i
*
*£oday the earth is dressed in green,
And decked with sweetest flowers;
/.rd a’! the *Vy —’o'"*''’ 'i\ 1 /
To bless .his ,a..c of curs. .
Above the fields of former strife
Now starts the waving grain, |
And all is bloom and light and life
Where our heroes brave were slain.
Bring sweetest flowers to deck the graves I
Where their noble forms are laid;
Bring amaranths and evergreen,
Not those that early fade.
Plant myrtle and forget-me-nots,
And roses white and red;
Ts^lne laurel wreaths about the stones,
Where sleep our martyred dead.
All this we do in memory
Above their sacred dust,
While they, ’mid flowers sweeter than ours,
Rejoice today, we trust.
May children’s children evermore, |
In this same work delight,
And hold this day in sacredness, , *
To freedom, truth and right. \
[Being a more or less full, true, and
particular account of one of the most
momentous events of history, as related
by a veracious (?) participant.]
O YOU know what started
the Civil war?” asked the
genial octogenarian for
whom I had set up three
drinks and who was wait
ing for a fourth.
“The firing on Fort
Sumter.”
“But you don’t know
how Fort Sumter hap
pened to be fired on?”
“No, I don’t.”
He looked at his empty glass. I
know he could tell any number of im
probable yarns and I was curious to
know how long a bow he would draw
in that instance. The yarn would cost
another drink, but I ordered it. When
the old man saw it safe in his tumbler
he told the story.
* “At the time Major Anderson was
pent up in Sumter I, who had been an
ordnance sergeant in the United
States army and deserted to join the
Confederates, was in Charleston. I
went to General Beauregard and told
him what experience I had had in
ordnance. He told me I was just the
man he wanted. There was a big bluff
going on to compel President Lincoln
to order the evacuation of the fort.
It has been supposed since, that Sum
ter was fired on to precipitate the war.
That’s all bosh. They wanted to get
as many states as possible out of the
Union, thinking that when nearly all
were out the rest would be allowed to
go peaceably.
“So fearful was General Beauregard
that a shot would be fired from Fori
Moultrie that he would only permit
one gun to be shotted, and arranged
that that one couldn’t be fired except
by electricity, from a house in which
* he ate and slept. If a bombardment
was to take place, he wanted to fire
the first shot himself. So he told me
that he held me responsible for the
electric instrument connected with the
gun. The house was one of those big
old mansions for which Charleston is
famous, and there was plenty of room
I bad three rooms for my family, be
sides the gunroom, as it was called.
An order was issued that no one
should go into that room except my
self.
“The general explained to me that
if the gun was fired without an or
der from the president of the Confed
eracy, he would like to be fired out of
it himself. It would likely bring on a
war, and since the North had all the
food-growing country and manufac
tures the result would in the end be
disastrous to the South. At the same
time, he didn’t know himself all thaf
was going on, and if he received an
order by telegram to fire, he wished
to be in a position to obey it instant
ly. Some contingency might arise by i
which it would be a diplomatic advan
tage to fire the first gun before Major
Anderson fired; though the probabil
ities were overwhelmingly on the other
side. The Confederate government at
the time preferred that the European
powers should place the blame on the
United States for beginning a war.
“I kept the key of that gunroom in
my own pocket, and no human being
could get into it except myself. There
was no hole by which even a cat or a
dog could get in. The only opening
was a window sash down a few inches
from the top, which I lowered to ad
mit air.
“Well, sir, despite all these precau
tions, one day while I was reading a
newspaper in my living quarters, all
of a sudden I heard a report. The
general had just come in, and he and
I met in the hall. He was as white as
a sheet, and I reckon I was pretty pale
myself.
“We both ran outside and saw a
cloud of smoke over Moultrie. The
gun had been fired.
“I wondered how it could have hap
pened, but the general didn’t seem to
care how it was, since it had hap
pened. He went out as fast as he
could go to the telegraph office to in
form the government at Richmond
that the gun had been fired without
his order, it was supposed acciden
tally.
“Well, you know the result. The
firing of that gun fired the North as
well. The people of the free states
went wild, and from that moment the
fate of the Confederacy was settled.
