Pittston Gazette

              * Oldest PewsDaDer in the Wyoming Valley. PITTSTON, LUZERNE CO., PA., FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 1891. A Weekly Local and Family lournal. \ The march to St. Louis proved worthy of Charlie Fulton's worst anticipations. The weather was execrable, rain, snow, sleet bv turn assailing them—the ground now slushy as a swamp, and again frozen with ridges hard as iron. Sometimes they had to hunt for the least moist spot on which to pitch their tents, and at others they could not pitch their tents at all, because no human hands could drive the GEMS IN VERSE. faintest appreciation of the word 'duty,'" Frank said, indignantly. "Haven't I, though, old ch»P? Then that's all you know about it. Why, duty's been my bugbear ever since I was as high as your knee. Miss Ruth, Grace, old Brentwood, all the pious crowd at Meltonburg have dinged duty in my ears as long as I can remember, and, now I've got here, durn me if you aren't all at the same old game again, till I sometimes wonder if there is a spot in the world where a man like me, whose principles are a little knockkreed, can get out of hearing of that hateful word." he is the man Swayne and I rescued irom the guerrillas." had come «ut witn the announcement j stirring day3 no two or three could in bold type that "The hero of the bat- gather together without drifting into tie of Springfield is among us, visiting the thrilling channels of that prolific Doctor and Mrs. Burrows. It is pro- subject. This person and that known posed to give him a public reception be- to the party personally or by hearsay fore he goes back to gather fresh were mentioned and their actions dislaufels," a piece of information which cussed, Franl: Besant, of course, corn- Marks sister religiously kept out of his ingin for more than his share of the sight, for 6he felt sure if he saw it he general interest, when Miss Ruth prowould be off to Dayton by the first pounded a question which seemed to train. So the villagers stared their fill, cause a little flutter the par\Vomen ran to their doors to- gaze after sonage party. him as he passed, men gathered on the "Did you, when you were with Frank sidewalks to discuss his martial bear- Besant, hear any thing of a young man ing, and more than once the little boys named James Lawson?" she asked her got up a feeble cheer, which was sup- military neighbor. There was a lull in pressed by their elders. If he had only the conversation, so the question was entered a store, how they would have painfully distinct. crowded in after him and solaced them- Before he could reply Mr. Lubin Ferselves in true rural fashion with a ry stretched his long neck forward, and hearty hand-shake, but ho kept right speaking across the table began: on up the main street till he reached "Ma says she has heard that James the garden gate of the Walnut House, Lawson is—" Where he was lost to the gaze of h's ed* "f was not asking what your ma said, inlrcrs. ~ brother Ferry," Miss Ruth snapped, A neat maid servant, all blushes and severely. "Now, perhaps, you'll allow giggles, received him. Yes, Mrs. Besant Captain Henderson to answer my queswas at home—would he be pleased to tioft," in' "" "" W0°1'i "" "Eea11*- M*"- ,1,. , ,. a smile at the lady's pctulance, "I don't Mark had time to notice the pretty re- think I have the pleasure of the gentle- Tlnement of the room, which bore so man's acquaintance Is he one of Lieumany traces of feminine taste and had tenant Besant's brother officers?" such a home-like air.about it, before his "i suppose he is--he enlisted at the hostess made pea ranee. same time and in the same fcegiment. I, es, Mrs. Besant was decidedly hand- have only heard once from him since he some, he declared to himself, as she left"—how defiantly she. looked at her swept into the room with a grace of brother—"and then he said he was a movement so fascinating in beautiful full-private, which I suppose is r 6ten wonjeij. There was a chain* of man- on the gadder gf rank." ner about her, too, whiqh put him at his " ''You surely CWt mean a tall, ungainease before he had been five minutes in ly fellow with light hair and eyes'3that her presence, j»ud, oh! what a welcome look two ways at once—ah, yes, I think she gave him. When she found that he Besant did say he camc from the same had been a boon companion of her boy. place he did—well, if that is the man How she loaded him with questions; you allude to, Miss Brentwood. I did bow she reveled in the stories of her see him tne very night before 1 left the starless SKy lor a root ana a waste oi sodden sand for a carpet. "Say, boys," said one with a laugh, pointing to a tall, cloaked figure, receding among the trees, "there goes BiUy Sawbones with his tools under Vila arm —some poor fellow's in for a knifing." Yet no more humane man ever practiced the healing art that William Saunders, who was loved by the boys none the less sincerely because they Joked about him—had Galen himself 3ast his lot with them, he would have had to run the gauntlet of their boisterous wit: for from Colonel to drummerboy not one was there whose name was not perverted to some rough soubriquet. "Ah, Billy's a broth of a boy," said another, knocking the ashes out of his pipe. "Did yon ever hear how he served the Irish navy, when we were in camp at Sedalia?" TMKJHE LhTl'EKS TO JN IE. l am indebted for most of the above Facts to Mr. Simpson's Medicine Lodge biographer and chiropodist, who wishefc me to say that he treats all troubles at the feet, such as corns, bunions and izigrowing chilblains, quarter crack, 3tc., etc., by mail as well as personally. He has a bust of Mr. Simpson's foot at bis place, and cheerfully answers ail questions regarding the great man. Mr. Simpson is the humorous feature of the new and powerful movement which seems to create general mirth, but there is a power and a principle behind it all to which it will be profitable to pay attention. It may not win time nor next time, but when it does win the professional politician will (Jo well to get into his cyclone cellar arWI spread his umbrella. "Ah! that is jolly. Well, put your iorage-cap on and let us start." Only Once. It was a pitiful mistake. Symposiums in officers' quarters were not always the kind of entertainments an elderly maiden lady of precise views would have declared particularly improving gatherings, but on this occasion the revelry was not very pronounced. Some whisky and a good deal of tobacco was consumed, of course. Out beyond this mild dissipation there was ltttle to complain of. Henderson seemed very pleased to meet Frank again. ETIQUETTE, .JERRY SIMPSON AND EXERCISE LARGELY FIGURE. An error sad and grim; I waited for the railway train; The light was low and dim. It came at last, and from the car There stepped a dainty