Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1896-11-05

they had never shed the blood Of
white man. Settlers Of the old days
used to tell how the Sioux had followed
them for long, long marches, not to
murder and pillage, but to restore to
them items lost along the trail or AMI
mails strayed from their little hesds
But there came an end to all this
when. resisting An unjust demand, the
Sioux being dred upon, retaliated. Etom
THE day Of the drattan passaore beyond
old Laramie there had been no real
peaoe with the lords Of the northwest
They are quiet only when subdued by
force. They have broken the crust Of
their environment time and again and
burst forth In the seething flame Of
volcano that is ever bubbling and boil
tng beneath the feet Of the frontiersman
to this day.
And 90 Frayne was maintained -
military post for years, first as stock
ade, then as a subdepot Of supplies, gar.
risoned BY four companies of infantry
and four Of cavalry, the former to hold
the fort The latter 10 scour the neigh
boring country. Then. a. time wore on
and other posts were built farther up In
the Big Horn, Fsayne's garrison dwin.
died, but there stood upon Its command.
ing blu6 the low rows Of wooden bar.
EackA the parallel rows Of double sets
,of broad piazzaed quarters where dwelt
the officers, the long, low, log riveted
wslls Of tho coyyals and cavalry stables
Oh tho dat below. Here, oddly enough,
the Twelfth had spent a lively year OF
two before It went to Arizona Here II
learned the Sioux country and the Sioux
20 we'll that when. q few years back,
the ghoat dance craze swept over the
plains and mountains like the plague,
the old regiment was hurried from its
sunshiny stations In the south and mus
tered once again, four troops at least,
within the very walls that long before
had echoed to it, trumpets. Here we
found them In the midst Of the Christ.
mas preparations that were turned 80
suddenly into summons to the field, and
here again, three years later still, head
quarters and six troo. now. the proud
old regiment is still at Frayne, and
Fenton, "vice Farrar, killed in action
with hostile Indians" holds the COM
mand.
/ A good soldier is Fenton. brave fel.
low, o tride rough at times, like tho
simple plains bred dragon he is, but
gentleman. with q gentle heart IN his
breast for all the stern exterior. Wom-
en- said Of him that all he needed to
make him perfect was polish, and all he
needed to give him polish was wife,
for at "a the gr4azled colonel was a
bachelor. But Fenton had had his 10
nance in early youth. He had loved
with oil his big heart, 50 sold tradition,
10 New York belle and beauty whom he
knew IN his cadet days, and who, 80
rumor said, preferred another, whom
she married before the war, and many
q garrison belle had since set her cap
for Eentm and found him faithful to
his early love. But, though the ladies
often speculated as to the identity Of
the woman who had held tho oolonel's
heart In bondage all these years and
blocked tho way for all successors, no
one Of their number had ever heard her
name or ever knew the truth. One of1.
Ger there was in the Twelfth who, like
Fenton himself. was q confirmed bach.
elor and who was said to be possessed
Of the whole story, but there was no use
asking Malcolm Leale to tell anybody's
secrets, and when Fenton came to
Frayne. promoted to the command 30
recently held by man they all loved
and honored, 1t was patent to everybody
that he felt sorely, as though he were
an usurper. Fenton was many long
miles away with another battalion Of
the Twelfth the day Of the tragic battle
on the Mini Pusa and 1t was long
months thereafter before he appeared at
regimental headquarters, and then he
brought with him as his housekeeper his
maiden sister Lucretia, and in Lucre-
tia Fenton-the dreamiest dowdiest,
kindliest, Quaintest middle aged pratt
tier that ever lived, moved and had her
being in the army-the ladies Of the
Twelfth found so much to make merry
over that they we'll nigh forgot and for.
gave the undatteriug indifference to
feminine destinations Of her brother,
tho colonel.
When E'enton came, the Farrars,
widowed mother and devoted daughter;
had been gone some weeks. The shock
of her husbands death had we'll nigh
shaken Mrs. Farrar's reason, and for
months her condition was indeed de-
plorable. The next summer the Farrars
spent at West Point. 1t was Willis first
class camp, and Will was cadet captain
Of the color company, and capital
young officer despite boyish face aud
manner, and then Jack Ormsby, who
never before had taken much stock In
West Point''-the battalion looked so
small beside the Seventh, and the band
yves such q miserable little affair after
Cappa and his superb array-Jack not
only concluded that he must go up there
every few days to pick up points on
guard ard sentry duty and things OF
that kind, but Jack decided that Kitty
his precious sister, might as we'll go,
too, and spend fortnight, and she did,
under the wing Of a matron from Goth
am with daughters Of her own, and Kit
ty Orlnsby. only l6 and as full OF vtvao'
ity, grace, sprightliness and winning
ways as girl could be, pretty as q peach
and brimming over with fun, coquetry
and sweetness combined, played havoc
lin the corps Of cadets, and-could any
thing have been more fortunatea-the
viotim most helplessly, hopelessly, ut
terly gone was Cadet Captain Will Far
rar. 10 the condemnation Of the widow