The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-04-18
The Incompetent Oath.
By MARTHA MCULL0CH WILLIAMS.
Copyright, 1895, by the Author.l
Continued.
CHAPTER il.

truth. Inc countryside was Ill ler- |
ment over it. Martial law had made the
inhabitants wonderfully docile. Nobody
thought of evading or defying it, There
was much bordering, though, heavy
consultation betwixt friends and neigh
bors, as to which horn of the dilemma
was least ceptable-whether to
swear allegiance III full or merely sign
the noncombatant's parole-in Mr..
Thomas Gregory 5 vernacular, the "un-
competent oath.
Each settled the question in some |
fashion. The appointed day saw fine
stir i'll Bullsboru All its so long desc |
late streets were a-tCem. The military |
district embraced dozen counties All |
of them had sent out old men and maid |
ems, boys in roundabouts, mothers in
widows weeds, to swell the motley
thrOng.
By twos, by threes, by dozens, they
came in ramshackle buggies, in rusty
carriages, in rafting, Gathering, spring
less farm wagons, upon horseback, in
OK carts, a very few on foot.
A various crew indeed, yet in one
particular curiously alike. Whatever
the beast of burden, it was as i'll look
ing as Pharaoh's lean kline The coun-
try was not yet stripped of good stock,
but no man in it was mad enough to
ride or drive hoof of il to Bellsboro.
1t was the era of huge hoops, long,
shapeless sacks and sky scraping bon
nets. A few women disported them
selves in fashions full panoply, thereby
proclaiming that in their breasts van
ity outranked public spirit. For the
most part gowns, whether of silk or
stuff or calico, were scant enough, faded
enough, to demonstrate that they had
come down from more peaceful era.
A few very old men came in well
brushed broadcloth, black or blue, with
| frayed satin or velvet waistcoats and
red silk bandannas peeping out of the
tail pockets. Much the larger part of
the masculine element was clothed in
homespun-jeans coats either brown or
sleeps gray, with flax cloth trousers
above home cobbled shoes.
For all that it was a moneyed crowd
Thanks to the grapeviners, everybody
in the country had sold his tobacco or
wheat or pork at what seemed enormous
figures, unless indeed the seller i'll
sisted upon having gold. Then the price
shrunk NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. as much
as did his more complaisant neighbor's
crisp greenbacks when he dropped into
one of the stores and was offered calico
at so cents the yard, shoes at $40 or a
hat for $50.
That part, though, came later The
first thing was to ask the way to head
quarters. The bystreet in front of them
was soon crowded full of all sorts and
i'll conditions of horse and mule flesh.
} Major Powell halted his buggy a full
block away. Anne was beside him, NOV
ed to recantation, not by lesser love for
) her cause, but by her mothers pleading
eyes as she said:
J 1--WE are under the lions paw, Anne
Don't make it worse for us. Think if
{ they should burn the house and take
you or your father away to prison"
7 Think, too, of being able to go to
= town and buy new clothes! I'm so sick
t of every old rag I've got. I'd take 4C
7 oaths to get better ones, " added hel
elder sister Caroline, who could in no
n wise comprehend why Anne should
Q make such fuss" over merely sign
!, ing document she need neither reaC
/, nor heed.
If If the exact truth be told, CAROLYN
S herself was delighted with the prospect
She set to work at once remodelini
her most presentable gown, her min
all one vaguely pleasant anticipator
10 whirl. Life without beaux to Miss Car
~ oline was utterly stale, though tire
% gallant Confederates had each take
- away, presumably next his heart, he
10 picture as well as her promise to IRE
il member him. :" The absent, if not al
II ways wrong are not available for flirta
u ton, at least not with letters out Of til
u question. First and last, Miss Carolin
i'll had heard q good deal of Colonel Gric
l. that he was rich, handsome single
t. very well worth having. Besides, tn
40 other officers might not be impossible
es In her own mind Miss Caroline alread
ia saw half a dozen of them her slaves
ii giving SAVIOR and sweetness to her dul
az desert days. She had no patience wit
~ Anne, who, though her eyes were dry
went about looking like two funerals,
and declared she would wear to tow
IN her gray homespun gown and old blu
NC sunbonnet
or 1t was quite impossible, Caroline fell
Iv to be seen in such company. Go wit
i. Anne she would not So it was settle
ct that Anne and her father should mai
he the first essay. A little later Mrs. Pow
n. ell and Caroline would venture in !, I'll
a family carriage, with black Harriso
), for driver.
CT Anne walked the stretch of moss
r. pavement tensely upright There WI
IN no tremor in the bare hand so light
q. laid upon her fathers arm. She can
N into the crowded room, quaint, pi
r. thetic figure of girlish grace. Her gra
gown fell in straight folds to her fee
that were covered with shoes of til
= same stuff. No wild rose was pinke
no lily more pearly white, than the fat
shrouded in the faded blue bonnet.
its shade her gray eyes were black, al
=. the long ivory throat, rising out of i
crimped ruffle might have tempted 10y
himself to cling and nestle about it.
The Office was not imposing-a low
modest room, once the parlor of dea
and gone citizen whose vacant dwell
ing the authorities had impressed. !
battered Office counter ran across it, til
top crowded with litter of pens, folde
papers, blank books, permits, big off
| cial looking documents all over red seal
4 i'm the midst Of it the small yello'
leather bound Bible upon which fc
time immemorial folk had been swor
at Bellsboro courthouse.
lTn he Continued.