dame. And looking up and down the place She straight unto me came. I» It Proper to Rudely Crash a Fly? Murray Hill Comes to the Front—Jer- ry's I,ife Obtained from an Authority. Points on Rowling. ■"Oh, Jack!" she cried. "Oh, dear old Jack!" And kissed me as she spake; Then looked again, and frightened cried, "Oh, what a bad mistake'" [Copyright, 1891, by EdKar W. Nye.] A correspondent writing from Savona's Petry, British Columbia, says: "Last summer while dining at a friend's house, being annoyed by a large bluebottle or blow fly, the hostess squashed it with her knife. The cook had to lie called to exchange the soiled knife. Do you not think it was very rude to squash the fly on the dinner table? What would you have done?" I said, "Forgive me, maiden fair. That I am not yonr Jack, And-as regards the kiss you gave, I'll straightway give it back." "I knew you would be soon sitting at the high seats of the synagogue," he said, "and I told you so. Let me congratulate you on your promotion." "Not in this world, nor the next, I'm afraid," Besant said, with a smile at his companion's frankness. "Then all I can say is, I wish I'd never been born. G'langI'Vand Lawson gave the mule a vicious 'lash with his cowhide, as though resolved that there should be some vicarious suffering somewhere.thenjsank into moody silence. And since that night I have often stood On the platform lighted dim. But only once in a man's wholo lifo Do such things come to him. "Thank you," Frank replied—thorp was something about this man that impressed him with a feeling of admiration—"and let me congratulate you on the glorious charge your fellows made at Springfield. It was grand, heroic—I never heard or read of » more dashing feat of chivalry." Charles Lederer, Chicago, writes; "I am an artist, and have very little exercise indeed. What would you advise? Do you favor bowling? Did you evet bowl any?" "No, what did he do?" came in a chorus. —Boston Courier. It is very hard to say at times what would be best, but referring the matter to a warm, intimate friend on Murray Hill, who uses our large kettle to make "Why, there were a score of laborers engaged in making a road to the camp, big, rough fellows, not long out from the old country. Hilly had the job of doctoring them, which, what with bruises from drunken rows and a smart touch of ague, that haunted the place just then, was no sinecure. But Billy's There Is No Death. There la bo death! The stars go down To rise upon some fairer shore; And bright la Heaven's jeweled crown Yes, Charles, I have bowled in the happy past. I favor it. Bowling bnilda up a person real well. / You will find ft good bowling clnb near the Germani*, on the North Side, where a lot of talented cusses go for to bowl. I removed my dressing sacque and bowled there one evening quite a while. The city librarian was present. He asked me to bowl. I had never before bowled. At the of a long, .straight, convex alley stood several wooden pins, which it is the oik* ject of the player to knock over by means of large, heavy balls also mads of wood. If the player can at the time also mutilate a small mulatto boy who sets up the pins much mirth is added to the game. I went there need* ing exercise, and got so much of fit that I have not needed any at all evar since. I did not knock over any pine, but I got the exercise. A few days afterward I met the hoaiy headed librarian on the street. He said, "I must tell j'on that we had a job put up on you at the Bowling club the other night." They shine for evermore. "It was a pretty tidy bit of fighting, I confess," the Captain drawled. "By the by, there was* another acquaintance of yours on that battle-field, who rodo AS though he had a hundred lives at his disposal-" There is no death! The dost wo troad Shall change beneath the summer showersTo golden grain or mellowed fruit. Or rainbow tinted flowers. - "DWSK EVEBY DROP OF IT." The granite rocks disorganize. And feed the hungry moss they bear; The forest leaves drink daily life From oat the viewless air. "No! Who?" "SO LET EVERY MAN FILL UP HIS CAN." "Dick Swayne—you koow he enlisted in our corps?" pegs Into the adamantine earth, and all this suffering aggravated ty the bight pf trains rolling by them on which they ought to htmc hoei) riding. Somebody's ears at Washington must havu tingled, if the old saw be true, for curscs loud and deep fell from the lips of tho weary met) as they dragged their tired limbs over the endless utiles pf road. There is no death! The loaves may fall. And flowers may fade and pass away: They only wait through wintry hoars The coming of the May. "Indeed I do not. The last I saw of him he was pounding along with you to the battle'Seld, with the horse I'd been riding flying at your heels. And that reminds me—did you ever catch my rmv away steed?" There is no death! An angel form W*lks o'er the earth with silent tread; tie fe«*rs our best loved things away: Ao4 Own we call them "dead." "Aye, that we did. Both nags entered my troop with their master and took part in that scrimmage at Spring-field. As for Dick Swayne, he fought like a wild-cat, and though I'm afraid we shall never make a smart soldier on parade out of him, he'll be worth his weight iD gold as a scout." /!»leavks ««r hearts all desolate; He plucks our fairest, sweetest flowers; Transplanted into bliss, they now Adorn immortal bowers. CHAPTER VII. A VEIIY QUIET PARTY. "Do I know the IJesants, Mark?" boy's adventures on the battle-field; how her color came and went as he told the tales of hair-breadth escapes; how she cunningly led him on to describe her darling's mode of life, his friends, bis duties and every £hiqg pertaining1 to him—why, sped on with flying wings -for Mark loved to talk to pretty womei-, and it was nearly five o'clock before he bad the grftoe to take his camp. lie was a full private still, Miss Ruth—so full, that a corporals* guard, was hustling him off to the caboose." A general laugh greeted this unhappy reminiscence, and from that moment Captain Ilcndcrson sank many degrees below zero In Miss Brentwood's estimation.Notwithstanding this little centretemp, they spent a most delightful even- 1 FOKOET MY PROMISES. The speaker was Mrs. Burrows, a matron so young and pretty that one could see at a glance that the honeymoon had pot yet reached its wane. "Why, of course I do, and if you'fj taken the trouble to read my letters you would have discovered that I consider Mrs. Besant the quite too sweetest thing in the way of widows I ever saw or read about What the men are thinking of to let her wear her weed* so long I'm sure I don't know. If I were a man—" Soap in every spring, and with whom we are on terms of the closest intimacy, I find that it is not regarded as an evidence of refinement to squash a fly on the table by means of one's knife. The birdlike voice, whose joyous tones glad those scenes of sin anil strife, Si**.