348 CALEB WINN.
And now I've had one, Chaplain,
I'm sure I'm almost done; This shot's goin' ter drop me,
I've got to turn in my gun. When I knew that I was goin',
That my march was almost through, I thought that I might die easier
Ef I could tell it ter you.
'* No, no — 'tain't that, Chaplain,
I rixt that long ago, And now. ef the Captain's ready,
Then I'm already ter go. I know that I'm fur from perfict,
But I've been a-tryin' fur years, And 'bout that comin' roll-call
I hain't got no fears.
" It's about my daughter Mary,
Who cried so when I went, Who grew so tall 'n' han'some,
So patient 'n' content; How good a girl she's alwus been!
How fair she'd grown to be, How kind she's been, and faithful,
And sot the world by me!
" Oh, God ! I can't tell it to ye!—
It came, I don't know how, But it's here, the wust of trouble,
With no help fur it now. But he came so proper and pleasin';
He seemed to love her, too ; — I'd ez soon have thought uv watchin'
Or gone ter mistrustin' you.
" But the wust uv it is, he's left her;
And she's gone well-nigh mad! It breaks my heart to see her —
You know the smile she had? She sits now with a kind uv stare
That's jest heart-breakin' ter see ; She don't know't I'm dyin', —
No, sir; she don't know me!
" How can I go 'n' leave her?
That han'some scoundrel abroad ! What does God mean by it Chaplain?
Or isn't there any God? Ez innocent ez a baby,
With him how much uv a chance? And lie, by this time, ma'be,
Travellin' over in France !
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