The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1894-12-05

timidity.
Cupid did not hit Saunders's heart
with the traditional golden arrow this
time. II was the tiny bullets of lead
which went from the muzzle Of the
Flobert straight to the bull's-eye of
the target that made the wounds which
are inflicted sooner or later on every
man. BY the time the wee cartridge
box was empty Saunders was hope
lessly smitten.
In the course of the next fortnight
he came to that point where he would
have even studied law with pleasure
had she expressed an admiration for
law students. But she did not. He
had confded to her all his baffled am
bitions; had told her how his soul
yearned for shoulder-straps and she,
in turn, told him that the life of a
soldier was the only one worth liv-
ing.
He was too old for West Point why
didn't he try for a civil appointment? |?
This had never occurred to him; he
would think it over. He asked her
some questions, and confded some of
his ideas of garrison life to her. She
laughed at them and told him that he
was q "dehr old tenderfoot" If it had
not been for the tone of voice in which
she said it, for the roguish, half fond
glance from her mustang eyes, Saun-
ders would have been terribly cut up
over that scornful word.
oot--tenderfoot, he! After
all he had read on the subject. Could
it be that his source of information
was bad? He did not ask Madge this,
however; he never put forth any of
his ideas on the subject again, to her /;
asked for no further information; he
knew he was missing golden oppor-
tunities for enlightenment, but he did
not care to be laughed at. He was
aware that nothing would SO much in
jure him in her eyes as to make him
self ridiculous. And Madge in that
fortnight exerted, first, every charm
she possessed, every power she could
command, to bring him to her feet.
Having succeeded in this, she used
quite as much skill in keeping him
from asking her to marry him. She
didn't want to be married she didn't
even want to be engaged, and he was
only the pastine of q summers launt.
Nobody took such firtations seriously I;
that is, nobody with any sense. If he
couldn't see she was in fun it wasn't
her fault, was it2 She wasn't account
able for his being deficient in powers
of PERCEPTION, was sheP A New York
man ought to know how to take care
of himself.
Well, the little summer play was
over. Saunders went back to town
with the secret determination to cut
loose from the grind of the law read
ing to go into the army. He had not
told Madge of this somehow, looking
back on it, he hadn't told her any
| thing that he had meant to; he had
been half afraid that she would laugh.
It would never do to have her laugh.
OF course, there was big row at his
home when he announced his determin-
alton. But the breath of free air that
he had drawn in from contact with
| Madge made him see that he should
have something to say in the matter
of his own career. Moreover, he had
the strength of love to uphold him.
He surprised his parents by asserting
his freedom of action, and when they
made it too disagreeable for his self
respect to allow him to stay under
their roof he left it, with paternal
and maternal maledictions following
i him. He started in to obtain civil
| appointment, and learned more, be.
fore he realized his failure, of the
nature of human beings and of the
! struggle for existence than he had
! ever known before.
1t came about that he obtained no
civil appointment, and he knew that
his father had done his best, covertly,
that he should not obtain it. This
. one thing he could not forgive.
Meantime he longed for Madge with
/ the whole power of his heart. He
wrote to her and received no reply.
! So he supposed that she had not got
his letter. The thought that she had
\ ignored it did not come to him. The
final refusal of a commission was a
blow from which he did not recover
for some days-he had lost heart for a
time; but he read in an Army and
Navy that Miss Kean had been des-
perately i'll. That afternoon he en-
listed as n private soldier, and the
next morning wore the blue.
This was not being Colonel or a
General, but men had risen from the
ranks to sudden fame and honor in
the books he had read; besides, he
was at his last penny. A little wave
of disgust ran over him as he learned
that $13 month, with clothing, bed
and board, would be his share of the
worlds goods. He enlisted with that
vague notion, which the average citi-
zen of that day had, that officers and
men inhabited peacefully the same
quarters; that the barrack-room was
a sort of happy family cage, where
shoulder-straps and chevrons went
side by side. He had not stopped to
think that the West was wide, and
that he might be assigned to post
several thousand miles from the one
which his lady-love lighted with her
presence. 1t was not until the deed
was done that this came to him, and
then he could only hope and pray.
AS luck would have it, he was sent to
the very post where Colonel Kean was
stationed. This did not exactly sur
prise him; he took it as matter of
course that Providence should inter
foro -, Iob~lf - of ouo 4