Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-06-15
LEM AND LAURA.
By c.. L. STANLEY.

By c. L. STANLEY.
Lem Beckett had not seen Laura
Dagley for months, for he had been
away in the war and had just received
his discharge He was going to see
her now, however, and as he walked
up across Judge Dagley's lawn his heart
beat wildly with happy anticipations,
for in a moment more he would hold
to his breast the woman he loved.
He had reached the house and was
in the act of setting his foot on the
veranda when he was arrested by a
peal Of laughter He knew well whose
laughter it was, for it had thrilled
him a hundred times before He
glanced around and through an open
window he saw Laura. But she was
not alone. She stood clasped in the
arms of another man. her head resting
gently, lovingly on his shoulder. Lem
was astOnished-hardly able to credit
his eyes, his blood frozen in his veins.
There was no room for doubling the
meaning Of what he saw. Every ges-
ture, every feature of the woman toll
only too plainly that she loved the
man in whose arms she rested.
For a minute Lem remained there
looking at the two, then he turned
and staggered away. He went down
the path to the road, reeling like a
drunken man, and then he sat down by
the roadside with his head in his hands
DIT
only came before him, that which he
hada [. fin W, ST.
had Just seen. And, try as he would,
he could not Danish it from him. One
thought only occupied his mind, and
that was that Laura had proven false,
she whom he loved with all the ardor
of his soul, and whom he would have
trusted as he would the angels of heav-
en-
An hour passed and then he arose
and went back toward the old mill,
which was his home. AS he walked
his mind resumed its functions, and be-
fore he had reached the end Of his
journey he had matured plan of ac-
ton. He entered the mill and made
a light, for it was quite dark now,
and then he wrote and tackled On the
door a notice reading, "closed forever
Then he went to his room in the loft
and gathered together his valuables,
ddddd
all of which he put carefully away.
/ locked the mill, and walked away in
I Il Il T.
was going to join Blakely's company OF
recruits, which was then forming, glad
| of the opportunity to engage IN the
war, and hopeful that there would be
hard fighting soon and plenty Of it.
| The recruits were gathering at the
roads VIXEN Lem arrived. Everyone
was surprised to see Lem there, bu1
they were more surprised by his won
derfully altered appearance. Already
his face was haggard and he appeared
to have aged several years within s
few hours. The men knew there was 9
cause for his change-tha7t something
affecting Lem deeply ha1 TRANSFERRED
but they could net surmfse what, and
| the expression Of his face deferred
them from asking any questions. Will
wonder and surprise Capt. Blakely wei
IcOmed Lem to his company.
At midnight all the recruits We're il
AID the little band Of volunteers pre-
pared to begin their march. Lem tool
a position in front of the column and
when Blakely gave the word to move
he stro6fe away at such a gait that his
l : 10
pace with him. He w&S in a fever OF
iexciteInent anS he wanted action. HI
4w0uld have gwen the world if there
had been battle raging then ant
The wou3d have plunged wrecklessiy int
the hottest part of it He longed t.
3hear the booming Of cannon, the whiZ
3zing .Gf shells and the rattle of mus
}ket1y While the others talked an(
laughed Lem stalked stolidly on, grim
lily silent, save that new and then h
ace d h tRrT Mfififf Ezfif xzfifif Xxx,
burned to urge his con2Danions to move
faster.
Two days later the little band Were
with the army, and sO4n Lem WAS cap
tain of Blakely's old company. Then il
the days following there was fighting
marching and SkirmisIing until thu
poor soldiers We're worG out with ia
tigzle and exposure, but though Len
managed to share the heaviest burden:
The was impatient and cf8fed for more
movement, more hardSmpS and plOr'
dangers. Army life was lacking in eX
lcitement for him.
The people at home learned in time
through letters from the army where
Lem was, but they were unable to &C
count for his sudden and abrupt de
parture- They could not understand
how a young man who had come int
considerable wealth by the death o.
his father should go away leaving his
lands and mills uncared for and un
protected. They wondered, too, tina
he should go away leaving Laura Dag
ley at that time. knowing as they die
the near approach of his intended mar
rage with her. But though people a
home wondered at these things the!
could form no satisfactory conjecture;
as to the cause of LENS actions, TO
he never uttered a word to give then
la cleW.
Two years passed and there came
letters telling of the hard fightin:
; around Vicksburg and one of them tolt
of the fall of Lem Beckett. This new
spread rapidly through the neighbOr
!. hood about Beckett's mill and reached
even to the inner walls Of the Judg
Dagley's house. Was there one in tn,
jhOuSa to rno11rn for EN- Beckett'S fate