New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1879-02-26

girls, who found with her refuge ant
q rest, where they could flutter thei]
incipient wings safely and happily.
l can only remember that, at tina
time, some great trial was running it!
course. and all England was eager fol
the sight OF the evening papers, which
one of US had brought in, and the con
tents of which we had been all eagerly
discussing, rashly giving our decided
judgments on points over which the
jury of twelve ''good men and true
would have to spend many an hour o.
weary consideration.
| One witness came in for our specia
animadversion. In her cross-examina
ton some question had been put to hel
which she had declined to answer, ean(
on appealing to the Judge whether she
was compelled to do so, had received ar
answer in the negative.
1--WE all" know what that Means .
was the dictum of our juvenile leader
in which we all heartily concurred
IF what she must have answered
would have been to her credit, she
would not have hesitated, whether the
question was justifiable or not. We
may be sure that her answer would
probably have evoked some further
question, with results still more dis.
creditable to herr
There was quite little chorus of as.
sent on this point; only Mrs. Martin
was quite silent, and gave her knitting.
needle II peculiar shift, which we had
long learned to recognize as what
wou)'' ~ described in parliamentary
language as "murmurs of dissent
"pon't you think so, too?' asked
one oi US, turning to the old lady with
that Difference which VIC always felt to
oe due to her, even when her wisdom
differed from that of our contemporary
Solomon.
My dear, it may be so-but it may
not," she answered. Il know little
story on this very point. knew agen-
:lcman who was present when the Incl
dent happened.
We were all attention. A story was
not to be Sighted, even when told to
prove ourselves in the wrong.
"Well," said Mrs. Martin, "many
years back. long before l was born,
and that is nearly sixty years ago, a
young man came out of little house
ut the eastern end of town by the sea.
There was plenty of life and gayety at
the other end of the town, which was
enlivened by one or. two barracks, a
fort and a castle. But the eastern end
was very poor, and would have been
quite lonely but for the fishermen and
their boats. The house from which
the young man came was beyond even
this homely hustle, and was little more
than wooden hut, tarred to defend it
from wind and weather. It's only near
neighbor was windmill, whose -gaunt
arms were almost over its humble roof:
and. though its windows and doorstep
were clean and its curtains white, It
was clearly q poor place, where none
but very poor people would live.
"But the young man who came out
was in the full dress of military Off
Ger, though that was screened from
first view by the long gray cloak which
the wild March wind made so neces-
sary. He looked back and waved his
hand toward the little house, as if he
knew that somebody there was watch
ing him, though, certainly, nobody
could be seen from the outside. And
then he turned and struggled against
the strong gale which blew in from the
sea.
:" He was quite young, and his face
was finely cut, and would have been
Pleasant but tor a look of stern and
painful sorrow, not unmixed with bit
terness, which seemed strangely incon-
gruous with his years and his dress.
he walked on quite through the
town. There were few people taking
cxt else for pleasure in that rough
W.: Their, and the crowd of shipping in
the Downs made the seward view al
MOS less lonely than the shore. It was
avy simple little town, with red
til'' decent dwelling houses, crowded
Tor I'D toward the sea, as if their in.
maics wanted to watch the boatmen and
hs''"rs from as near 3 point as they
might. Wherever the houses broke
apart, one caught glimpses of a wild,
Tat country, dotted here and there with
weird trees in Indian file; and the
youth looked wistfully toward these
desert fields, as if he would fain have
struck away across them, instead of
going on, as he did, toward the grim
old fort.
~ Yet there, it was clear, fcstiyity
las going forward, and frie,.,!ly voices
:reeted him as he passed the gray old
portal. And then, over his stern. sad
esce he dropped mask CT gaycty, and
though he relapsed into silence at
times, he was as polite aud convertible
as the best of them.
There was preparation for din
ner-party in the fine stiff old hall, with
its rows of military portraits, and its
dingy, blood-stained banners. The cas-
tie. the barracks aud the fort itself had
eagerly furnished guests to welcome
the visitor of the day, a grand old Gen
eral recently returned from honorable
victories in the south of Europe.
" To our ideas Of to-day said Mrs.
Martin, shaking her dear, white
capped head, 'there was perhaps
great deal in that dinner-tablc con.
versation which ought not to have
been. We have left off openly de-
spising our then enemies, the French,
or speaking Of any foreign allies much
as II they were vermin, whom it was
our good pleasure for the time being to
support and protect. Let us not be
afraid to condemn our honorable
grandfathors in that wherein we think
they were wrong. Only let us humbly
remember that. strive as we may, we
shall still say and do many
things which, as we believe in God and
progress. our still more fortunate ia.