The Republican journal., 1881-02-24
A Story of the War
By JULIAN HAWTHORNE.

A Story of the War.
BY JULIAN HAWTHORNE.
In the month of May, 1864, we were
encamped, under Grant, on the bank of
the Rapidan. The opposite side of the
river was held by Lees forces. Our reg
iment-200th Massachusetts, fought
in many of the bloodiest battles of the
war, and comparatively few of the original
volunteers now survived. Camlion, Fred
Bolton, and myself, however, still held
together, and neither one of us, in all the
dangers to which we had been exposed,
had ever received a wound
Our acquaintance antedated the war.
We had been classmates in Harvard Uni
versty. | remember we used to nick
name Camlion ''Captain" long before the
war Of the rebellion was thought Of. He
was tall, strong, and serene, with a dig
nifty about him, half boyish and half man
ly, which made him respected as we'll as
loved. He was president Of every col
lege society to which he belonged; he
pulled the heaviest oar in the University.
No exertion tired him, and no provoca-
ton put him out of temper, though ! do
not forget his encounter with Fred Belton
1t was, indeed, the beginning of their
friendship. Fred was a Virginan by
birth, though he afterward fought on the
northern side; he was full Of fun and
humorous mischief, but subject to un-
governable outbursts of passion. One
day he undertook to play off a practical
joke on Mrs. Clapper, our laundress, who
han tn1 nf al,
Gals in her washing, to the detriment of
the fabrics committed to her charge.
Fred, who was something of a chemist.
hit upon the ingenious device of saturat-
ing one of his shirts with mixture which,
when brought into contact with the in
gradients Mrs Clapper was accused of
using, produced an explosion which ut
terly upset her and her washtub, and,
besides rendering the poor old lady al
most idiotic with fright, injured her rather
severely on the face and hands. Fred
related the incident with great glee at
the supper table that evening. We all
thought it funny and laughed, all except
CamliOn.
"Iou ought to beg the woman's pardon,
Belton," he said. There was an immedi-
ate silence when his low but powerful
voice struck in, and everybody turned
toward him as he sat with both hands
resting on the edge of the table and his
face, which was the type of the young
Grecian Hercules, slowly reddening. Fred
laughed, fancying at first that Camlion
was chatting. But in moment the latter
added, ''It was blackguardly thing to
do"
Thereupon Fred jumped up white with
rage.
"Will you take that back :" he called
out.
81 say it was shameful and cowardly
trick ?" was Camlion's answer.
Belt0n snatched up a heavy bread knife
that lay on the table and hurled it with
all his force at Camlion's face. 1t struck
him on the cheek, little below the right
eye. 1t was murderous act We all
rose contusedly to our feet, anticipating a
violent sequel; for Camlion could have
shaken Belton's heart out of him with one
hand. He alone remained seated, how
ever, pressing his handkerchief to the
deep cash, while he kept his glance fixed
on his assailant.
"Ot course that makes no difference,
Belton," he said, after pause.
Bolton, who was by no means bad
fellow, had no sooner done the deed than
he was sorry for it, and manfully said as
much on the spot.
Il don't care fig about this" answer
ed Camlion, quietly, "but" he added,
with the grim tenacity which was a fea-
ture of his character, "you ought to make
it up to Mrs. Clapper."
he upshot was that Belton yielded
and presented Mrs. Clapper with $25 and
a handsome apology. But the incident
reused a good deal of discussion, and
OPINION was for while somewhat divided
as to Camlion's behaviour. Some declar-
eel that he ought to have sent the South
| efnef challenge but most of us felt that
duel would have been a gratuitous alb
surdlty for man like Camlon; and il
was sign OF the general confidence felt
IN him, that no one ventured to intimate
that the fact of Belton's being a notorious
ly dead shot had anything to do with the
paclhc termination OF the affair. Camion
himself never alluded to it in any way,
but, as | have said, the two men after
ward became firm friends, and Bolton.
who had before belonged to the fast set
gradually mended his ways under Cam
hons influence, and joined the athletic
party.
Another follower of Camlion-and he
had many, though his intimates were few
was Frank Capel, also a Southerner
and we'll hammered, pleasant fellow
enough. He was chiefly noted, however,
lor his fanatical devotion to certain ia
nous sister OF his, to whose praises his
friends were obliged to listen in season
and out. She was, according to Frank
the cleverest, most beautiful, most fasci
natlng creature above ground. Her dane
ing, her riding, her music, were all per-
fectlon; and Frank used to declare that
she could beat even Fred Bolton hollow
at shooting.
'Why, Eve seen her," Frank exclaimed.
take revolver and put bullet through
each OF the five fingers of my glove while
L was throwing it up in the air ten PAGES
away from herw
In short she was the ideal of all that
woman can or might be, and we looked
forward with interest to her promised ap-
pearance on our class day.
"We'll introduce Camlon to her. and
he shall make her an offer of marriage "
said Bolton with a chuckle.
The joke OF this suggestion Law in the
fact that the else heroic Camlon was
what is called ''afraid" of young ladies ::
that is, he could seldom be got to open
his mouth IN presence of any woman who
was not over 80 and married; and if
brought to bay, he would stammer and