CHAPTER XXII.

LAST DAYS OF THE GREAT FAIR-SOLDIERS' DAY-TOTAL RECEIPTS NEARLY ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARSINTERESTING ITEMS AND INCIDENTS.

Dinner given by the Ladies to eight hundred invalid Soldiers in Hospitals --Lady Managers dined by Gentlemen, who serve the Feast - Mighty Frolic" Completely tuckered out!"-Items and Incidents - Afghan made with Money found in a dead Soldier's Pocket - Contraband's Gift-Donation of Octogenarians Mite of the German Woman The Luck of the Chickamauga Soldier - Major-General Herron of Iowa in the Fair Letters of Gratitude from Soldiers in Hospitals - "Must see that Fair"-"All I have"-Safe place of Retreat - Pleasant Greetings-"A Soldier's Psalm of Woman"-Cheers for Lincoln - Cheers for the Soldiers - Cheers for the Ladies of the Sanitary Commission - Specimen of the Soldiers' Battle-cry-The Dead.

THE LAST DAY OF THE FAIR.

T was decided to give a grand dinner on the closing day of the fair to all the soldiers in Camp Douglas, the convalescents in the Marine and City Hospitals, and the Soldiers' Home. About eight hundred in all were present, but there were many others, too feeble for the excitement, who remained behind. Public announcement of the dinner having been made, donations of refreshments were sent to the hall in great profusion. Such a furor of preparation as that morning witnessed! Hot-houses were rifled of their flowers,-plate- chests of their silver, and every species of patriotic ornament was devised for

THE BRAVE SOLDIERS HONORED.

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the occasion. Rare fruit, ices, jellies, flowers, and game poured in upon the ladies in the greatest abundance. The best band in the city was engaged for the occasion. The hall was redecorated, and made more attractive than ever. The pretty waiter-girls made their toilets anew, and, taking their places behind the chairs, we saw that we had not merely one Hebe, but scores of them.

Anna Dickinson had agreed to utter the words of cheer and praise and kindly remembrance with which every woman's heart dilated. The ladies felt it was not possible to sufficiently welcome and honor the brave fellows they had invited to dine with them. A more beautifully laid table was never seen. It far surpassed in elegance and sumptuousness that set for the dignitaries of the Northwest the day before, and the dining-hall glowed and glittered with the most brilliant of the combined decorations brought from the other halls of the fair.

At twelve o'clock precisely, all being in readiness, the doors were opened, and the guests of the day marched into the hall. It was a bronzed, scarred, emaciated, halt, blind, deaf, crippled, skeleton corps, some without arms, some without legs, some swinging painfully on crutches, some leaning feebly on those stronger than themselves, all bearing evidence in their persons that they had suffered for their country. "Brave Boys are They!" crashed the band. The ladies waved flags and handkerchiefs, and, according to the programme they had marked out for themselves, essayed a cheer. But it was drowned in audible sobs, as they gazed on the poor boys who were their guests. They were slowly seated at table, and then with eyes humid with tears, and voice

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SOBS AND CHEERS.

tremulous with emotion, Anna Dickinson, a fair young girl orator at that time, welcomed them in eloquent words, in behalf of the managers of the fair.

Grace was then said by the chaplain of Camp Douglas, and the waiters darted off for soup, fish, turkey, game, vegetables, pies, puddings, ices, tea, coffee, anything that was called for. The poor fellows were served as brothers and sons would have been at home. Their food was carved for them, and their not over vigorous appetites were coaxed and catered to as though feasting were the supremest joy of life. Dinner was soon over, and then came the after-dinner talk. Speeches were made by chaplains and officers who happened to be present.

"Three cheers for Abraham Lincoln! a diamond in the rough!" proposed a manly voice; and so mighty a cheer thundered through the hall, that our guests seemed no longer invalids. Then "Three cheers for the ladies of the Northwestern Fair!" shook the hall again. The ladies, in their enthusiasm, responded by "Three cheers for the soldiers!" given with an accompaniment by the band and with the waving of flags and handkerchiefs.

One of the chaplains proposed that the soldiers should give the ladies a specimen of their battle cry, as they charged, double quick, on the enemy-and, unconsciously to themselves, the men took the attitude, and their faces assumed the determination of the charge as they uttered so prolonged, unearthly, and terrific a yell as beggars its description. We can imagine its power on the battle-field.

The excitement was now at a white heat, and there was no vent for it but in music. The band

THE DEAD REMEMBERED.

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played "The Red, White and Blue" the boys joining in rousingly with their bass and tenor; the ladies adding soprano and contralto, and for the next hour all sang together, until the entire répertoire of patriotic and soldier songs was exhausted. "Let us not forget our dead!" said Chaplain Day. "They who went out with us to the conflict, but whose slumbers on the battle-field shall not be broken until the réveillé of the resurrection morn shall awaken them. Let us remember that

"He who for country dies, dies not;
But liveth evermore!""

All stood in solemn silence, with uncovered heads, while the band wailed a dirge for those to whom God had granted a discharge from the conflict, and promoted to the ranks of the crowned immortals. A doxology was the only fitting close to the hour, and a thousand or more of voices joined in singing "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!" Then with swelling hearts and quivering voices, with tremulous clasping of the hands, and broken words of thanksgiving, the boys slowly returned to the hospitals.

Is there but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous? I hesitate to give the finale, but, as a faithful historian, I must tell the truth. "This is the soldiers' day!" said a practical woman at the door, as the boys were making their exit. "Let us crowd into it all the good things we can. Hold on, boys!

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IN FOR A FROLIC.

Run, John, run round the corner, bring some boxes of fine cigars!" A moment's delay, and the cigars came. And then to every soldier was given, as he went out, cigars and matches. We saw them depart with an aureole of smoke about their brows, if not of glory. To those whose feebleness detained them in the hospitals, boxes of tempting and delicate viands were sent, such as the surgeons endorsed, and committees of ladies accompanied them, and served them to the invalids, sometimes in bed. They even spent the larger part of the day in the hospitals, helping the poor fellows to have a veritable gala day.

Now followed a scene. Two hundred young gentlemen from the business circles of the city, had proposed a dinner to the ladies of the dining-hall, and as the boys went out, these gentlemen came in. The girl waiters doffed their white aprons and caps, and the gentlemen begged them to retire to Upper Bryan Hall, while the tables were reset with the help of servants, and the dinner prepared. After an hour or two of waiting, the ladies were escorted to the dining-hall. The gentlemen had attired themselves grotesquely in the uniform of white aprons and caps, which they regarded as the serving-gear of the fair. The motley condition of the tables gave evidence of the handiwork of unskilled men, and not of servants. It was evident they were in for a frolic.

Who that partook of that dinner will ever forget it? Happy she who did not receive a baptism of oyster soup or coffee, as the gentlemen waiters ran hither and thither like demented men, colliding with each other, to the great damage of tureens and coffee urns, and the immense bespattering of the fair ones