A Bit Of Pencil

"I have a very fine and choica cabinefc of relies and specimens of the late war," aid J. Fillmore of South Dakota. "ín ihe oollection is an oíd fasbioned common lead peucil, only three-quarters oí an inch long, which waa given to me by Major J. B. Fairbanks, wbo carried it hrough the entire war, and in presentng it to me the major gave me íhia biographieal sketch of the pencil; 'This )eucil is a veteran of the late war. When it enlisted, it was round and of full length. " 'When the war was over, itwas, like many other veterans, badly used up. During its service it campaigned in dust and mud, over the hills aud plaius of Vlarylaud aud Virginia, through the swampsof Miesissippi, acrosa the moun;ains of Keutncky and Tennessee, again through Virginia, froin the Wilderness to Appomattox. It has watchsd npon the picket line in daylight and in darkness, m heat and in cold, in rain and in snow. [t has taken part in mauy skirmishes, and in more than half a score of regular aattles, and in addition it went through the siege of Petersburg, and was engaged iu several of the assaults upon that stronghold. With it, for eight raonths, while the owuer was iirst sergeant of his company, he kept the daily record and report of the company. " 'It wrote the name and the uumber of those on detached service, of the absent with leavo, of those daily detailed for ordinary camp duties or occasionally for Kotne special duty, of the number prei?ent for duty and of the sick in quarters. At the roll cali after battle it has noted the names of those who did not auswer. It has recorded the names of those men as killed in battle, wounded in battle, died of wounds, died of disease, discharged on account of wouudï received and disease contracted in line of duty. In its own way it bas written its humble page in the history of the most eventful epoch of all times. servo it audcherish it. ' "-