J. R. Finkelton,
Acting First Lieut. and Adjt.
What a shout went up then! No one ever heard anything like it before. They cheered till they were hoarse. Those who were near enough to Brightly hugged him frantically, and those who were not near enough reached out their muskets to touch bayonets with him. They laughed—why, some of them laughed till they cried.
Brightly himself was completely overcome by joy at his restoration, and pride in the applause of his comrades. Colonel Silsbee’s face was so radiant with pleasure that no one noticed the big teardrops that glistened on his cheeks.
How they ever got the battalion to attention again no one knew. But they did get the boys to observe order at last, and the dress parade closed with all its military pomp and display. The jubilant ranks were broken, the bright-faced ladies walked slowly away, and the sweet sunshine of June rested upon the earth in radiant splendor. But oh the sweeter sunshine of happiness in fourscore boyish hearts!
Transcriber’s Notes:
A List of Illustrations has been provided for the convenience of the reader.
Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.
Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.
Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved, except as noted below.