Our ports were blockaded so that one
could get in little or nothing from
abroad, while the Northern people
could make or grow what they needed,
and what they -couldn’t produce them
selves they could buy wherever it was
to be had cheapest. But, Lord, how
we did fight!
“As for the Confederate govern
ment, it wouldn’t do for them to give
i-----—-—i
Ii:-1
“Genera! Beauregard Wanted to Fire
the First Shot.”
out that the gun had been fired by
mistake. In the first place, such a
statement wouldn’t be believed, and
if it were it wouldn’t do any good.
The government saw that they had a
war on their hands, instead of peace
ful secession, which was what they
had aimed at, and went into*it for all
they were worth. Anyway, it helped
get the Southern states that were hesi
tating ‘out of the Union.’”
The old man stopped short in his
story.
“But you haven’t told,” I said, “what
fired the gun.”
“Haven’t I?” he looked at his glass,
which was empty. I ordered it filled,
and he concluded:
I--—n
I___
“When I Went Into the Gun Room,
There Sat a Mouse.”
“When I went into the gunroom
there sat a mouse, looking very much
ashamed of himself. He had gone up
onto the electric key, and his weight
had tired the gun that brought on the
most fratricidal war (lie world has
ever known.”
(Copyright, 1920, Western Newspaper Union.)
Youthful Union Defender.
William B. Miller of Bath. N. Y.,
thinks he was the youngest soldier in
the Union army during the Civil war.
In 1861, when he was eleven years old,
he ran away from home and became
a drummer boy with the first North
Carolina volunteers, a regiment com
posed of Union men. He served five
months with this regiment, and then
became a drummer with the tenth New
York volunteer infantry with which he
served through the war. He was four
teen years old when he was discharged,
at the grand review in Washington In
1865.
The Nation's Obligation.
Every patriotic impulse is stirred by
the sentiments that cluster about Me
morial day. With heart filled with re
newed devotion to the ideals for which
these heroes fought and died, let every
American observe the day as befits
one who appreciates the blessings c
life, liberty and happiness.
55 g
H f=
--wing to a
g fl
Growing ■ |
I demand I
EE
g
"or Safe Deposit Boxes, we have installed 1
an additional battery of these boxes. |
• EE
EE
! hey are made out of heavy steel with
double lock and are stationed in our fire
proof vault.
Your papers and securities in one of our
boxes are perfectly safe against theft or |
fire.
c£
EE
H
EE
EE
e:
E
The irst Bank of |
Cordova [
RESOURCES OVER THREE QUARTERS OF MILLION DOLLARS
e
I
A. KRISTOFERSON |
(Incorporated) Seattle f
WHOLE SWEET MILK |
WHIPPING CREAM
BUTTERMILK
BULGARIAN BUTTERMILK j
£
s ; -
— ■■ i
1
Cordova Beverage &
Dairy Co.
I i f
Distributors
Phone 187
* I
BUILDING MATERIALS OF
ALL KINDS
Brick and Lime
CORDOVA MILL AND
LUMBER CO. | I
. . _’ i"
JUST RECEIVED
i
A LARGE SHIPMENT OF
LIVE CHICKENS
FINE FRIERS
JOE FREY
Phone 22
The Style Shop is offering some ex
ceptional bargains in necessary mer
chandise at its special sales, which
the ladies should not overlook. Drop
in an look over the goods and prices.
pIllllIlM
It’s Time to |
change i
To understand the comfort of good Under
| wear a man must feel the uplift of Under
! wear that fits because it’s cut right. It 1
| must fit snugly but not too much so, and PJ
| the lines on which it is cut should conform gj
| to the natural lines of the figure. jj
These medium-weight Union Suits have 1
| no equal for early spring comfort for body .
| and mind. They’ll wear without wearing j§
| out before you’re ready to change to the j
| hot-weather “athletics.” The time to
| change is now.
W. CLAYSON
••»•••» V/.V.V.V.V.V.V.'.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.VAV.V.V •••••••• .
g ---
I i Light Wati ir I
| O 1 |
I Tsleph me I
! M I
| Three essentials in every well-regulated I
| home or place of business I
ft:
I I
I - I
Alaska Public Utilities 1
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