* now an everlasting song Arvtvd the tree of life. HE ALMOST DISLOCATED THE MTJLE'S JAW. Just before they reached camp,however, be recovered his usual air of self-satisfaction."Was he wounded?" "Never got a scratch — seemed as though he bore a charmed life," "And you?" Where'er pees a smile too bright. Or heart too pure for taint and vice. He bean It to that world of light, * To 4well io Paradise. Possibly in New York we may be supersensitive on this question, but speaking for myself I ravat say that we have not, for the past year and a half, allowed ourselves the coarse gratification of squashing flies at meal time, especially when we had any of the corned heads or Guelph outfit stopping with us. "Ah!" said I cheerily. "What was it?" "Say, Frank," he said, "you couldnt fer the sake of old times lend me a tendollar bill, conld you? We've not received a cent of pay since we left Columbus, and I'm dead broke. Why, it's a holy outrage the way we're treated. Guess those big-wigs at Wa$hingtoq would holler out pretty lively if payday came round and there was nothing in the treasury for them." "Well, we arranged a string in front of the pins 60 that we could throw yoitt ball off the track every time, and thus we could prevent your getting a singfe pin even by accident. But," he added* with a tremendous sigh that was almost a sob, "it was not much of a success." • "1 was not so lucky; but the damage was not very serious—just a bullet through my shoulder-blade, which makes a convenient excuse for a brie/ trip home." Born onto that undying life. They leave us but to come again; With joy we welcon»o them the same— Except their sin and pain. leave. ing, to which Mark Henderson's mind "But I must introduce you to my nieoe before you go," the widow said, as he often wandered in the lone hours by the camp-fire, with Kate Lester's sweet greatest trouble was the constant demand they made on him for castor-oil, which they used to such an extent that he began to thiuk it was their National beverage. The truth leakod out at last: the fellows greased their shoes with it. Many a man would have got in a passion on making such a discovery, but not so Billy. He just bided his time; and when one day, a big, hulking fellow brought a four-ounce phial to be filled, Billy was as mild as mother's milk with him. 'You say you have pains In the back, my man, which a few loses of this oil relieves?" he asked the interesting patient. 'Ilowly Mother!' was the reply; 'but It's bended double [ am wid 'em.' Bill poured the rloh, ; re amy, golden fluid into the man's botle, and he was just making oft with lis prize, when up flew the doctor's -iand clutching the butt of a revolver as sig as a small cannon, Its glittering barrel pointed straight at the victim's aead: 'Nbt another step,' the doctor roared. 'Drink every drop of it on the ipot, or I'll blow the roof of your head off!' So Billy had W* more calls for pastor-oil." And ever near as, though unseen. The dear immortal spirits tread; For all the boundless universe Is life—there are no dead. "To Dayton, 0. Then, I may take a run down to a little place called Mcltonburg, where I've a sister married to a young doctor, who may be glad to practice his healing art on my person." "Are you going far?" stood hat in hand. face as the crowning center-piece of the whole delightful reflection. After supper he enjoyed a charming talk with the two young ladles, which was only interrupted at nine o'clock, ivhen Rev. Lubin came to bid then) good-night, as ma didn't approve of his peeping late hours. When he was gone Ilarry Burrows brought forth some excellent cigars and Mr. Brentwood and the younger men by the gracious consent of the ladies were soon in the full enjoyment Of th® fragrant weed"I don't suppose brother Ferry smokes," Harry Burrows explained. "I'm sure he doesn't," Miss Ruth snapped. "His ma wouldn't let him." By and by they drifted into more serious conversation, and Mrs. Besant explained a plan she had matured of establishing a woman's working club for the preparation of necessaries and comforts for the soldiers, appealing to Mark Henderson for suggestions, which she accepted with an air of deference that was very gratifying to the young man, who had a flattering opinion of his own judgment, and liked, as we al* do, to be considered an authority. Then all too soon they went home, Still, all these things are matters of taste. I had a college friend who became a dentist, preferring it, as he said, to the ministry because he never could pray worth a cuss on an empty stomach. Well, he had a preoccupied way of boring out old cavities and wiping off the apex of his drill on his trousers. This did not cut into his practice where he was, but one day he outgrew the town and wore a high hat. He said that he waa sick of perusing the wide sweep of the Farmers' Alliance tonsil, 60 he sold his cow and moved to a flat on Lexington avenue looking east. "Which, thank goodness, you're not," a manly voice interrupted. "The fact is, Mark, somebody onco told Flossie that there is a strong resemblance between her and Mrs. Besant, and ever, since she's done nothing but rave about her perfections." "No, pray, Mm. Besant, don't disturb her. I really must bo going—Flossie will be thinking I have fainted by the wayside," and the young man hurried away, efwger to escape the spinster fron} Chicago, who was "not at all good looking and rather passe." Imagine his chagrin then, when, as he turned to fasten the garden-gate, he saw Mrs. Besant, who had followed him out on the veranda, standing with her arm embracing the waist of the prettiest girl Mark Henderson had ever seen in his lifa-r-fluch a vision of youthful loveliness that he stood for the moment transfixed—and to think that, if he had only known, he might have escorted these two pretty women to his sister's house. Well, he'd pay Flossie out for the joke she had played him, anyhow, and make up for lost time In the eventag.On his return to his sister's, he found that the parsonage people had already arrived and that Dr. Burrows had brought an addition to the party In the shape of a young Methodist minister, a recent arrival In the place. "I wanted to be civil to the fellow," Harry whispered in Mark's ear, "but "Why?" "Why? Why because your ball never got to the string." —J. L. McCreery. "It is a shame," Frank confessed. "Well, could yon let me have the dollars?"Yet I regard bowling as a healthful exercise, and far superior to the mutilation of scroll saw brackets and member* of the family by means of Indian clubs. I have also tried dumb bells. A very large one is now holding my door shut as I write these lines. What .Might Be Done. What might be done if men were wise— What glorious deeds, e»y