Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-05-30

suit. If the colonel should undertake TO car
ry the body he would be captured himself.
He tried to cxtricatc the flag, but the body
lay upon it and the staff was too firmly held
in the cold hand.
Poor fellow" he said compassionately
giving up the attempt, Its his by right, any
how. He was brave enough II he was Il lan-
kec, and taking of his hat he passed rever-
emily by the moiouless hgure and followed
his command into their retreat.
Five minutes later the Federal troops com
ing down Tia" hill stopped by the nag.
"Theies glory enough III this, GU rs, SAID
one Of the officers TO the other.
The one addressed was leaning over the col
or bearer
The man isn't dead,' he said looking up.
just then third joined the group and
glanced Vt the uptlmed face.
Quit a study. isn't it, he said indiher-
emily. Then suddenly with second look, he
droPpcd 10y the gray clad form. bent over it
silently, and with u tone of horror in his
voice cried out, " The mans my brother
No, lac was not dead, though for weeks af-
ter that he hung between life and death, first
in the ncighborng camp and then in the hos
pital at army h,ad-quarters. But for his
brothers recognition he could hardly have
lived. 1t was that that secured him in the
first instance transportation from the battle
field aud aftcrward care and attention from
his captors. Hundreds less fortunate had
been left on that hillside to die. His mother,
too, was tel, graphed for, and when he came
to himself the first object he saw was her
pale face and black draped figure bending
over his bed. For Il moment he was terribly
bewidcred. 1t seemed as though his youth
had come back to him and he was lying in
the little room in the old farm house, until he
recollected with a pang of remorse how he
had forfeited all right to these associations.
1t was day or two after that he touched
his mothers black dress and looked inquiring-
ly into her face.
Your father She said gravely he
died just year ago
John did not dare to ask what it was that
killed him. The disregarded warning of his
mothers letter came back to his mind and
turning away his face he went through such
an agony of self-reproach as threw him back
| INTO the teNtr' anu Tor ahother week serious
ly lmpenlcd his ME.
When at length he was pronounced out Of
danger and seemingly III a fair way to recoV-
er-lt was qute Two months after ms capture
he began 10 iret ahont MS positlon.
II III prisoner, suppose :: lie SAID one
day, lnterrogauyely.
Certahly' answered MS mother
And hesitatingly, us there any prob
ability OF my exchange
Mrs. winthrop looked INN calmly III The
face.
Il have already seen the Secretary OF war
she said and arranged about your release.
All you VIII have to do VIII be to take the
oath.
Johh looked up herNouhly. lie was sun
ieeOle ana MS tones were impatient ana qner-
| ulous.
But that means not going back again,
he sald
Mrs. winthrop houdeu. vi course, she
SAID, III the Government gives you your Tree
dom II mas riSht 10 ask that'
rather not have II, lie murmured, 'on
such terms.
You don't suppose, she SAID, now that
I've got you, I'm gong to let you turn rebel
! again. II your PATRIOTISM Is all gone, there
ought to be some gratitude to me and some
respect Tor your iathers memory.
He closed his eyes as if unwilling to hear
more and she left him. How much Of a strug-
gle was going on i'll his mind she could hard
| ly know. Ii was the alternative that he
thought he had settled year before come up
again under conditions that made 1t a hundred
times more difficult. On the one hand he could
hear Nathalie saying, IF you ever desert the
! flag don't come back to me y on the other his
fathers grave called out for expiation.
He was yet far from decision when
his mother coming in with an officer com
| PEELED him to II. For the time | suppose re-
morse was stronger than love. Or it may be
in his weak and feeble state lie was dominat-
ed by his mothers stronger will. At any rate
he took the oath, conscious as he did it that
he was trying to repair one act of treason by
committing another, and that by the act he
was alternating himself from Nathalie beyond
any hope of reconciliation. As he wrote his
name slowly and painfully in the designated
| place, his glance fell on the date of the paper.
| 1t was the third OF Scptrmber by an odd,
| and as It seemed to him fatal coincidence,
the very day that had been appointed for his
| marriage.
After that fifteen years passed away. The
war with all its shifting scenes went 10y,
! peace came once more, mems passions quiet
ed down and people took up again the pur-
suits and pastimes of their former life. Not
much of the time did John Winthrop spend
in his old home. The blot on the family
record was silent and bitter reproach. His
| first sight of 1t shocked him as he had never
been shocked before. BY and by it came to
have a sort of a fascination to him, so that he
often took down the book and turned over
| his pages to where the ugly black word stared
him in the face. His mother would have
torn the paper out, but he would not permit
| it, Let it stay he said bitterly My
fathers grandchildren may read 1t in clear
er light But he wrote beneath these words:
Entered the 18th South Carolina Nolun-
teors April Is, 1861 taken prisoner by the
| L. S. Government at Malvern Hill July l,
1862 released on taking the oath of allegi-
ance September 3, lSG2.'
In other respects, too, home was not the
| pleasantest place for him. The neighbors he
fancied looked on him with suspicion and
his brothers aud sisters, though they were
kind in their treatment, yet withheld from
him the entire confidence they gave to one
another. Concerning that one year of his
life he never spoke, and they, however anxious
| they may have been, never questioned him.
His life so far, he told himself, had been a
failure. He would begin it over again in II
new sphere. So he came to New York and
went into business.
In fiye years had made fortune. He put
his money into governments, locked them up
in the safe deposit vaults, and went to Europe