Only One Killed

" One killed and three wounded." " That all ?" said I. " Hardly worth tbc cost of a telegram."' There had been a reconnoissance, a surprise of' enemy's scouts, a brief, sharp engagement, euding successfully, and casual ties as above. A pair of sober gray eyes were turned upou my face, and I read in tbem a bilcnt rcbuke for this liglituess of speech. ' And yet," I added, by way of . ogy for my remark, " the loss of this single Ufe niay shadow more than a single home. Cups thiit held until now only sweet wine may be full of bitterucss jereafter." ' What company was engagcci t" asked a man, WÍJO gftt ncar. The newsi.-iper im roferred to, and thu answer jiven. " Compai;y C." " Colouel E- 's regiment?" " Yes, Sir." " Are the uames of the killed and wcuiided given ? ' '' Xd ïiiunes are giren." ; " Muy I sec your paper for a i nerit V" I handed him tha nowspaper, in whieli [ had rcad about the reconnoissance, and i what seemed, at the moment, a casualiy not worth reporting. I saw that his ■ jand treinbled a little, and that his eyes searched through the sentences of the telegram in an eager way. i " Thuuk 3 ou," he said, as he returned i he paper, "there are no particulars." - i ïhen, with a falling of the voice, ho ad dcd, " I havo a sou in that cüinpany." i Remerabering the ltgbt speech into wbich :i waut of ïeflectiun had betrayed ne, I did not venture to respond iu any way lest the real concern I now feit ïiight be regarded, if expressed, as only a pretense. 80011 after, the man uodded ;o the conductor of the car in wbich we were riding; the check-string was pulled, ;he car stopped, and he went out. My eyes followcd him is the car moved on until I saw him enter a house. Two days afterward - I had forgotten the vrifling matter of one killed and three wounded- in passing this house I saw crape on tho door. My heart leaped with a painful tb rob. ' VN'ho is dead in the third house be[ow ?" I askcd of tho store-keeper at the corner. " Mr. B 'i son. lie was killed." " Id the war '!" " Yes, sir. News carne three days ago, that one man had been killed in a reconnoissance, and it turned out to be lis son, Kdward. Ah ! sir, he was a splendid young and it will go hard with his father and inother. and hard, too," he added, lowering his voice, " for one besides them." " Had he a wife ï" I inquired. "No, sir; he was not married." " A sweet beart ?" "Yes. He was eugaged, I believe." Only one killed ! How differently the faet impressed ine now ! It was no Jonger an unrealized newspaper anuouncenieut, but a present, stern reality. " Has the body arrjved ?" I asked. "Yes; tkey brought it home to-day. Mr. B went for it himself." " Was it much disfigured ?" " No. A ball passed threugh bis heart, killing him instantly." '■ Had Mr. B other sons ?" " No, sir, E hvard was his ouly boy. It is a great loss, sir." " How does he bear it ? Have you heard ?" " I saw him an bour ago." " Well ?" " He was very calm ; but, sir, be looked ten years older. Mr. B is one of those men who bear things paficntly; but he has deep feeling neverthele.sö. That boy was his idol." " How is it with his mother ?" TI12 store.keeper shook bis bead. " I asked Mr. B , but bis eyes filled, and he chokod in trying to auswer. I am almost afraid it will be too much for her. She is not very strong." " Did they opposo his going to the war ?" " Mr. ]J did not. He's an earnest man, and loves his country too well to hold back auything while shü ig in danger." Only one killed! How insignificant the fact seemed wheu the telegraph made this annouueement; but what bitterness had follüwed ! Only one killed ! On the day following I noticed, in passing, a largo funeral procession. O the tens of thousands who had lingerec scarcely a moment over tbe brief tele grarn, aunouncing but oue killed anc three wounded, had the iwagination o an individual pictured distinctly a solemn sccne like this as following in natura sequenee, or given the faintest realiza tion of the sorrovv and suffering that lay veiled behind ? Fi% killed and two or three hundred wounded ! Ah ! now the pulse beat- IJere is somethiog worth while ! How strangely this familiarity with war iec over the heart ! One, two, three hun dred killed or mangled. It is awful to contémplate ; and jet we must come down to the singlo cases to get at the heart of this fearftil matter. Away from every battle-field, trom evcry skirraishing greuud, hcart cords stretch, in sD"le lines, to as inany hearts and Lomes as there aro individuáis, and death, or wounding, thrills these sympathetic lines eaeh with its owu wild fear and anguish. 'There is Mr. B . Kis son was killed in a skirmish with the enemy. He bolonged to company C." " Oh, in that slight affair ! I had forgotten t. There was only the trille of one killed, I think." " And that was Mr. B 's sod." Mr. B was leaving the car in which we were riding. He was so changed that I had nut rocogoized liim as the individual in whose presence 1 spoke so lightly about one killed and three wounded ooly a few weeks befuru. " Had, isu't it?" said the other growing serious. "Very Rad. I'm told the mother hasn't lelt her room since the t errible news was communicated. Ile was an ouly son." " That is trouble," was answered. - - " How little do we thiuk of what is really involved whcn we run our eyos so carclcssly, and often half-impatiently, over these alinost daily anuouncemeuts of ooe or two killed or wounded in scout and piekot skirmishes ! It couies home to us iu Mr. 13 's oase." A few weeks later. " Did you seo that face at the window ?" asked a frieud with