The Forrest City times., 1894-10-19
every one wanted to hay. the star

role.
 Anyone else would have been dis heartened at these repeated failures and have settled down into the ordi- Eary round of duties of the ordinary lieutenant But Barton had the mak ings of general in him, coupled with desire to be leader of men; he could not reconcile himself to getting up at reveille; going to bed again and sleeping until breakfast at the mess and incidentally his thumbs in the suffers store all the morning; sleep ing from luncheon to retreat; dining and re-twirling his mustache and thumbs until taps. Of course he could have put in his time at reading and thinking. being intellectual, but man in his position should not be intellec- tual
 No, Barton would make a last and supreme effort to awake these 1eth- argic people from their stupor. He would get up hop, Visions of old West Point dances arose be fore him and filled his soul with longings. ss He made it next the order ofathe day to find room big enough to hold an or dinary set of lancers. There was no ballroom. nor was there the .usnal available -library-room which so often does service. Of course none of the quarters would. answer the purpose;s he bethought him of one of the hos pital wards, and got the doctors per mission to use it. 1t was not big--not more than twenty by thirty feet-but it could be made. to do; the floors were rough, but sperm candles would make them slippery; the walls were bare and the plaster cracked; he wouldlsdraw on private houses and the sutler's store to decorate them Nothing should daunt him. ffsa Ita3a e&ssst
 So he sent his own striker to sweep. and dust, and scrub; he gave the post children jubilee by letting them shave candles on the boards and slide about to smooth them down. It was lots of fun for the children, and Bar ton took pleasure in watching their pretty gambols until the c. lO.'s young est son slipped and broke his wrist. When that happened, even this mex perienced youth knew that it was little short of calamity for him; that it would be many a long day before the commandant's wife-therefore the commandant himself would smile upon him again. He carried the child home, and submitted in silence to the stony glare from it's mothers eyes When he tried to explain. she walked away. It was evident that he was held as guilty of the sweet little fel- lows mishap, and he loved the child accordingly.
 When the hall was all draped in flags, bunting, Chinese lanterns and parasols, Barton began to believe that fate was at last propitious; it looked very pretty. and the. incest girl told him so. with shy glance which made the lieutenant feel as he had not felt since old West Point days The hop was to be on Saturday night. The band contributed fifteen pieces to make music for the flying feet. The incest girl blushed and consented to let Barton take her and have the major part of the waltzes on the cards which he himself had gotten up.
 It was during this midday glare of success that cloud. small but very black, drifted across the sun. One of the ''men''--by which is meant the ates--devcioped case of some sort of fever. Barton was not very clear as to what kind. but the doctor told him that it was of sort which noise would make worse, that the man was in the hospital, in the ward just below the one ali declled for the hop, and that, therefore. the hop would have to be postponed.
 Now Barton was not naturally un- kind. but he was not the first ambitious man in the worlds history who had sacrificed others to his am bition. This dance had to be success after so many failures. if ten men had the fever. Barton pleaded, reasoned, coaxed. The doctor was obdurate. But the doctor had weakness; it was toddies and that sort of thing. deep scheme entered the lieutenant's head: he would decoy the doctor to the sut- ler's. he would get him ''fulP'-as he gracefully expressed it-and when the old fellow should be sweet-tempered, Barton would make him consent to having the hop that night.
 It all worked just as the West Pointer had foresecn. The doctor, after having given an oft-reiterated consent, went back to his quarters for a nap. The nap, as Barton had ex- pected lasted all night. They danced into the wee, sma' hours. for, though there were only six men, the four girls and chaperon, the thing was lots of fun. The fact that there were more rnusieianS than dancers was no draw