only in anticipation,
and but a daily round of duty easily performed and soon passed. Liddy's
frequent letters, each filled with all the sweet and loving words that,
like flowers, naturally spring from a woman's heart, cheered him
greatly; but when the order came to go to the front, the scene changed,
and the reality of war came. He dreaded the first shock, not so much
from fear of death; but lest his courage fail. When it came at
Chancellorsville it was all over before he knew it. Although under fire
for eight hours, he was not conscious of the lapse of time or aught
else, except that he obeyed orders and loaded and fired with the rest;
forgetting that he might fall, or whether he was brute or human. That
night he wrote to Liddy: "We have had our first battle, and for many
hours I forgot even you. I know now that I shall not falter. Poor
Luzerne Norton, one of our academy boys, was killed, also three others
from our company; and seven were wounded."

When the letter reached Liddy her heart sank. To know that one of her
bright and happy schoolmates of a few months before had been shot and
killed, and others wounded, was to have the dread reality of war brought
very near home. "Thank God my boy was spared," she thought. That night
she wrote him the most loving letter he had ever received, concluding
with: "Be brave, my darling, and always remember that come what may I
shall keep my promise."

Then came the battle of Gettysburg, and although his company escaped
with only a few wounded, it was here he first realized the ghastly
horror of a battlefield after the fight is over, and how the dead are
buried.

When his next letter reached the sad-hearted one at home, no mention was
made of this experience, and when she wrote asking why he had never
told her how a battleground looked, or anything about it, he replied:
"Not for worlds would I tell you how we bury the dead, or how they
looked, or anything of the sickening details. Please do not read them in
the papers, for it will do you no good, and cause you needless
suffering. I wish to keep misery from you. Think of me only as doing my
duty, and try to believe (as I do) that I shall come back to you alive
and well."

For the next six months he had no battles to face--only skirmishing and
picket duty. When Christmas came it brought him two boxes of good things
to gladden his heart. One was from his dear old mother, and one was from
Liddy, and tucked away in that, between f