded, and each soldier was sent to the Hospital of Home, to draw upon the sanitary resources of individual households.

Four of us tented together, and slept upon the ground till just previous to our breaking camp, when