He
said some of the folks must have the letters we wrote home from the
front, an' we could make out quite a history of us. I call Elder
Dallas a very smart man; he'd planned it all out a'ready, for the
benefit o' the young folks, he said," announced Henry Merrill, in a
tone of approval.
"I s'pose there ain't none of us but could add a little somethin',"
answered John Stover modestly. "'Twould re'lly learn the young folks
a good deal. I should be scared numb to try an' speak from the pulpit.
That ain't what the Elder means, is it? Now I was one that had a good
chance to see somethin' o' Washin'ton. I shook hands with President
Lincoln, an' I always think I'm worth lookin' at for that, if I ain't
for nothin' else. 'Twas that time I was just out o' hospit'l, an' able
to crawl about some. I've often told you how 'twas I met him, an' he
stopped an' shook hands an' asked where I'd been at the front an' how
I was gettin' along with my hurts. Well, we'll see how 'tis when
winter comes. I never thought I had no gift for public speakin', 'less
'twas for drivin' cattle or pollin' the house town-meetin' days. Here!
I've got somethin' in mind. You needn't speak about it if I tell it to
ye," he added suddenly. "You know all them han'some flowers that was
laid on to Eb Munson's grave an' Tighe's? I mistrusted you thought the
same thing I did by the way you looked. They come from Marthy Down's
front yard. My woman told me when we got home that she knew 'em in a
minute; there wa'n't nobody in town had that kind o' red flowers but
her.
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