Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-07-30
A REDEEMING ACT.


ways borne the reputation of arrau
cowardice ever since he had crawle
over the side Of his dugout cradle t
wallow along with the underfoot worl
on the white sand before his parents
cabin door. Though country born ant
bred, q passing thunderstorm strucl
him with terror, and the sight of tn
black waters of the "crick" caused
remarkable agitation of his knees. H
was a coward pure and simple. Th
bristling of q coon routed him uncondi
tionally, and determined possum coulC
rob the henroost before his very face
Indeed, Dave was q coward, and hi,
cousin, Sue Spivey, laughed uproarious
ly when the poor fellow perpetrated his
initial and only act of boasting. He
had said to her one day very solemnly
and no doubt sincerely:
"Toe purtec yo' honah an happiness
/ nd th'ow away my wuthless life. "
Ordinarily Dawes speech was unpol-
ished and provincial, but on this occa.
sion it rose to the dignity Of what he
felt the occasion demanded.
Sue knew full well his timorous dis
position and would have thought it safe
to count on his poltroonery in any
event But day was sadly near which
proved to her the full worth of the poor
fellows grandiloquent assertion.
Long before the late unpleasantness
and until this day Honeypath was only
siding, where occasional trains took
water and passed each other Two or
three log shanties, without special pro-
tensions to any architectural dissimi.
larity, marked the site of the town, dis
tinguishing it from the vast area Of i'm
penetrable swamp that backed it and
the arid waste Of sandy bottom through
which the glistening, polished rails of
the grand trunk line writhed and sinu-
ated. Along that glowing metal high
way troops Of both armies passed and
repassed, gazed at curiously by the few
old women and senile males left in the
village, but exciting no other emotion
than blank curiosity that died out
even before the white mist of the fine
sand stirred by the soldiers feet had
settled behind the retreating bands.
Dave was native Of Honeypath and |
lived with an aged father in one of the |
shanties. Sue dwelt with her mother in |
another near by. Dawes father was a |
hot blooded southerner, whose patriot
ism answered to the first call to arms
but Dave was tlmid, fearful of the smell
OF powder and refrained from action,
preferring to suffer the opprobrious epi-
thets which We're literally bestowed up
on him and the contempt of the county
generally to facing he knew not what
horror upon the battlefield He was not
philosopher and could not plead in ex-
tenuation of his neutrality that the
martial slaughter of his brother man
was crime and that the wholesale sac
rifice of human life was immoral.
Dave was simply o coward and accept.
ed meekly the obloquy which the con.
dition imposed, not even the taunts and
cutting sarcasm Of pretty Sue Spivey
being able to rouse the instincts of bat
tie in his craven soul.
Before the strife ended Sues mother
was gathered to her final rest being
put out Of sight in the little sandy
graveyard, with only the comment Of
the two remaining neighbors. And then
Dave and Sue toiled early and late in
order to wiring from the starving acres {
an UNMARRIED livelihood of yams, corn
bread and bacon, more often the corn 6
bread without the establishment of DO
tatoes and bacon, particularly during '
the weeks after a hungry foraging party a
had passed that way. e
One day Dave was working among l
the young potato vines in an open arid t
held behind the cabin, when Sue ran t
out to him in troubled haste. 10
"Oh, Dave, I'm pow'ful skeeredl" d
she painted. c.
"Skeered o. what?" he asked, with. a
out intermission Of the bent labor.
'Some-some soldiers just went down h
me road, an they spoke to me--sassy D
ike. F" She hesitated, and Dave looked
Up to see her pretty face scarlet and her h
'rows bent together in angry lines. fl
Well, what did they all sayP" he n
demanded in his accustomed slow drawl n
'fter waiting in vain for her to proceed.
They lowed theyall was a-comin tt
,ack. 5" @
WHO was they ennyhow?" he asked II
lneasily, his face blanching in antici- Il
,ation of the martial visit. st
They was Mosby's men, / lowed, Il
N they was five of 'em. fl
"Our fellers?" little surprised and
traightening his back Come on back Ii
o the house, Sue," and, shouldering h'
Iis hoe, he trudged stolidly on before. hi
Don't you be skeered, he continued d'
s they reached the yard II reckon J'
hey won't do nothin ~
OF the two it would have been mani
est to the most casual observer that he
vas the worst ''skeered, but he walk "a "a
d on till they reached the house, and ~
ne cried out:
'Yonder they come now--all flve" la
Dave's face blanched to a sallow d
vhiteness, but he pulled her quickly in-
ide the door. to
What you gwine to do?'' Sue asked az
ervously, keeping near her, cousin, but u'
g apparently did not hear. He had ~,
AIKEN down rifle that had belonged to &c &c
ue's brother, who had also offered up pl
is life on the altar of the cause, leav-
lg his weapon to his sister as a means in
defense in just such emergencies as
ais
What you gwine to do. DayeP" the SO
lrl persisted, coming closer and laying is
er hand on his arm. Dave shook sever ca
cartridges into the cylinder of the st
inchester and waited in silence, ap- CO
arently not aware that Sue had touch az
him. Only few more moments to y
Children Cry for
3itcheY'e Castoria.