suffering brother. "I could," was the frigid response. "Then, will you?" "What do you want it for?" "To send to a girL" "Yes, Harry Burrows. Why, you don't mean to say that you know nijp, do you?" "Not Harry Burrows, surely?" Would thejr unite. In love and right. And eease their acorn of one another. "Oh, Harry Burrows, you wicked story-teller," the little lady flashed indignantly. "I only wish I were like Mrs. Besant. Now, Mark, don't pay any attention to his interruptions—1 do know this lady very well, and I think her as near perfection as it is possible for woman to be. She might be a little too old for you—but. 1 don't know—she doesn't look half her age—and, oh, wouldn't it be nice, if—" Oppression's heart might be imbued With kindling drops of loving kindness, D And knowledge pour. From shore to shore. Light on the eyes of mental blindness. Frank's eyes opened with astonishment."Know him! I've known him all my life. I live at Meltonburg and my father was a physician there, in whose office Harry got his first in surgery. Oh, Captain Henderson, if you go there, you must call on my mother and Mr. Brentwood, the minister; and be sure to see how Grace—" But 1 was benefited more by the game of bowls, I think, than by any other game I ever played. TidcDed4* winks, of course, will always have it» "Don't ask me any questions about It," Lawson continued with earnestness. "Give me the money—it will be ruin if yon don't." All slavery, warfare, lies and wrongs; All viee And crime might die together; - — ■ And wine and corn. To each man born. Be free as warmth in summer weather. Frank was puzzled. He looked out the window there for a few months, thinking and banting. Then a young lady from near the Forty-second street reservoir came to get her mouth surveyed. In the mirror she saw him wipe his instrument on a bald spot just forward of the portable mantel on vhioh he was wont to scratch his matches mostly, and with a wild scream she fled with a rubber dam in her month and a tinker's dam' in her portmonie with whioh to pay the dentist. She was caught on Fifth avenue a half how later, and pulled out from under one of Colonel Jewdesprit Shepard's portable sawmills. "Well, here it is, Jim," he said, handing him the bill; "and as the Adjutant might kick against your carrying passengers, I'll get down and walk the rest of the way." Lawson watched his retreating flguft with a curious expression on his face, muttering to himself the while: Frank paused and blushed scarlet. In the excitement of conversing with a man who was actually about to meet the dear ones at home, he had said more than he intended to do. A roar of laughter from her husband interrupted the current of her remarks. The meanest wretch that ever trod. The deepest sunk in guilt and sorrow, . Might stand erect. In self respect. And share the teeming world tomorrow. "Well," he cried, "if that Isn't the boldest flight of feminine imagination I ever listened to! Why, Mark, Mrs. Besant is forty, if she is a day, and much too sensible a woman to encourage a flirtation with a man younger than herself, even if you were eprit with her undeniable charms." "Your sister, I suppose?" Henderson asked, surprised at his confusion. What might be done? This might be done; And more than this, my suffering brother- More than the tongue E'er said or sung, JS men were wise and loved each other. —Charles Mackay. •'No, not exactly—my—that is to say, Mr. Brentwood's grandchild." "That's the best thing you've done fot yourself this many a day, Frank Besant, though you don't know it" "A child, eh? Some little thing you've made a pet of—nay, don't be ashamed of loving children, I'm fond of them myself; so rest easy, for I'll take her a big box of candies and a kiss in your name, and she shall hear how—" A roar of laughter rewarded the narrator, which was checked by the hasty pdvent of an orderly, who said: They were all glad to see Frank back, especially the Colonel, who had manj kind words for the yonng man, whose story he listened to with intense interest, while Major Hopkins called him tc his own tent and made him relate his adventures over again, paying him several handsome compliments. But the best news of all was that his name had been forwarded to the Governor of Ohio for a commission, and these gentlemen thought that their strong recommendations would be favorably received."Now this comes of visiting a pair of spoons like you two," Henderson said, v/ilh assumed regret. "I can not ask a simple question about a neighbor, but off you 11; into tbe realms of romance Maasary (s Possession. They are poor Who have lost nothing; they are poorer far Who, losing, have forgotten; they most poor Of all who lose and wish they might forget. For life is one, and in its warp and woof There runs a thread of gold that glitters fair. And sometimes in the pattern shows most sweet I'm afraid you'll find him an awful pud Flossie forthwith began to cate- "Is Lieutenant Besant here, gantlenen?"fcore." chise her brother, who seemed in 110 "wise reluctant to gratify her curiosity. "Well, Mark, what do you think of "Here I am," cried Prank, stepping forward. "What is it?" But her mind was gone. "But," Frank interrupted. "You can't do any such thing. Miss Grace Brentwood is a young lady of eighteen, who would be shocked if—" Reir. Lubln Ferry came up at that moment for an introduction to the hero So has the dentist. and matrimony. See, I didn't eveti ask after the widow at all—I said t?ie Besants, as plain as I could speak. Now, do you think you can come down from your stilts long enough to tell me who the Besantsare?" of the evening. He was a gentle, overgrown young man, who wore glasses and dropped perpetually sanctimonious phrases from his lips; little scraps of devotional expressions that were never intended to pass as colloquial currency In common conversation—as different a man from the big-hearted, broad-principled, scholarly Josiah Brentwood as it was possible to conceive. Moreover, he was the only son of a widow, who had tied him to her apron-string from the time he was a little lad, following him to college, and never letting him out of her sight for more than a few hours in his whole life, and the young man had become so imbued with this maternal solicitude that he dragged his mother's sentiments into every thought he uttered, to Mark Henderson's intense disgust, especially when he learned afterwards that the mamma was a selfish, vulgar old body, who took every cent of her son's earnings spnd made him wait on her hand and foot. my pretty widow?" "She is charming." "And Grace Brentwood?'