Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-07-16
THE REDEEMING ACT.

Dave was coward and he had al
ways borne the reputation of arrant
cOwardice ever since he had crawled
over the side of his dugout cradle to
wallow along with the underfoot world
on the white sand before his parents
cabin door. Though country born and
bred, passing thunderstorm struck
him with terror, and the sight of the
black waters of the 'chick" caused a
remarkable agitation of his knees. He
was coward, pure and simple. The
bristling Of coon routed him uncondi-
tionally and determined 'possum
could rob the hen roost before his
very face. Indeed, Dave was a cow
ard, and his cousin, Sue Spivey,
laughed uproariously when the poor
fellow perpetrated his initial and only
act of Boosting. He had said to her one
day very solemnly and no doubt sim
cerely:
'Toe purtec yo' honah an happiness
i 'ud 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 OH his pOltroonery in any
event. But day was sadly near
which proved to her the full worth Of
the poor fellows grandiloquent asser-
ton.
! Long before the late unpleasantness,
and until this day, HOneypath was only
q siding where occasional trains took
water and passed each other. Two or
three log shanties without special pre-
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
women and senile males left in the vii
lage, but exciting no other emotion
than a 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 a native of Honeypath and
lived with an aged father in one of the
shantses. Sue dwelt with her mother
in another near by. Dawes father was
n hot -hIno1a6 Gnt,thnrvxnv- xx,hn fvl
Otism answered to the first call to arms,
but Dave was timid, fearful of the
smell Of powder and refrained from ac-
ton, preferring to suffer the opprobri-
GUS epithets which were literally be-
slowed upon 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 extenuation Of his neutrality
that the martial slaughter of his
brother man was crime and that the
wholesale sacrifice of human life was
immoral.
Dave was simply a coward and ac-
cepted meekly the obliquy which the
condition imposed, not even the taunts
and cutting sarcasm of pretty Sue
Spivey being able to rouse the instincts
of battle 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 grave
yard, 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 I'M
varied livelihood Of yams, cornbread
and bacon, more often the cornbread
without the establishment of potatoes
and bacon, particularly during the
weeks after 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 skeeredv' she
painted.
"Skeered o. whatT he asked, without
intermission of the bent labor.
"Some-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 sayT' he de-
manded, in his accustomed slow drawl,
after waiting In vain for her to proceed.
'~fhey lowed they all was a-comin'
back"
l''Who was they, ennyhow?" he asked,
uneaslly, his face blanching in antici-
patton Of the martial visit.
II dunno. They was five Of EN-"
"Come on back to the house, Sue,"
and, shoulderng his hoe, he trudged
stolidly on before. Don't you be
skeered," he continued, as they reached
the yard. II reckon they won't do
nothin'."
OF the two 1t would have been mani
fest to the most casual observer that he
was the worst "skeered" but he walked