The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1897-09-16
CAPTAIN CLOSE
By CAPTAIN CHARLES KING.
lcopyrisht, 1894, by ]. B. Lipp,ncott Col
Mi.

ITS mistress lay hovering between life
and death Two weeks had passed since
the eventful night of the arrests, and,
though no change had come over the
landscape, and days of sunshine were
few and far betweer, some odd altera-
tions had taken place in and around
the old homestead. OF these the most
remarkable was the appearance three
times a day of young officer in Yankee
uniform at the family board-a young
officer who often prolonged his visit
until late in the evening. Mr.. Isaac
Newton Lambert, though occupying his
tent in camp, had become otherwise an
innate of the Walton establishment.
for, unknown to the beloved invalid,
her daughters were actually taking
'boarders."
Another boarder, who had come and
moved modest bachelor kit into one
of the upstairs rooms facing the east
and overlooking the little camp, was Mr..
Barton Potts, better known to all the
inmates as Cousin Bart" Indeed, it
was due in great measure to his advice
and influence that Mr.. Lambert was adj
mitted. Impoverished as were tbeWal-
tons-in dire need, as 1t turned out,
now that the resolute woman who SO
many years had managed the family
affairswas stricken down-nothing but
prompt action and the helping hands
of kinsfolk and friends stood between
them and starvation. Squire Potts
"Old Man Potts" as he was generally
called-had urged on Mrs. Walton in
November the propriety of her abandon
ing the place entirely and taking shell
ter for herself and her daughters under
his roof. Even though in desperate
need, she had declined-for one reason,
because that would bring Esther and
Walton Scroggs together again; for an
other. because she could not bear to
think of the old home becoming the
abiding-place of all the houseless, shift
less negroes in the neighborhood. She
had offered the house, garden and cot
ton-felds still remaining in her hands
to any purchaser AT almost any price;
but who was there to invest in such
improbable estate at such time?
In the midst of these cares and
troubles. which she could share with
her daughters, were others which she
could not. She burst not let them
know on how slender thread her life
depended. That was one secret, held
asyet by their old family physician and
herself alone, because the knowledge
of 1t would bring such grief to 1.-THE
girls" There was another, which she
prayed they might never know, because
and shame to her; Floyd her youngest
son, her darling, who had fought SC
braveiy by his brothers side through
the hottest battles of the war, had "ab-
jured the faith of his fathers" as she
bitterly expressed it-had become inti-
mate with the federal officers and sol
diers, instead of sticking closely to
reading law in the office of her old
friend Judge Summers at Quitman
And then, worse than all, she learned
through his own desperate letter that
he had enlisted in the cavalry. That
within week thereafter, repenting OF
his "mad folly" he should have de.
serted the service and fed the country
was in the poor stricken woman's eyes
no crime whatever. That he should
have enlisted, sworn to defend the flag
which was to her the emblem of in
solent triumph over the fallen fortunes
of the land she loved, the only land she
ever knew, the once happy, sunny
south-that was infamy.
Not until weeks after her boy hac
taken the step that made him a fugitive
from justice did she learn, or begin tt
imagine the chain of circumstance!
that led TO it all. While occupying {
desk in the Office of Summers s. Todd
attorneys and counselors at law, Floyt
also occupied n seat at the table of ;
widowed relative who, left pennies
at the close of the war, had to struggle
hard to keep body and soul together
The efforts of Judge Summers had beer
sufficient TO save the house in which sh'
.dwelt, and '''taling boarders" became
her vocation. But paying boarde.'
were scarce. and even when her tabl'
was crowded with homeless people he
pockets were often empty. Whe!
Sweets squadron of the -th U. s. cav
airy marched into town and took sta
tion there, the application of some o
the OI1ctTS LOT
under her roof was eoldly declined
They went to a hotel, and suffered, al
they deserved, the pangs OF Indigestion
Later it transpired that two of then
vent to church, and this put an un
iooled-for factor into the problem o
how to treat these eonquering but AN
popular heroes. Rev. Mr.. Pickett. of st
Pauf's might eondone his parishioners
refusal to supply them with bodily food
but it was impossible TO refuse TO min
.ster to their spiritual necessities
Their religious faith was identical witt
that of his flock; il was in political faiti
that they differed. One might decline
to sit at meat with them, but coul;
hardly decline to sit with them at wor
ship. They could be forbidden to ca
with the elect, but the elect would no
forbid them to pray. Even in the sane
tuary, however, only hostile or averte'
looks were vouchsafed TO Col. Swee
ard Capt. VInton when first they sough
its doors; but in the course OF few
months the women found that their sol
diers-their husbands, brothers, or lov
ers, whom the war had spared-wer
actually frsternizing with the Yankee
invaders, ard that between those VIII
had done hard and honest fighting ol
either side there was springing up firm
and honest friendship. The irreconcil