"
It was a mild starlit night. The three friends took their separate
ways presently, leaving the Plains road and crossing the fields by
foot-paths toward their farms.
II.
The week went by, and the next Saturday morning brought fair weather.
It was a busy morning on the farms--like any other; but long before
noon the teams of horses and oxen were seen going home from work in
the fields, and everybody got ready in haste for the great event of
the afternoon. It was so seldom that any occasion roused public
interest in Barlow that there was an unexpected response, and the
green before the old white meeting-house was covered with country
wagons and groups of people, whole families together, who had come on
foot. The old soldiers were to meet in the church; at half past one
the procession was to start, and on its return the minister was to
make an address in the old burying-ground. John Stover had been first
lieutenant in the war, so he was made captain of the day. A man from
the next town had offered to drum for them, and Martin Tighe's proud
boy was present with his fife. He had a great longing--strange enough
in that peaceful, sheep-raising neighborhood--to go into the army; but
he and his elder brother were the mainstay of their crippled father,
and he could not be spared from the large household until a younger
brother could take his place; so that all his fire and military zeal
went for the present into martial tunes, and the fife was a
safety-valve for his enthusiasm.
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