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. She must ha' kind o' harked back to the days when she was Marthy
Peck. She must have come over with 'em after dark, or else dreadful
early in the mornin'."

Henry Merrill cleared his throat. "There ain't nothin' half-way 'bout
Mis' Down," he said. "I wouldn't ha' spoken 'bout this 'less you had
led right on to it; but I overtook her when I was gittin' towards home
this afternoon, an' I see by her looks she was worked up a good deal;
but we talked about how well things had gone off, an' she wanted to
know what expenses we'd been put to, an' I told her; and she said
she'd give five dollars any day I'd stop in for it. An' then she spoke
right out. 'I'm alone in the world,' says she, 'and I've got somethin'
to do with, an' I'd like to have a plain stone put up to Eb Munson's
grave, with the number of his rigiment on it, an' I'll pay the bill.
'Tain't out o' Mr. Down's money,' she says; ''tis mine, an' I want