Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1896-11-20
A REDEEMING A6

~ 80 49, ~ aAA
over the side Of his dugoat %adlo to
wallow along with the underfoot world
on the white sand before his parents
cabin door. Though country born and
bred, n passing thunderstorm struck
him with terror, and the sight of the
black waters of the "crick'' caused q
remarkable agitation OF his knees. he
vas a coward pure and simple. The
bristling of u coon routed him uncoudi-
tionally, and a determined possum could
rob the henroost before his very face.
Indeed, Dave was a coward, and his
cousin, Sue Spivey, laughed uproarious-
ly when the poor fellow perpctrate1 his
initial and only act Of Roasting. lie
had said to her n day very solemnly
and no doubt sincerely:
Toe purtec yo' honah an happiness
l nd th'ow away my wuthless hfe."
Ordinarily Davc's speech was uupol-
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 q day was sadly near which
proved to her the full worth of the poor
fellows grandiloquent assertion.
Long before the late unplcasantncss
and until this day Honeypath was only
a siding, where occasional trains took
water and passed each other. Two or
three log shanties, without special pre-
tensions 10 any architectural dissimi-
larity, marked the site of the town, dis
tinguishing it from tho vast area Of i'm
penetrable swamp that backed it and
the arid waste of sandy bottom through
which the glistening, polished rails Of
tho grand trunk line writhcd and sinu-
ated. Along that glowing metal high.
way troops of both armies passed and
rcpassed, gazed at %curiously b. the few
old women and scnile males left in tho
village, hut exciting no other emotion
than "A blank curiosity that died out
oven before the white mist Of the fuo
sand stirred by the soldiers feet had
settled behind the %retroating bands.
Dave was a native of Honcypath and
lived with an aged father in ono Of the
shanties. Sue dwelt with her mother in
another near by. Dawes father wa n
hCt bloodcd southCrner, 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 cpl
thcts which were literally besto1cd up
on him and the contempt Of the county
generally to facing he knew not what
horror upon the battlefield. He was not
Il philosopher and could not plead in cx-
tenuation of his neutrality that the
martial slaughter Of his brother man
was q crime and that the wholesale sac
rifice Of human life was immoral.
Dave vas simply a coward and accept
ed mcekly the ohloquy which the con,
dition imposed, not even the taunts and
cutting sarcasm Of pretty Sue Spivcy
being able TO rouse the instincts of bat
tie III 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
bread without the establishment Of po-
tatoes and bacon, particularly during
the weeks after a hungry foraging party
had passed that way.
One day Dave was working among
the young potato vines in an open arid
field behind the cabin, when Sue ran
out to him in troubled haste.
"Oh, Dave, I'm pow'ful skecredP'
she painted.
"Skeercd o. what?' he asked. with
out intermission Of the bent labor.
"Somc-some soldiers just went down
the road, an they spoke TO me-sassy
like. She hesitated, and Dave looked
up to see her pretty face scarlet and her
brows bent together in angry lines.
well, what did they all sayY'' he
demanded in his accustomed slow dTawl
after waiting in vain for her 20 proceed.
They lowed they all was a-comin
back"
"Who was they %ennyhow?' he NkoN
uneasily, his face blanching in a.itici-
patton of the martial visit.
"They was Mosby's men. l lowed,
an they was Eve Of 'em."
"Our fellors;" a little surprised and
Strengthening his back. Como on back
to the house, Sue" and, s|houldcring
his hoe, he trudged stolidly on before.
Don't You be skoered, " he continued
rs they reached tho yard. 81 reckon
they won't do nothin. 4"
OF the two it would have been mani
fest to the most casual observer that he
WA the worst ''skeered. bat ho walk
cd on till they reached the house, and
sue cried Out:
"Yonder they come now-all FIVE"
Dawes face blanched TO a sallow
Wilderness but he pulled her quickly in
side the Goor.
"What you gwine TO do?" Sue asked
neryously, keeping near her cousin, but
he auDnrentlv did NOT hear He had