Uncle Cesar reached up and took the sword from where it hung over the mantel, and put it gently in the Colonel's wasted hand. With his feeble strength, the old man drew it half out of its scabbard, and looked at it.
"It is bright," he said. "There has never been a stain upon it. Here comes the Commanding Officer. Turn out the guard."
Uncle Cesar, who knew what was at hand, answered reverently:
"Yes, ole Marse. The guard is turnin' out."
Then, raising the sword to the salute, the gallant old Colonel heard the last order to fall in, and met, face to face humbly, but without fear and in perfect peace, the Great Commander.
Minor changes have been made to correct typesetter errors and to regularize hyphenation; variant spelling has been retained.
Full color illustrations have been moved, to avoid interrupting the flow of paragraphs. Decorative illustrations have been deleted from this e-text.
The title page for this book has been moved to be the first page of this text, followed by the half-title page giving the edition.
Christmas, as used in dialect, has been regularized to Chris'mus.