he was glad to see me
home, safe from the war. But it's all right, for many such were met
later.

I now had only two miles to go, and was soon at the dear old boyhood
home. My folks were expecting me, so they were not taken by surprise.
There was no "scene" when we met, nor any effusive display, but we all
had a feeling of profound contentment and satisfaction which was too
deep to be expressed by mere words.

When I returned home I found that the farm work my father was then
engaged in was cutting up and shocking corn. So, the morning after my
arrival, September 29th, I doffed my uniform of first lieutenant, put
on some of father's old clothes, armed myself with a corn knife, and
proceeded to wage war on the standing corn. The feeling I had while
engaged in this work was "sort of queer." It almost seemed, sometimes,
as if I had been away only a day or two, and had just taken up the farm
work where I had left off.

Here this story will close.

In conclusion I will say that in civil life people have been good to
me. I have been honored with different positions of trust, importance,
and responsibility, and which I have reason to believe I filled to the
satisfaction of the public. I am proud of the fact of having been
deemed worthy to fill those different places. But, while that is so, I
will further say, in absolute sincerity, that to me my humble career as
a soldier in the 61st Illinois during the War for the Union is the
record that I prize the highest of all, and is the proudest
recollection of my life.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF A COMMON SOLDIER OF
ARMY LIFE IN THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865***

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