White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1858-12-16

ne to'e iito SITTING posture. For
the first time, he spoke
christian 70 he echoed in that deep
tone which thrilled the preacher to the
heart, twill that faith give me back my
honorf Come with me-with me far,
far over the water. Hal we are there
This is my native home. Yonder is the
church in which knelt in childhood
yonder the green on which l sported when
boy. But another flag than that wav-
ed when l was child. And listen, old
man were / to pass this street as / pass.
ed when but child, the very babes in
their cradles would raise their tiny hands
and curse me. The graves in yonder
churchyard would shrink from my foot.
steps, and yonder flag would stain bap-
tism of blood upon my heart"
That was an awful death-bed. The
minister has watched the /" last night, :"
with a hundred convicts in their cells,
and yet never beheld scene as terrible as
this.
Suddenly the dying man arose. He
tottered along the floor. With those
white fingers, whose nails are blue with
the death-chill, he opened the valise. He
showed his military coat trimmed with
silver. an old parchment, piece of cloth
that looked like the wreck of a battle
flag.
Look We, priest, this faded coat is
spotted with my blood % he cried, as old
memories seemed stirring at his heart.
This is the coat wore when l planted
the banner of the stars on Ticonderoga.
That bullet hole was pierced in the fight
at Quebec; now-I am a-let me wills
per in your ear.
"Now. help me, priest" he said in a
voice growing suddenly tremulous "help
me put on this coat Of blue and silver.
For you ssc," and a CHASTITY smile came
over'hi face, "there is no one to wipe the
cold drops from my brow no wife. no
child must meet death alone; but
will meet him, as met him in battle,
without fear"
While he stood arrayins himself in
that worm-eaten coat Of blue and silver,
the good preacher spoke to him of faith
in Jesus. Yes, of that great faith which
pierccs the clouds of human guilt, and
rolls them back from the face of God
Faith % echoed the strange man. who
stood there erect, with the th-light in
his eye Faith can it give me back
my honor? Look, We, priest, there over
the waves, sits George Washington, tell
ing to his comrades the pleasant story Of
the eight years war-there in his royal
hall sits George of England bewailing in
his idiotic voice the loss of his colonies.
And here am I--I-who was the first to
raise the flag of freedom, the first to strike
the blow against that King-here am |,
dying like dog %
The swe-stricken preacher started back
from the look of the dying man while
throb-throb--throb = beat the DEATH
watch in the shattered wall.
"Hush! silence along tho line there !''
he muttered, in that wild, absent tone, as
though speaking to the dead ''silenco
along the lines HarS, You. Montgomery.
we will meet there in victory or death
Hist silence, my men, not a whisper, as
you move up those steep rocks Now on,
my boys, now on Men of the wilder
ness, we will gain the town. Now up
with the banner of the stars up with
the flag of freedom, though tbs night is
dark and the snow fallsl Now-now-"
shrieked the death-stricken man. towering
there in the blue uniform. with his clsnch-
ed hands waving in the air" now, nowl
One blow, and Quebec is ours p
And look. His eyes grew CLASSY. With
that word OF his lips, he stands there
ali what hideous picture of despair,
erect, livid, CHASTITY There for a moment.
and then he falls He is dead All :
look at that proud form, thrown cold and
stiff upon the damp floor. In that CLASSY
eye there fingers even yet, horrible energy,
a sublimity of despair. g..
Who is this strange man, dying here
alone in this rude garnet, this man, who.
| in all his crime. still treasured up his blue
uniform and faded flag?
Who is this being of terrible remorse
This man, whose memories link some
thing of heaven and more of hell !?
Let us look at that parchment and the
flag.
The old minister unrolls that faded
flag. 1t was blue banner cleaning with
thirteen stars.
He unrolls that parchment. 1t is
Colonel's commission in the Continental
Army, addressed BESEDIcT ARNOLD
And there, in that rude hut. while the
death-watch throbbed like heart il the
shattered wall--unknown, unwept, in all
the bitterness of desolation, lay the corpse
of that patriot and traitor.
Oh, that our own true Washington had
been there, to sever that good right arm
from the corpse, and while the dishonred
body rotted into dust, to bring home that
good right arm, and embalm it among
the holiest memories of the past.
For that right arm had struck many
gallant blow for freedom. yonder at Ii
conderoga, at Quebec, Champlain. and
saratoga-that arm yonder. beneath the
snow-white mountain. on the deep silence
of the dead. first raised into sight the
banner Of the STARS.
/ 1t ives during the renowned expedition
through the wilderness to Quebec, that
i Arnold eacamped for two or three days
beside the River Of the Dead, near a snow
white mountain, which rose in lovely