Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-01-01
County Clerk

in hollow voice. 'We want no women here"
Livid, implacable, with penthouse shags
Of brows lowering over eyes of blue-hot steel,
with teeth set hard, and puckered visage,
and front Of towering Drawn, he stood con-
fronting the wretched being before him.
- feel as if the devil had suddenly
brought me in a cup of tea, he said pres
emily in sardonic, griding tones, like the
harsh clang Of distant falling brass.
The hapless object on whom these gro
tesque words fell, ieebly lifted his arms once,
and let them sink again then as one re-
signing hope, dropped his head so low that
his hat fell off, dragging his black, sweat
bedabbled hair over his shrunken visage,
white as leprosy.
George, pale to blueness underneath his
swarth, cast a hurried beseeching glance at
the carpenter az depending on him to make
the intercession. The carpenter, moveless,
rosy, unshaken, remained mute, in utter
composure, with his eyes fixed on the old
man. Unable to longer keep silent, George
turned to his father
50 Father, he said in abrupt, trembling
tones. - for my sake for all our sakes, for
give Rupert. Don't be cruel-don't be un-
natural. He has suffered much He was
misguided-deceived he has entirely re-
pentcd. Forgive him, beg you. We were
sick together in the hospital, he is sick and
weak still Our good friend here nursed US
both, like our own mother. We never can
repay him for all his tenderness. 1t was his
plan to bring us here to night. Father, be-
seech you, forgive my poor brother
1t was all that George could say. Feeble,
DESPITE its earnestness, it fell from the old
man like a hattened bullet from the side Of
an iron clad Emily tried to come forward
10 add her pleading. but John held her back,
knowing his father well, fully realizing the
situation, and convinced that words We're use
less. Every one else remained in siekening
expectancy.
:. How comes he here - said Elkanah,
sternly pointing his finger at the covering
shape before him. Is He is a rebel-why Is
he not also prisoner
=. lie has been released, said George.
By whom? - came the savage interroga-
ton.
..By the man Of all our hearts" cried
George, with sudden glow. ' BY the man
with millions Of haters, who himself calls no
man, enemy
:. Abraham Lincoln, sand the carpenter.
\ profound murmur pulsed through the
room.
Yes, cried George, with gathering CON
fdence. 3. by our President This good friend
here went To see him. and laid the case before
him. He told him Of our service 10 the c0un-
trv: he told how Rupert had been led away
he told him of YOU. father, and all your deyo-
ton: of mother greiying for her Lost boy--of
all and the President gave the order for Ru-
pert's release at once. and We brought him
here.
A faint dush crept upon heold mans con-
tracted face, and. in gesture Of respect, be
lowered his head 70 his up carried hand.
Then. with q powerful >hudder, as wheE some
mighty bull shakes the flies from bis hide, he
became erect, hard, and still.
II utter nothing against Abraham Lin
coin. he said, in low, rcyerbcrating tones.
He is my President God bless him in his
living. and in his dying, God bless him ,'
In the solemn, almost tender silence which
en-ued. the outcasr gathered courage.
Father. be laltered, in q weak. husky
voice. forgive me do not ask You to re-
ceiye me back again. but only forgive me, and
bless me. and let me q my lonely way COM
frted was foolish was v0ung
e. You were not boy interrupted the
harsh old man. You are twenty eight
year, old YOu are not achild-yOuare a
man.
IL know it. father" he hu-kily ialtered ;
but I was Young in feeling You know
YOU used 10 chide me for ma kin. lite so unreal
for mv romantic way of looking at every
thing il was In that way looked at the
rebellion. It seemed tome 80 right, 50 grand.
II came 10 me in my folly like great cause.
Father. have learned differently from bitter
experience. am wiser. IhinE- look very
different % me W.
"I should think they might. reioined the
old man in a heart-quakTng roar. '' Three
hundred thousand graves stud the land. Your
work, and the work of monsters ike you
Weeping and mourning in every household.
Widows, orphans, chiidiess fathers every
where. The country in cluyulsi0n and tot
t-ring on the brink of ruin. The land : best
and bravest. horribly shattered and mansled,
hohbliug about on crutches. OF buIled in
bloody trenches. should think things might
look different Sir. am not your futher,
but Your Judge. You are a murderer
The miserable creature covered his face
with his hands Hope died within him, and
every breaking heart within the room,
stricken % marble, and almost ceasing % beat
in the iron silence, owned 10 itself that his
case was hopeless.
.. Look at that flag 80 pealed the old man.
falling into a posture Of formidable antique
dignity, with his ma-tertul arm stretched to-
wards the wall .' Il is the fasof mankind
To that, YOU, and your crew of vile liberti-
cides. are traitors. What have You fought
for? That the dandy might spit in the me-
chanics face That the lord might insult
the farmer That the necks Of the many
might wear the vokes Of the few some
monarchy-some new m0ngrel ieudal hell on
our republican soil That was your cause.
A fine glittering house. laid on >odden whites
and brutifei blacks, >quasheI our Of their
manhood. Up aloft your pirates murder
cloth. whose every futter threw Tall upon
some innocent h0usehold-and down below,
in the putrid cellarage, our rotting prisoners,
our dead and mangled braves \ fine. fine
palace for my lord the king For this you
have fought thong. And now, success assured,
YOU desert your work, and come here, and
ask forgiveness Oh, iapudence without a
name -
Conyulsed with fury, he paused, grinding
his teeth hard. George, half-dead with hor-
ror. sank on hi knees, with his arm across a
chair, his head flung down upon it, his empty
sleeve dangling beside him
.. pass by the horrible voice, ike
sounding bronze, resumed pass by the
misery. the shame, the desOlation YOU have
left upon Us here for years. pass
" Father said Rupert, lifting his head
with iorlurn dignity one word. am too
weak and i'll to speak. Let me only say that
my error and my crime came from my sense
of duty and, bad as my cause has proved tc
be, Joined it in all honor, and carried nv
self like a man and a soldier"
d" What was your seryice?' champed the
old man. " Infantry Cavalry? Speak
you devil -
Artillery gasped Rupert.
:" Ilah - ourburst his father, with a ire
mendous explosion, - have seen your work.
Twice have been to battle fields | saw the
black and bursted bodies, torn and swollen,
in the grisly hollows of Bull Run saw
the corpses of my murdered cOuntrymen,
rent with shrapnel and shell, when went
cropping for your broth r, with eyes stung
with dreadful tears. on the bloody terrace Of
Fredericksburg What arm restrains me that
he thundered, with mighty sweep of his
arm, and eyes like blue, fierce fire Hence
or | squelch you like a snake, beneath my
feet The curses of the living, the murrnin
of the dead, blight you You man without
country, man without a flag, 90, skulk the
earth like Cain Back with you tread
the roads worn by the fayed and bloody feet
Of our heroes The mounds heave at YOU as
you pass, and vomit forth their ashes and
their bones upon you The skeletons from
which dropped the black flesh, dense with
vermin. in the wintry misery, the summer
horror, of Andersonville and Belleisle. may
they haunt your dreams Of-son without
father, man without a land-off with you,
forever
Bitterly weeping, Rupert fell away to the
door. There was a slight and hushed COM
motion in the desPairing room. Women.
who had silently sank in dead swoon, were
being noiselessly removed. Then all was
still again, and for a moment there was a