There were a number of people there -- quite a crowd
for the little Cross-roads -- for the stir had been growing day by day,
and excitement and anxiety were on the increase. The papers had been full
of secession, firing on flags, raising troops, and everything;
but that was far off. When Mr. Douwill appeared in person it came nearer,
though still few, if any, quite took it in that it could be actual
and immediate. Among those at the Cross-roads that day were the Millses,
father and sons, who looked a little critically at the speaker
as one who had always been on the other side. Little Darby was also there,
silent as usual, but with a light burning in his blue eyes.
That evening, when Little Darby reached home, which he did somewhat earlier
than usual, he announced to his mother that he had enlisted as a soldier.
The old woman was standing before her big fireplace when he told her,
and she leaned against it quite still for a moment; then she sat down,
stumbling a little on the rough hearth as she made her way
to her little broken chair. Darby got up and found her a better one,
which she took without a word.
Whatever entered into her soul in the little cabin that night,
when Mrs. Stanley went among her neighbors she was a soldier's mother.
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