The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-02-21
THE PRESS.
Captain Camlion.
BY JULIAN HAWTHORNE.
fLondon World I

of the 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 he had been exposed, had ever re-
ceived wound.
Our acquaintance antedated the war. We
had been classmates in Harvard university.
| remember we used to nickname Camlion
Captain long before the war of the rebel
lion was thought Of He was tall, strong
and serene, with dignity about him half
boyish and half manly, which made him re-
spected as well as loved. He was president
of every college society to which he be-
longed; he pulled the heaviest oar in the
university crew. No exertion tired him,
and no prov,cation put him out of temper,
though do not forget his encounter with
Fred Belmont. 1t was. indeed, the begin
ming of their friendship. Fred was Vir-
ginian by birth, though he afterward fought
on the northern side; he was full of fun and
humorous mischief, but subject to ungov-
ernable outbursts of passion. One day he
undertook to play off practical joke on
Mrs. Clapper, our launrdess, who was more
than suspected of using chemicals in her
washing, to the detriment of the fabrics
committed TO her charge. Fred, who was
something of chemist, hit upon the in
IL
with mixture which. when brought into
contact with the ingredient Mrs. Clapper
was accused of using, produced an explosion
which utterly upset her and her washtub,
and, besides rendering the poor old woman
almost idiotic with fright, injured her rather
severely on the hands and face. Fred re-
lated the incident with great glee at the
supper table that evening. We all thought
it funny and laughed-all except Camlion.
You ought to beg the woman's pardon
Belton," he said. There was an immediate
silence when his low but powerful voice
struck in, and everybody turned toward him
as he sat with both hands resting Oh the
edge of the table, and his face, which was
the type of the young Grecisn Hercules,
slowly reddening. Fred laughed, fancying at
first that Camlion was chatting. But in a
moment the latter added, sit was black
guardly thing to do"
Thereupon Fred jumped up, white with
rage.
''Will you take that back?' he called out.
81 say it was a shameful and cowardly
trick" was Camlion's answer.
Bolton 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 check, a little below the right eye
1t was a murderous act. We all rose con-
fusedly to our feet, anticipating a violent
sequel; for Camlion could have have shaken
Belton's heart out of him with one hand.
He alone remained seated, however, press
ing his handkerchief to the deep cash, while
he kept his own glance fixed on his assail-
ant.
''Of course that makes no difference. Bel
ton" he said after pause.
Bolton, who was by no means a bad fell
low, had no sooner done the deed than he
was sorry for it, and manfully said as much
on the spot.
81 don't care fig about this" answered
Camlion quietly; but,,' he added, with the
grim tenacity which was a feature of his
character, "you ought to make it up to Mrs.
Clapper."
The upshot was that Bolton yielded, and
presented Mrs. Clapper with 1925 and
reused good deal of discussion, and opn-
ion was for while somewhat divided as to
Camlion's behaviour. Some declared that
he ought to have sent the Southerner a chal-
lenge; but most of us felt that duel would
have been gratuitous absurdity for man
like Camlion, and it was a sign of the gen.
eral confidence felt in him that no one ven
tured to intimate that the fact of Beton's
being VIGOROUSLY dead shot had anything
to do with the pacific Termination of the
affair. Camlion himself never alluded to it
men afterward became firm friends. and Bel
ton, who had before belonged to the fast
set, gradually mended his ways under Cam
lions influence, and joined the athletic
party.
Another follower of Camlion's-and he
had many, though his intimates were few
was Frank Capel, also Southerner, and
well-mannered, pleasant fellow enough.
He was chiefly noted, however, for his ia
akoff nal - - E.
his, to whose praise his friends were obliged
to listen in season and out She was. ac-
cording to Frank, the cleyerest, most beau
uful, most fascinating creature above
ground. Her dancing, her riding, her mu-
sic, were all perfection, and Frank used to
declare that she could beat Fred Bolton hol-
low at shooting.
why, Pve seen her, Frank exclaimed.
take her revolver and put bullet through
each of the fingens of my glove while was
throwing it up in the air ten PAGES away
from herp'
In short, she was the ideal of all that
woman can or might be, and we 10 ked for
ward with interest to her promised appear
ance on our class dav.
We'll introduce Camlion to her, and he
shall make her an offer of marriagew said
Belon, with chuckle.
The joke Of this suggestion lay in the fact
that the else heroic Camlion was what is
called afraid of young ladies'; that is, he
could seldom be got to open his mouth in
the presence of any woman who was not
over thirty and married; and if brought to
bay, he would stammer and blush like
schoolboy, and stand twisting his great
hands behind him, glancing anxiously this
way and that for chance to bolt. To i'm
aglne him carrying on courtship was too
daring flight of fancy for anyone but Bel
ton. With children, however, Camion was
completely at home, and he would spend
hours of uproarous happiness in nursery,
tumbling his gigantic frame about on the
noor amid the screams of delight of the
smaller people. He treated them with ar
dent reverence and abject forbearance, and
they led him INTERESTINGLY CAPTIVE.
Our class day came round at last-the
longest and lovliest day of summer with
its spreads in the mems rooms, its dane
ing on the college green, its Examinations in
the evening, and its various other diver
sions. Miss Capel was there, and beyond
doubt she was, in appearance at least, nearly
all that Frank had declared her to be. But
for my own part, while recognizing the be-
witching briliiancy of her face and manner,
Sound her slender lips too satirical and
her clear brown eyes too unsympathet-
ic to command my entire fealty. She
was OF those women who, as bare re-
turn for condescending to exist in the
presence of a man, demand from him
devotion scarcely distinguishabe from
slavery. She was witty. rapid, I'D at once
subtle and daring. There was in her
fancied, more of Intellectual appreciation of
passion, than of passion itself. She seemed
to think that the proper place for her arched
foot was on the neck of the rest of humani-
ty. She never had been opposed, much less
rebuffed or Inundated; she expected that
your eye should fall before hers. Her figure
was tall and 1.-the, and nobly proportioned,
graceful, erect and alert. But l was brutal
enough TO think that some of the ear-boxing
which she had doubtless administered to
her slaves at home might have been whole
somely returned to her own defiant head.
Fred Bolton, on the other hand, considered
her divine" and squirrel her about most
inveterately, she accepting his homage in
good part, and laughing with him, or at him
quite affably. For several hours he was
general object of envy. At length, catching
sight of Camlion, he whispered a few words
to his beautiful companion, who glanced mt
our serene Hercules, and nodded her head.
moment later he had been brought ND
and presented.
See you again in half an hour at Harvard
hal" said Bolton, and was off, chuckling
to me, We've cooked old Camlion's goose
for him this time, at all eventsr'
Perhaps he had, though not in the way
he imagined. What induced Miss Rosalind