* "Pretty as a peach. But Miss Lester is the sweetest, loveliest girl J ever met in aU my life." "Oh!" It was all his sister said, but the little monosyllable expressed a volume. "Major Hopkins says, will you take a Qle of men and a cot to the picket by the creek bridge to fetch in a wounded officer? Quick as you can, sir, if you please." You see that these matters are largely local in their nature. British Columbia customs may sanction certain practices which on Beacon street or Madison avenue would be coughed down. Now, for instance, we had a fashion in my native town of regarding it as a personal insult if your guest left a heel tap or dregs, even if you left one dreg in your glass. Your host had a right to feel hurt and to regard it as a mild contempt for your rum. But when I began to move around restlessly in good society, and exhibit my earnest and hearty indorsement of the wine by approving of it in the crude way to which 1 had been accustomed, a swift footed garcon filled the glass again and kept me approving the host's good taste till my remarks were not logical. I would start out with a good premise, and before I could reach a conclusion the premise would escape my mind. I learn now that it is not correct to drink the entire contents of one's glass unless one wants to do so very much indeed. One should sip the liquid—if at all— slowly through one's mustache, meantime looking far. far away, as if trying to recall the name of the brand; but never should one eat or drink aa if one took any interest in it. That is excessively vulgar. Eat with a preoccupied and tiddledewinks air, as one would who lived high at home and might be for the nonce out doing some polite slumming. Where there are somber colors. It is true That we have wept. But eh! this thread at gold "Ycra did the kissing by proxy. Ah, lad, I see how the wind blows, and will be properly considerate of your interests, and respectful to the young lady." We woold not have it tarnish; let as tarn Oft and look back upon the wondrous web. And when it shlneth sometimes we shall know that memory is possessioa. "I told you so, boys," muttered the man who had called attention to the doctor, while Frank hurriedly got read; for the sad duty. "But, Mark, there arc no Besants but Mrs. Besant," Mrs. Burrows pleaded. From Springfield the regiment went into winter camp at Sedalia, then the terminus of the Union Pacific railroad. "And you'll see my mother?" devotees. Oatmeal and Tiddledewinkst will annually carry off their thousand® just as they have always done, butbowling is more preferable, I think. HAKD AT IT. —Jean lmrelow. "Indeed I will. And, talking about relations, do you know that I have an uncle in your regiment? No? Well, I have—one of the best fellows that ever put on a soldier's coat—Major Hopkins —I honestly don't think I ever met a kinder, truer gentleman than he is—if you get a chance, cultivate his acquaintance, for he's a good man for a youngster like you to know." "She is a widow with some means,'* her husband explained, "who lives in the best house in the village, and is decidedly the person of the place, as you will find out before you have been here very long. She has only one child, a son, who is now covering himself with glory on the battle-fields." On nearing the little bridge, which spanned the muddy crook, he found Dr. Saunders kneeling over a prostrate figure, while a soldier held a lantern for hirn, and the sentry stood resting on his musket and gazing at the painful scene. Beside them was a horse, whose hanging head and heaving flanks told of hard usage. TIE HUE CHAPTER VIII. FORT DONELSON. What the men endured during that severe winter nnder canvas no p®n could describe. The weather was exceptionally inclement, and many a gallant fellow, who might have struck a blow for the Union, was either invalided home with a broken constitution or died outright of exposure. It was indeed , case of the survival of the fittest— those who were hardy enough to strug gle through it all gave Uncle Sam sufficient assurance that his bounty money had been well laid out Meanwhile how fared it with Franl: Besant and the gallant boys pf thu Fighting Fourth? You n*ay be assured that they were indulging in no quiet little tea-parties and mild flirtations— to them rather the stern realities of the tented field, the dangers, privations and miseries of those whose trade is war. I used to have a health lift, but our relations became strained in two places, so I swapped it for a 2-year-old steer, whose tail it was my blessed privilege to twist at early dawn each gladsome morn for six weeks, and together we would go around the straw pile at a high rate of speed. I was never thrown among a brighter or more piquant steer during my public life. Exercise is a great boon. It keeps a great many people out of mischief, and can hardly do any harm if not carried to excess. I have received great benefit myself from moderate exercise taken from time to time on a pasteboard annual railroad pass abou1r"the size of a visiting card. It was highly beneficial. I like it yet, old as I am. OF THE FOURTH. "Yes," Henderson interrupted. "I spent the evening with him a few nights ago at Sedalia." "Major Hopkins has been good enough to take some notice of me already," Frank said, intensely pleased at the turn the conversation was taking. "Who la it, doctor?" Frank asked, anxiously. A 8T0BY OF THE LATE WAB. "What!" Mrs. Burrows ejaculated. "You have been all night in the house and nevef told us this. Why, Mrs. Besant will be wild to Bee you. Get ready to go with me at once, sir, or I shall never be forgiven for having kept her so long from seeing you." "A cavalry man—a mere lad—cut all to piscos—but we must get him into field hospital as quickly as possible. See, here's a dispatch I took from him. I'd hard work to get it, poor boy, he clutched it so tightly. I guess you'd better hurry oil with it to the Colonel and leave your men to help me in with him," a piece of advice which Frank promptly acted on. But before I resume the thread of my story I must trespass on my reader's patience, while wo take a passing glance at the chess-board on which this stupendous game of human slaughter was being played. BY BERXARD BI08BY, In the midst of this discomfort they were turned out several times to take part in slight engagements, while they celebrated Christmas by capturing a gigantic supply train on its way to Price, together with five hundred prisoners, and, what was of more consequence to many of them, "lots of loot." "Yes, I heard him say to-day that you were wonderfully like a boy he lost." Henderson continued: "You see, Uncle Jack has had a pretty tough time of it, and that perhaps accounts for his going a-soldiering when most men of his age and means would have preferred tc send a substitute." r (COWTINUKD ) "I'm so glad to meet you, Captain Henderson," the young minister gushed, taking Mark's brawny hand in both his chubby white ones and nursing it affectionately. "The repose of this quiet spot must be very