plainly as though it stood here before me, and I see mother sitting in
her arm-chair by the table, knitting. Poor mother! how lonely she
looks.'

"'Has she no other children?' I asked.

"'No; I am her only child. She let me go because I would not stay; I
sometimes think perhaps I was wrong to leave her. We lived alone on
the hill, and when I rode into the country town and heard the latest
news, I seemed to be all on fire; I would ride back over the quiet
road, my blood fairly tingling with excitement. At last, as the story
of the battles began to come, I could stand it no longer, and I told
mother I must go. The regiments from my part of the country were all
full, but I got a lieutenant's place in another county, and marched
away. That was more than two years ago, and I have never felt homesick
until this evening. I don't know what has come over me.'

"'In what part of Ohio does your mother live, captain?' I asked.

"'At Benton Fails, South county. I hope to get a furlough before long.
I want to go home, if only for a few days; there is one there besides
mother whom I want to see; I never knew how much until now.'

"These last words were spoken in a low tone, almost as if the young
soldier had forgotten my presence and was talking to himself. He was
sitting on the log, with his back against a large oak-tree, resting as
though he was in an arm-chair. He said no more, and I strolled away
for a moment, thinking that if he resumed the subject when I returned,
I would gladly pursue it, but unwilling to take advantage of what
might have been an inadvertent utterance. I was absent several