A War Reminiscence

When Mrs. Mary A. Livermore lectured in Albion, Michigan, recently, at the close of the lecture, an elderly, white-haired woman approached her, with the folio ving inquiry; "■Do you remeniber writing a letter for John , of the 12th Michigan Volunteers, when he lay dying in the Overton Hoapital at Memphis, during the spring of 1863, and of completing the letter to his wif e and mother af ter he had died ?" Mrs. Livermore replied that she wrote so many letters during the war, under similar circumstancea, tnat she could not recall any particular case. The woman drew a letter f rom her pocket, that had been torn into pieces in the folds of the note and was then stitched together with fine sewiag cotton. "Do yqn ï-emember this letter ?" she a3ked. Mrs. Livermore recognized her penmanship and admitted her authorship of the letter. The four pages were writton to hls wife and mother, at the dictation of a young soldier who had been shot throügh the lungs, and was dying of the wound. Then she had completed the letter by the addition of three pages written by herself, beside the dead husband and som, in whie'.i she sought to comfort the lonely iin bereaved relatives, "I think íny daughter-in-law and I would have died when we heard tliat John was dead, but for this letter," aid the worn and weary-looking woman. llIt comforted us both, and byand-by, when we heard of other women imilarly afflicted, we sent them the etter to read. till it was worn in pieces. Then wesewed the pieces together and made copies of the letter, which we sent to those of our acquaintances whom the war beref t. "But Annie, my son's wife, never got over John's death. She kept about, and worked aDd went to church, but the life had gone out of her. Eight years ago she died of gastric fever. One day, a little before her death she said, 'Mother, if yoa ever find Mrs. Livermore, or hear of her, I wish you would give her my wedding-ring, which has never been off my finger since John put it there, and which will not be taken off till I am dead. Ask her to wear it f or John' 8 sake and mine, and teil her that this was my dying request.' "I live eight miles from here, continued the woroan, "and when I read in the papers that you were to lecture here to-night, I decided to drive over and give you the ring, if you will accept it4" Deeply afllicted by this touching narrative, not a particular of which she is able to recall, Mrs. Livermore extended her hand, and the widowed and childless woman put the ring on her finger, with a fervently uttered benediction.