life more worth the living as we toil on up the hill of time together,
with the bright pledges of our early and constant love by our side while
the sunlight of hope ever brightens our pathway, dispelling darkness and
sorrow as we hand in hand approach the valley of the great shadow.

The tale is told. The world moves on, the sun shines as brightly as
before, the flowers bloom as beautifully, the birds sing their carols as
sweetly, the trees nod and bow their leafy tops as if slumbering in the
breeze, the gentle winds fan our brow and kiss our cheek as they pass by,
the pale moon sheds her silvery sheen, the blue dome of the sky sparkles
with the trembling stars that twinkle and shine and make night beautiful,
and the scene melts and gradually disappears forever.

THE END.

Appendix: Transcription notes:

About "Company Aytch":

"Company Aytch" was printed as a series of newspaper articles in
1881-1882.

First printed in book form, 2000 copies, in 1882.

Second printing of 2000 copies in 1900.

Reprinted in 1952 with an introduction and commentary by
Bell Irvin Wiley.

10 or more printings by Collier Books starting in 1962, with an
introduction by Roy P. Basler.

The following modifications were applied while transcribing the
printed book to etext:

Quite a few of the sub-headings in the book were printed with a
trailing period, while the majority were not. For example, in
chapter 11:
SHOOTING A DESERTER. versus TARGET SHOOTING
DR. C. T. QUINTARD. versus GENERAL JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON
For the sake of consistency, I have removed these trailing periods.

Chapter 10
Page 123, para 3, fix typo "minne ball"

Chapter 12
Page 168, para 1, fix typo "Breckenridge"

The following words were sometimes printed hyphenated, sometimes
not. In this etext, they are not hyphenated:
arch-angel battle-fields foot-lights grave-yard hill-side
horse-back re-organization shot-gun up-stairs/down-stairs

The following words were sometimes printed hyphenated, sometimes
not. In this etext, they are hyphenated:
battle-flags

The following words were printed using the "ae" or "oe" ligature:
Caesar diarrhoea Thermopylae

I did not change the following:
Some words in this book appear to be mis-spelled, at least by
current usage:
descendents geneology

The author, intentionally or not,