soothing after the turmoil of battle—wounded, too, they tell me you've been. Well, as ma says, we've much to be thankful for in thin vale of tears." "I object," ruthlessly declared Dr. Barrows. "Mark is an invalid and wants rest." Then, seeing the pout on his-wife's pretty lips, he-added: "But I'll propose an amendment to your proposition. We've never attempted to give a party since we were married. Now, suppose you go to the Walnut House and invite Mrs, Besant to tea to-night. You can then trot round to the parsonage and ask Mr. Brentwood and his women-folk, and—" Halleck had succeeded Fremont as Commander-in-Chief of the Department of the Missouri, with headquarters at St. Louis. . CHAPTER VL BY THE CAMP-FIRE. i Though the Union army was defeated at Wilson's creek, it was not by any means crushed, Major Sturgis, upon whom the command devolved, making a masterly retreat. Frank Besant fraternized with the Iowa boys, by whom he was credited with some gallant conduct, though the din of battle had seemed to him like a dream hard to remember at the awakening. Of course he had fired as long as his ammunition lasted, and used his bayonet like the rest of them; but as for any particular act of heroism, if such there had been, it had entirely escaped his remembrance. As Colonel Fulton tore open the blood' stained missive his eyea flashed and the color mounted to his chcek. "By heaven," he Raid, "this is glorious news. We are ordered to reinforce Grant at Fort Donelson. Ordc. taps to be beaten and all lights out in the camp; for the boys must have some sleep before they take the road again." "A boy he lost?" This department was divided into several districts, of which we have principally to do with those of "Cairo," under command of General Grant, and "Ohio," under Buell. It was on his return from this expedition that Frank Besant received the glorious tidings that his commission had arrived, and that he was appointed to a Lieutenancy in his own regiment. A little later and there would have been much grumbling at a man's stepping from the ranks to a seat at the officers' mess-table, but in those days military etiquette was not so strictly observed, and, besides, our hero was too popular for the tongue of envy to be raised against what ail thought was a fair, though tardy, recognition of his merits. "Yes, his only child and wife were both drowned at sea, and he has never been the same man since." But now, to Frank's chagrin, the conversation was interrupted by other members of the party. Now the Confederates held that Kentucky naturally belonged to them, and the dawn of 1862 saw them with a line of fortifications dotted across that State and held by strong detachments—prom- prominently Columbus on the Mississippi, Fort Henry on the Tennessee, Fort Donelson (twelve miles distant by land) on the Cumberland, Bowling Green, Mill Spring and Cumberland Gap, fhe critical points in this long line of ramparts were Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, center, and the keys to Southern Kentucky and Tennessee. If these were taken the whole was untenable. Estacado Jesus de Fonseca, of Conejos county, Colo., writes to know "Who is Jerry Simpson, the newly elected statesman now in Washington, and what are his qualifications as a lawmaker?" A Well Matched Coople. "Yet I don't feel particularly grateful for a bullet in my 6houlder-blade," Mark said, abruptly, disengaging his hand from the minister's grasp. A convict at French penal settlement, who was undergoing a life sentence, desired to marry a female convict, such marriages being of common occurrence. The governor of the colony offered no objections, but the priest proceeded to cross-examine the prisoner. Green and Carson, who were old friends of Henderson, were clamorous that he should sing them something before the meeting dispersed. "Won't that be perfectly splendid!" Flossie Burrows cried, and as Mark lazily accepted the plan it was forthwith carried out. On the evening of the 13th of February the Fighting Fourth, wearied with a long day's march over swamps and brushwood, joined the Union forces, now increased to thirty thousand men. "Ah, no. Bless me, no. I didn't mean that at all; but do let me introduce you to my sweet young friend Grace Brentwood," and with an air of proprietorship he took the soldier across the room and made him known to Miss Brentwood, with as much sangfroid as though he had been familiar with that young person from girlhood. A few hours later Mark heard him talking of Mrs. Besant's niece as "my dear young friend Kate Lester," and wondered what there was in the clerical profession that permitted such breaches of social etiquette, or, as he called it, I am sorry to say, "unlimited gall." Jeremiah Simpson is the congressman from the Seventh district of Kansas. He ig a native of New Brunswick, and at fourteen years of age went to sea, where be became a victim to the habit of going utterly without socks. He takes great pride in his well turned mahogany ankles and richly carved legs. At full dress parties and receptions the coming season he will offset the low corsage of the finely formed Washington belles by wearing a set of high cut panties, revealing his well groomed though still slightly chapped ankles. "Come now, Mark, no excuses. We don't often get such a chance, and we've not the slightest intention of missing it." But Mark Henderson was fated to meet Mrs. Besant before the evening's festivities, for in the early afternoon a note came round from Walnut House to say that that lady's niece had just arrived from Chicago, whereupon the accommodating officer was commissioned by his sister to call and induce both ladies to honor thein with theif presence. Of course his new friends were willing to share their rations with him, and blankets were to be had for the picking up, but no one seemed inclined to take the responsibility of giving him orders. The fort itself, occupying about one hundred acrcs, stood on a bluff a hundred feet high, with sixty-five guns threatening approach by the river, but almost unprotected from the land side, save for the inaccessible ruggedness of the ground and the heavy trees which had been felled, and which proved to be formidable abatis. Already Grant had made ax unsuccessful attack upon a battery ccmmanding a road upon which he was trying to move. "Dill you not marry in France?' he asked. "Yes." This freak of good fortune gave Frank what he so much needed, association with men, who, by education and home culture, were more nearly his equals, a boon he appreciated, besides rescuing him from the familiar approaches of James Lawson and his friends, a consideration to be by no means ignored. "Well, boys," was the cheery answer, "if you will promise to do justice to the chorus, I don't care if I do tip you a Btave. So here