whoin I was walking. I had observed the face - that of a young woman. It was visible for ouly au instant ; but in that instant it had impressed me stror.gly, it was so white, so ghostly, so full oí' sadness aDd saffering. " Yes, I saw it." " ïbere has been sometliing more thau bodily sicknesa there," said the frcnd. " Jleart sickness. Pain that defi.es the leeche's skill." " It always touuhes me to sce a face like that," remarked my companion. - u Huart blight in one so young - ah, it is sad, sad ! How quickly the tonder leaves shrink and fado wlien frost drops down on a spriug blossom ! lts life is drawn from the sunshino, and fails when theicy winds pass over. In1 af ter years we have more endurauce. The heart is slronger to bcar." Not long afterward the same palé (ace and s;id ej'es looked out upon me from a oarriage and their image and expression remained with me as ia a picture for many days. " I ani hautited by that face," said I, as it glided past ino on the street, the eyes resting in mine for an instant. Was there not soinething of rebuke in them ? I feit it so And yet thoy were to me the eyes of a stranger. " Unhappy one ! sorrow bas touched you early with lus blighting fingers." So I spoke with myself as I walked on musiug. " Has love failed, or the shadov of deatl) fallen over -the thrcshold of one dearer thau life? Aii, is there not in the experieneo oí one soul tiied in the 5re as tbou assuredly hast been, pain snough to make our hearts shiver in the jare irnagiuntion ? First, tlie stunning hoek of the fearful calamity; then the iwakening to pain as life begins to stir in he bruised and brokeu libres and organs, n the quivering nervcs and laeerated issues; then the almost cqually balnced contest between life and death ; and thon the long period of slow reeueration, with its anguish of aehing voundsv its helplessness, its despondency, ts darkness. Ah ! what a history is vritten in a face like thine, pale, sufferng stranger ! How little of all this is magined by the passing crowd. Next I saw that faee in chureb. It was still pale and sad, and bore a look of exhaustion, as from long-ondured pain. 3ut now there was in it a softer expresson - a touch of resignation blendingwith ious hope. " The Strong liath strengtheued her," so I said in my thought. ' The burden was too heavy for her own soul, and she ïath laid it upon Him. Her refuge is with the Comforter." Of ten during the services my eyes ;urned involuutarily toward the young lady, who had awakened in me an interest little short of fascination. No mote devout worshipcr sat under the jreacher's ministrations. She impressed me as one who had turned hopelessly from earth, and now rested all with heaven. As I moved down one of the aisles, after the benedietion had been pronounced, the slighily-bowed form of Mr. B met my observatiou. He was alone. My thoughts went instantly to bis wife sorrowing for her dead sou. '' This may have indeed proved too heavy a burden," so I thought. " What a fearful weight to lay upon a mother's heart !" "What!' I ejaculated, speaking half aloud, as a new convictiou flashed aeross my mind, " did that arrow strike there also ?" Mr. B- had paused ty the pew door from which the pale faced young woinan was steppiug into the aisle and taken her hand. I did not seo bis face, but I noticed a faint, sad smile on her lips. They passed out together. Iu the vestibule they lingered, and, iu answer to a question, I heard Mr B say, " I think she is a little more like herself. Come and see her, won't you ? It will do you botb good." Tears spruug to her eyes. Bly own were filling. " I will come." I saw her lips quivcr, as she thus answered, aud then turued almost hastilly away. " Poor Alice !" said a voice near me. " Doesn't it make you sad to see her V' was the response. " Sad enough," answered tbc first speaker. " They had been for soine time engaged, and were to bo married as soon as the war was over." " Her friends feared awhile for her reason." " Yes, and then for her life. But she is steadily regaioing strength of body and mind. I wa3 glad to see her in church to-day. She was always pure and good, and God will sustaiu her." " Mr. B was in church also." "Yes. Poor man! He really looks broken." ' They gay tbat Edward's motber has scarcely been out of her room since the dreadful news carne. Oh, I have pitiec her so rnuch !" The speakers passed on and I heard no more. " Only one killed ! Hardly worth the cost of a telegram !" It seeined as if somc rebuking spirit had thrown these words into my inind. j I wag jhockcd, and sensible oí' a crecp. ing shudder along my nerves. Thea my inind was crowded with a myriad multipliüation of sorrow and pain which had followed that one death. A year, almost, of war, with hundreds of thousands ia battle-array, and killing and wound ing thing of daily oceurrence-alas ! alas 1 Wliat imagiuation can reaoh the fearful aggrogate of woe ? When peace comes - whon the hydrahead of treason lies crushed at tho natiou's feet - shall we pass the awful crime oí those who, for selfish and wicked ends, turuud our fertile fields inta battle"grounds and cemeteries, and desolated our homes, as a light thing ? Shall we give the fraternal haud, and offer the kiss of reeoüciliation, as thougli all were an innocent mistake or peccadillo ? By the suflForing and sorrow that reniaius unassuaged, üo I Not revenge, uot hate, not unforgiveness - no, not these for a Christian peoplo ; but a steru and abiding romembrance of the spirit that prompted the ovils we have endurod, and a ueverooasiug condemnation of all who