Free Drummer Boy at Bull Run by Gilbert L. Morris Page B

advanced with his corporals to receive the flag, rising to the occasion with an impressive response:
    “Ladies, with high beating hearts and pulses throbbing with emotion, we receive from your hands this beautiful flag, the proud emblem of our young republic. To those who will return from the field of battle bearing this flag—though it may be tattered and torn—in triumph, this incident will always prove a cheering recollection. And to him whose fate it may be to die a soldier’s death, this moment brought before his fading view will recall your kind and sympathetic words. He will bless you as his spirit takes its aerial flight …”
    Jeff stayed long enough to hear the speech and several others much like it. Finally the oratory stopped long enough for the soldiers to receive liberal offerings of cake, cookies, punch, and coffee from the young ladies, all of whom were adorned in their best dresses.
    Being half starved from his long trip, Jeff edged over to one of the tables and managed to fill up on some of the sweets and the lemonade.
    Finally, he left the heart of the city and made his way to the house his father had rented. When he got there, however, he was surprised to find six or seven small children ranging from a baby of no more than a year to a pugnacious boy of seven or eight.
    He stopped abruptly, wondering if he had the right house, then shrugged and walked to the door. As he stepped inside, he was accosted at once by a very large woman, who demanded, “What are you doing in my house?”
    Jeff blinked with surprise and then swallowed. “Why I … I live here.”
    The woman stared, and then her features softened. “Oh, then you’d be Lieutenant Majors’s son, I’m thinking.”
    “Yes, I’m Jeff Majors.” Jeff looked around and saw that the room was filled with items he had never seen before.
    The woman, seeing his glance, said, “My name is Mrs. Taylor. My husband is a sergeant in your father’s company. We had no place else to go, so Lieutenant Majors said we could stay here.”
    “Oh,” Jeff said lamely and then added, “I guess you’ll be here for quite a while.”
    Mrs. Taylor shrugged. “As long as the army’s here. And then when they go off, I’ll have to wait.” She tucked a strand of hair back. “Don’t worry—well fix a place for you somewhere.”
    Jeff at once said, “Don’t bother, Mrs. Taylor. I’m going to see my father now. I just want to get some of my things.”
    “Well, we packed them in a box. But you won’t find anyplace else to stay,” she said abruptly. “Richmond’s packed like a grape in its skin! No more room anywhere.”
    Jeff found a change of clothes, but it was so crowded in the room with several children staring at him that he said, “I’ll change later. Thank you, Mrs. Taylor.”
    Leaving the house, he began his walk to camp. As he walked he thought,
I can’t stay in that place. Why, I’d go crazy with all those kids!
    He reached the camp and, having walked all the way, was rather tired. At once he went to Company A and found his father sitting in the tent he used for an office.
    “Jeff—you’re back!” Nelson Majors leaped to his feet and moved over at once to call out the door, “Corporal Majors—come here.”
    Tom glanced up from where he was drilling a squad across the field and came running, once he saw Jeff. “Step into my office,” their father said.
    When the boys were inside, he shut the tent flap and grinned. “Can’t let them see this.” He stepped forward and gave Jeff a hug.
    Tom did the same. “When did you get back?”
    “This morning, about two hours ago.” Jeff put his clothes down on the cot. “Looks like the house has been taken over, Pa.”
    “Yes, I had to let Mrs. Taylor stay there. Sergeant Taylor’s a good man and didn’t have anywhere to put his family. But they’ll make room for you, I’m sure.”
    Jeff said nothing, for he wanted to speak to his father alone.
    Tom said with a grin, “Tell us all