Joy in the Morning by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews
page 18 of 204 (08%)
page 18 of 204 (08%)
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(_looks about_) in these meadows, and for miles along. And it was just
here that the Blank_th_ United States Regiment made its historic dash. In that ditch--filled with flowers--a hundred of our lads were mown down in three minutes. About two thousand more followed them to death. _She_. Oh--I do know. It was _that_ charge. I learned about it in school; it thrilled me always. _He_. Certainly. Every American child knows the story. I memorized the list of the one hundred soldiers' names of my own free will when I was ten. I can say them now. "Arnold--Ashe--Bennett--Emmet--Dragmore--" _She_. Don't say the rest, Ted--tell me about it as it happened. (_She slips her hand into his_.) We two, standing here young and happy, looking forward to a, lifetime together, will do honor, that way, to those soldiers who gave up their happy youth and their lives for America. _He_. (_Puts his arm around her_.) We will. We'll make a little memorial service and I'll preach a sermon about how gloriously they fell and how, unknowingly, they won the war--and so much more! _She_. Tell me. _He_. It was a hundred years ago about now--summer. A critical battle raged along a stretch of many miles. About the centre of the line--here--the Prussian Imperial Guards, the crack soldiers of the German army, held the first trench--this ditch. American forces faced them, but in weeks of fighting had not been able to make much impression. Then, on a day, the order came down the lines that the |
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