goes. I stole the best half of it from Sever, but the felony yvon't spoil its flavor." "And your wife is dead?" "She is." "Have you any document to show that she is dead?" "No." "Join your regiment as quick as you can," was the nearest approach to a command he received. Now, while our hero was on the march to join General Buell's command, preparations were made for this momentous enterprise, and its execution was intrusted to General Grant, who on the 80th of January moved from Cairo with a force of seventeen thousand men, assured of the co-operation of Commodore Foote, in command of a flotilla of gun-boats. "Then I must decline to marry you. You must produce some proof that yovu wife is dead." So unfettered and disconsolate he roamed about as he listed, observant of every thing round him, and on a keen lookout for Dick Swayne, who he thought might help him find his reg - Then, in a rich baritone he trolled: The pickets arc fast retreating, boys. The last tattoo Is beating, boys, So let every man Fill up his can And drink to our next merry meeting, boys. "You know I didn't dare to say that you were a friend of Frank's this morning, or we should have had the widow down here long before this, interrupting my Immense preparations for supper—simply an army officer, my dear boy—so while you're there you can just let the flood-gates of your information flow, or you'll be boring us to death this evening with it all," the volatile little lady suggested. When spring's first breath modified the icy dutches of winter, the order came lor the regiment to march to St. Louis. He was mate of a large bark at the age of twenty-two years, and thirteen years ago left the sea to locate a place in Kansas. The Sockless Cicero of Kansas, as he is playfully called, was largely in his later years a fresh water sailor, and his last vessel was wrecked off Ludington, on Lake Michigan, and all on board were saved through the heroism of the captain. There was a pause, and the bride prospective looked anxiously at the wouldbe groom. Finally he said: Grace and the Captain became fast friends, and when he told her delicious little anecdotes of Frank's bravery and general heroism, yon may be sure he But who among the thousands who lay down to rest that night before the doomed fort will ever forget its misery? " The colonel so gayly prancing, boy?, Has a wonderful trick of advancing, bays; When be sings out so large: 'Fix bayonets and charge He sets all the Johnnies a-dancing, boys. "I can prove that my former wife is dead." It was not till some weeks after- Wards that he learned how little likely he was to find the staunch Missourian, who had yielded to Mark Henderson's entreaties to join his regiment—not till Frank heard of the brilliant charge Major Zagonyi with three hundred horsemen made at Springfield on two thousand Confederates, seventy of his men as they rode saber in hand, falling ere they reached the enemy, when he scattered four hundred Confederate pfvralry and routed a regiment of infantry—did he know what had become of Richard Swayne. As the men lay on the bare ground without tentw, without fires, many without even blankets, a cruel storm of sleet and snow swept over them and the thermometer fell to 12 deinw* above zero, whilo some of the poor wounded heroes literally froze to death on their icy resting-places. Charlie Fvlton and Frank were now bosom friends, though they were in different companies, and it was from him tliat Besant learned of tbe intended departure. "How will you do so?' "I was sent here for killing her." And the bride accepted him notwith standing.—Texas Siftings. The idea was for the fleet to reduce the fort, while Grant cut off the retreat by land, but Confederate General Tihlman, seeing from the first that resistance was useless, sent his garrison of three thousand men to Fort Donelson, and nominally held Fort Henry with a handful of brave defenders, who, of course, after a feeble resistance, surrendered." Our sweethearts at home are sighing, boy\ For lads on the tented-field lying, boys; But we're hearty as yet. And don't mean to fret, Or talk about death, till we're dying, boys. "And this niece—do you know any thing about her?" "They're going to march us the whole blessed way over the railroad ties to save the Government the expense of transportation. It's a shame —a burning shame—especially after the way our poor fellows have suffered from this infernal climate," Fulton declared, with a gu«.t of righteous indignation.Captain Jerry Simpson is now a farmer, and it is said was elected because he •howed on the stump his sockless condition, claiming that he wa3 so poor and honest that he could not afford socks. His successor will doubtless be a plain man, who will go about canvassing the Seventh district and wiping his nose on the top rail of the fair ground fence besause he is so plain and poor that he aannot afford a handkerchief. No Testimonial. "Oh, I suppose she is a lady who was visiting Mrs. Besant two years ago, whom I met at the Brentwoods, when I first made Harry's acquaintance—not at all good looking and rather passe— not a bit your style, my dear; but, as she'll be up to her eyes unpacking, you may rely on having the fair widow all to yourself." Next day the battle was resumed with alternate success and failure. Advertising Agent—Your pardon for intruding, madam, but I understand that you have been sick and are now perfectly well, and that during your illness six bottles of Dr. Ctirem's elixir was bought at the corner drrDg store. u But 'tis time for a farewell-greeting, boys, For the wing-footed hours are fleeting, boys, Bo let rvery man Fill up his can, And drink to our next merry meeting, boys." In the afternoon the deafening cannonade of the fort guna told them that Foote's gun-boats were already in advance.Once fairly started, the gallant cavalrvman Droved himw.lf a orince of (rood company, song and story tripping from his lips without apparent effort. It was only when the party was breaking up that Frank managed to get a word or two with him. Grant and Footc then turned their attentions to Fort Donelson. At four o'clock Frank found himself in command of his company, for his Captain was wounded and had been carried to the rear. Twice they had charged, and once again he was rallying them, when a sharp voice cried in tone of command: Madam—Yes. The nurse who came to take care of me got sick, and ordered the bottles for herself. I~did not takft any of it. So Frank, finding none to help him, helped himself in the best way he could, fighting when there was fighting to do, and giving a helping hand to the ambulance squads whenever occasion demanded his services. Thus in five days he found himself in Springfield, where the very first person he met was James Lawson driving a Ught supply wagon. t'Hullo!" that