Page:War; or, What happens when one loves one's enemy, John Luther Long, 1913.djvu/335

TO THE FRONT And it breaks my heart—but I tell her yes! For how do I know—who, also, wait?

Well—excuse me!—it was a flag presented to the company, and a sword to Jon; both of which he received like a soldier—with a few words. I never could think of those men down in Virginia, both Union and Confederate, who made long speeches and "proclamations" as real fighting soldiers.

"For the flag," says Jon, up on a store box they brought him, "I thank you, friends, more than for the sword. That is our country. I think I speak for every man behind me when I say that we shall do our best to keep it—and, when we are through with it, bring it back to you as it goes forth. With this over my head I feel, for the first time, my responsibility. As to this sword—I am frank to say that I shudder at thinking of my hand driving it through the living body of a fellow man and turning him into a corpse. I shall honestly try to bring it back unstained with blood. It is 319