Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-05-05
CAPTAIN CAMLION.


CAPTAIN CAMLION.
In the month of May, 1864, we were
encamped. under Grant, on the bank of
the Rapidan. The opposite side of the
regiment-the Two Hundredth Massa-
chusetts-had fought in many of the
bloodiest battles of the war, and COM
paratively few of the original volunteers
now survived. CamIion, Fred. Bolton
and myself, however, still held together,
and neither of US, in all the dangers to
which we had been exposed, had ever
received wound.
Our acquaintance antedated the war
We had been classmates in Harvard
University. I remember we used to
nickname Camlion s. Captain " long be-
fore the war of the rebellion was thought
OF. He was tall, strong and serene, with
dignity about him, half boyish and
half manly, which made him respected
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 provocation put him out of
temper, though do not forget his en-
counter with Fred Bolton. It was, in
deed, the beginning of their friend ship.
Fred was Virginian by birth. though
he afterward fought on the Northern
side; he was full of fun and humorous
mischief, but subject to ungovernable
outbursts of passion.
Another follower of Camlion's sand
he had many, though his intimates were
few-was Frank Cape, ALSO Southerner
and a well-mannered, pleasant fellow
enough. He was chiefly noted for his
fanatical devotion to q certain famous
sister of his, to whose praises his friends
were obliged to listen in season and out.
She was, according to Frank, the clev-
crest, most beautiful, most fascinating
creature above ground. Her dancing,
her riding, her music, were all perfec-
ton, and Frank used to declare that she
could beat even Fred Bolton hollow at
shooting.
In short, she was the ideal of all that
woman can or might be, and we looked
forward with interest to her promised
appearance on our class day.
"We'll introduce Camlion to her, and
he shall make her an offer of marriage!"
said Bolton, 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 never be got to open
his mouth in the presence of any woman
who was not over thirty and married,
and If brought to bay would stammer
and blush like school-boy, and stand
twisting his great hands behind him
and CHANGING anxiously this way and
that for q chance to bolt. To imagine
him carrying on q courtship was too
daring flight of fancy for any one but
Bolton. With children, however, Cam
lion was completely at home, and he
would spend hours of uproarious happi-
ness in nursery, tumbling his gigantic
frame about on the floor amid the
screams of delight of the small people.
He treated them with ardent reverence
and abject forbearance, and they led
him INCREASINGLY captive.
Our class day came round at last
the longest and loveliest day of summer
with its "spreads !" in the mems
rooms, it's dancing on the college
green. its illuminations in the evening,
and its various other diversions. 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
bewitching brilliance of her face and
manner, [ found her slender lips too
satirical and her clear brown eyes too
unsympathetic to command my entire
fealty. She was one of those women
who. as bare return for condescending
to exist in the pre- sence of a man, de-
mand from him devotion scarcely dis
tinouishab.e from slavery. She was
witty. rapid and at once subtle and dar-
ing 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 humanity. She had never been OPP
posed. much less rebuked or Inundated /;
abe expected that your eye would fall
before hers. Her figure was tall and
1.-the, and nobly proportioned, graceful
erect and alert. Fred Bolton, on the
other hand, considered her "divine,' -
and squirrel her about almost inveter-
ately: she accepting his homage in
good part, and laughing with him, or at
him. quite affably. For several hours he
was q general object of envy. Atlength,
catching sight of Camlion, he whis-
nered q few words to his beautiful COM
panion, glanced at our serene Hercules,
and she nodded her head. A moment
later he had been brought up and pre-
scented.
uSee you again in half an hour in
Harvard Hail. said Bolton, and was
off. chuckling to me. ssWe've cooked
old Camlion's goose for this time, at all
events. =
Perhaps he had, though not in the way
he imagined. What induced Miss Rosa
lind absolutely to lay herself out to cap-
t;vate Camlion of all men? Was it from
. subtitle feminine perception that nc
woman had vet won him, when yet he