The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-10-27
A oooa colder is Fenton, q brayo fel.

n good Rotd1er IS fentOn, " bravo rel
low, o tribe rougl, at times. like the
simple plains bred dragon he is, but a
gentleman, with a 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, II all he
needed to give him polish vas q wife,
for at 54 tho grizzled colonel was %
bachelor. But Fenton had had his re-
nance in early youth. He had loved
, with all his big heart, so said tradition,
a New York belle and beauty whom inc
! knew in his cadet days, and who, so
rumor said, preferred another, whom
she married before the war, and many
81 garrison belle had siuce set her cap
for Fenton and found him faithful to
his early love. But, though the ladies
often snan-i-.sa as TO the identity of
the woman who had held the oolonel's
heart i'll bondage all these years and
blocked tho way for all successors, no
one OF their number had yer heard her
namo or ever know the truth. One off,
Ger there was in tho 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 n%nybody's
secrets, and when Fenton came to
Frayne, promoted to the command SO
recently held by q man they all loved
and honored, it was patent to everybody
that he felt sorely, as though he were
ain usurper. Fenton was many long
miles away with another battalion Of
the Twelfth the day of the tragic battle
on the Mini Pusa, and it was long
months thereafter before he appeared at
~regilnental headquarters, and then he
brought with him as his housekeeper his
maiden sister Lucretia, aud in Lucre-
tia Fenton-thc dreamiest, dowdiest,
kindlicst, quaintcst middle aged pratt.
tier that ever lived, moved and had her
being in the army-tho ladies Of the
Twelfth found so much to mako merry
over that they well nigh forgot and for
gave the unfattering Indifference to
lfeminine destinations Of her brother,
the colonel.
Whom Fenton came, the Farrars,
widowed mother and devoted daughter,
ERd been goro some weeks. The shock
on her husbands death had we'll nigh
shAken Mrs. Farrar's reason, and for
mSnths her condition was indeed do.
plGablc. The e summer the Farrars
spant at West Point. 1t was Wills first
clds camp, and Will was cadet captain
OF tho color company, and q capital
youtg officer despite u boyish face and
manner, and then Jack Ormsby, who
nevci before had "taken much stock In
West \Point'-the battalion looked so
s~mallbcside tho Seventh, and tho band
was shll u miserable little affair after
Cappa rd his superb array-Jack not
only Concluded that no must go up there
every fYy days to pick up points on
guard add sentry duty and things Of
that kiEA but Jack decided that Kitty,
his precious sister, might rs well 20,
too, and sSond a fortnight, and sho did,
under thotYing of u mutron from Goth
am with daughters Of her own, and kit
ty Ormsby,pnly 16 and as full OF vivac-
ity, grace, (sprightlincss and winning
ways as gin could be, pretty as a peach
and brimmitg over with fun. ooquetry
and sweetness combined, played havoc
III the corps Il cadets, and-could any
thing have leen moro fortunate?-the
victim most lelplessly, hopoleisly, ut
terly gone was Cadet Captain Will Far.
rar. 10 the cof%sternation ri the widow.
ed mother she saw her handsome soldier
boy led day after day moro deeply into
the meshes-led like a slave or like tho
piggy In tn nursery rhyme, with the
ring in the end Of his nose-by this be.
wltching, imperious, fascinating little
creature, and there was absolutely no
tenfor 1t. Anywhere else almost she
wing and b6Sked her boy under her
range, but n t at West rGyyay beyond
to learn the lesson SO many iihISIbnonras
learn with uch bewilderment, otnn
with such i'll grace, that the boy was n.
longer hers to. do with as she would,
but Uncle Sans, and Uncle Sam un.
feelingly sale, "Stick to your camp duty
with its drills and parades, roll calls,
practical en- ineering, forthcoming and
spooning In stolen half hours, no matter
what the consequence"
Mrs Farrar couldn't carry Will away
and couldn't order Kitty. About NIL che
saw OF her boy was drilling with tho
battalion at a distance or dancing with
MISS Ormsby close at hand, and, on the
principle that misery loves
she soon was comforted by q fellow puf.
ierer, 1or just III proportion az the moth
ers ieart was troubled by the sight OF
ne: boys l~nfatuation for this pretty
nv so was Jack Ormsby made miser-
anio ny seeing the attentions lavished
Dy officers ''nd cadets alike on Ellis Far.
rar.
And yet tho littlo nind god WINS do
Ing Jack far better worn than bo ever
dared to dream. The mother iongo5 sor
Will, and no one else could nriIo t.l.a
his place. Tho lover longed for Ellis
and what earthly chance has a "oi.,.
lover at West Point, oven though he be
u swell and n sergeant in Tho Seventh?
1t resulted that in the hours whom tho
mother and Jack had to sit and look on
they were brought constantly together.
and then Ia these hours Of oompauion.
ship Nra Farrar began to 500 more and
moro how manful, honest, self reliant
was the gallant follow who had fought
by her husbands side. Little by little
she learned to lean upon him, appeal to
him, defer to him and to see in him,
after all, q man in whom sho could Der.
haps conflde even SO precious o trust as
her daughters heart, and that summer
at West Point won the mother oven if
1t did not win the lady Of his love.
All that winter Ellis had continued
her course at school, but was to como
} ONT in Nav and 1rr;,, +Lo