asking
where their father had gone. "'Good morning, my daughter,' I said, and,
dismounting, I took her in my arms, and laying her head on my shoulder
she sobbed as if her heart would break.

"'O! my dear husband, shall I ever see him again? O! my children, what
shall I do?' was all she could say.

"I broke down completely, this was too much; the cries of the little
children for their papa and the tears of their mother were more than I
could stand. He had never left them before to be gone any great length
of time. I took Jennie and the children into the house. There was a
loneliness and a sadness about the situation that was unendurable, and
I at once ordered one of the farm hands to hitch the horses to the wagon
and put the family and their little traps in and get ready to take them
to my house, and turned David's house over to his head man, Joseph Dent
(he being very trusty) to take charge of until David should return. With
these arrangements I left with the family for Allentown. On our arrival
the meeting of the three women would have melted the heart of a stone.
I walked out to the barn and remained there for quite awhile, thinking
matters over to myself. When I returned to the house all had become
quiet and seemingly reconciled. For several days all was suspense;
nothing had been heard from any of our boys; I tried to keep away from
the house as much as possible to avoid answering questions asked by the
women and the poor little children, which I knew no more about than they
did. But while we were at breakfast on the morning of ------, Jennie
was speaking of going out to her house that day to look after matters at
home and see that all was going well. Just at this moment a boy entered
with a letter, saying:

"'Mr. Burton sent me with this, thinking there might be something that
you would like to see.'

"Mr. B. was the Postmaster, and very kind to us. He was a true Union
man, but the opposition there was so strong that he was very quiet; he
kept the American flag flying over his office, which was burned on that
account a few nights later, as was supposed, by Southern sympathizing
incendiaries. These were perilous times in Southern Indiana."

"Yes! Yes!" said Col. Bush. "We had a taste of it in Southern Ohio, where
I then resided; I know all about it. The men who were for mobbing us
at that time are now the most prominent 'reformers,' and seem to be the
most influential persons.

Uncle Daniel continued:

"I o