worthy cried, almost dislocating the mule's jaw in his eagerness to stop. "Why, blame me if I ever thought I was going to set eyes on you again, old fellow. Come, jump up alongside me. I've been down to the commissariat master's for some grub, but I'm going right back. And won't the boys be glad to see you!" - C'So the regiment's here all right?" ••You bet it is. Say, weren't we lucky to miss the carnage at Wilson's creek? It almost made me sick to see them carry the wounded to the field hospitals.""That's no way for a soldlar to talk. J do believe, Jim, your moral sense is 90 blinded thai yon do not have the "It's pretty tough, but I guess they'll come out all right," was Frank's cheerful response. And all this time the boys of the Fourth were leisurely making their way to Buell, impeded however by small engagements with the enemy and constantly exposed to irritating attacks of guerrillas. Henderson was a fine, handsome fellow, with a distinguished military bearing, and had often been the cynosure of admiring eyes on the parade-ground and in the drawing-room, but he had never known what it was to be stared at as he was by the gaping rustics on his way through the village, and well they might feast their eyes on his gallant figure; for Meltonburg was one of those delightfully primitive villages, where, if you had an egg for breakfast, there was not an old maid in the place who did not know which end you had broken it at before dinner-time, and consequently Mark's arrival had been heralded from house to house. His doughty deeds had been carried on the wings of gossip from fireside to fireside, and the patriotic editor of the Weekly Advertiser had primed Jjiem with a double-leaded description ot the glorious cavalry charge at Springfield "in which the brother-in-law of our talented fellow citizen, Dr. Burrows," took so noble a part. Nay, not half an hour ago, the new edition of the paper Until last June Mr. Simpson was the city marshal of Medicine Lodge. He was up to that time regarded as .short an genius and long on socks. Wow it is otherwise. Next to the "Kreutzer Sonata" and the young lady at the Fourteenth street museum who has a heavy sorrel mane down her spinal column, the Sockless holds the age on public notice. "Humph! Can I see her?" "She's dead."—New York Weekly. "Eh, Besant, how I do envy you that even disposition of yours. Nothing seems to put you out—why, I've been raging ever since I heard the beastly news." "Shall I see you in the morning, Captain Henderson?" he asked, anxiously. On the night of the Cth of February the regiment was in camp—at least the boys were bivouacking around such scanty fires as the rain-drenched character of the brushwood and rotten logs they had gathered permitted. By this time, you must know, they had gone through so much suffering and seen blood so often shed, that their cheeks no longer blanched at thought of death, nor their sense revolted at sight of gapping wound or ghastly corpse. They were '*old soldiers" now—veterans in all but years. "Halt, sir! Give your men breathing time. Do you not see that your line is not half formed?" Put None but Cooks on Guard. "Not likely, my boy; for I start on the first train, and you'll be hoofing it probably before I'm out of bed." "And what good has your raging done Charlie?" "Well, at any rate it has let some of the superfluous steam off and I'm likely to be a little more companionable. So come to my quarters and have a pipe with me. I'm expecting one or two good fellows you will be glad to meet." Turning with impatience at the rebuke, ho saw a man with a rather slight, ungainly figure with slouch hat and undress uniform. He knew not then that he was gazing at that son of destiny, Ulysses Grant. "Yes, that is so. Well, be sure and call pn mother, if you go to Meltonburg —and, I say; if you tell her any thing of our way of living down here, don't draw your pictures with too many shadows in them." HE WAS A GENTLE, OVEBGBOWN YOUNG MAN. Colonel Marsh Merdock was the first to discover that Jerry did not wear jocks. The two went in swimming together during the campaign, and then the secret got out. The Great Unlocked owns 640 acres of land, which is this year all into wheat, or nearly so at least. did not lose favor in her eyes, which literally shone with gratification. Then he had the delightful privilege of leading Kate Lester in to supper and sitting beside her. Beautiful! Well, he knew not which to admire most, the prettiness of her face or the piquancy of her manner.But ere the angry reply rose to the lad's lips an aid-de-camp rode up and saluted Frank's impertinent critic. "No cards?" Frank asked, sharply "I understand, and will be careful. But how about the fair Grace? Shall I tell her that you send her a kiss, but don't want the precious article delivered till you're at home?" "Bless your innocent young heart, no —not even a game of Beggar-my-Neighbor to shock your moral principles." "What news from the river,Winters?" "The worst. General. Six gunboats havo advanced—two are disabled and are drifting helplessly down the stream, while the others seem likely to follow." "Who will be there?" On the windward side of one smoldering heap of smoking brush a little group of officers was gathered. The surroundings were miserable enough, but not all the wretchedness of scene and season could repress the reckless dispositions of those gallant lads, who were "yarning" with as much exhilaration as though they had not a gloomy t He also owns several head of bright young heifers, several of whom will enter the milch arena this spring. Mr. Simpson is the author of a small blue book on "The Care of the Cow, and Udder Information Generally." It is dedicated to Thomas Brower Peacock, the poet of Topeka. "Why, Green and Carson of ours, Gregory of the Thirty-ninth, and a cavalry fellow on his way home on furlough—he says he knows you, by the by —Mark Henderson, do you remember him?" Frank laughed. "Good-bye, old fellow," he said. "I wish with all my heart and soul I was going with you." Miss Ruth sat on the other side of him at the table, and took perhaps a little more than hor share yf the soldier's attention—at least so thought Miss Lester, If one could judge from her looks. "Ah! then, after all, the blow must be struck on land!" Young Husband (wife at church, girl away)—Let me see. She said as soon as the water boiled to put the meat in. I wonder how » fellow can tell when it drag Vmil?—pack. And there was something like tears in the lad's eyes as he grasped his friend's hand and turned gloomily away to his quarters. And General Grant passed on, a strange, cold gleam of determination lighting his usually impassive features. "I should think I did Why, Charlie. The conversation was general and of course about the war. for in those [TO BE CCSTW-KD]