The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1898-10-19
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d THE BARLOW BLOCKADE. Is
G A Recruiting Incident. &
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accustomed to the upheaval of all
household ways and traditions in those
hours of trial.
Pretty nigh. 1 want to git the
room aired out little, and feather
bed like that is all the better bein'
slep' in now and then"
''Just as you say" returned the
veteran, taking up his lamp. "And
shall be stirrin' pretty early, anyhow,
SOS to get the chores done before 1
step over to the town hall, ye know.
Mebbe I'll come back colonel after
this trip, mother"
"Mebbe ye will-if We start" said
mother, enigmatically, but the sober
warrior was absorbed in dreams of
future greatness and did not hear her.
He went to bed in the musty spare
chamber, which was chilly and damp
in the April season just beginning, to
dream that he was again lying in a
tent, waiting the sound of the reveille
and preparing for long days march
and that or the rest on goose feathers
proved to be particularly soothing.
for the sun was we'll up in the sky
when he woke the next morning.
There was strong smell of smoke
in the air. Conscience-strick lest
his wife should have been trying to
build the kitchen fire herself, task
which she generally left for him,
Billy rose hastily from his downy
couch, and prepared to make hasty
toilet. To his astonishment, the chair
on which he had deposited his clothes
was empty. Every other chair was
empty. Not garment was to be
seen in the room. Everything except
the furniture had disappeared. More
and more bewildered, as he took in
the situation, Billy proceeded to the
door. 1t was locked -on the outside.
Applying his eye to the keyhole he
could see the key in the lock. Mys-
terry piled on mystery. In a state of
mind too complicated to describe he
fell to bawling like a frightened boy:
''Motherl mother! Come let me
outl What does this mean?"
No wonder she heard, for his lungs
were sound, and the noise he made
shook the house. Her light, firm
step soon came creaking up the stairs
to pause outside the door.
'Was you a-callin' of me, William?"
said she in tone of dangerous soft
ness.
"Why, yes, motherl Somethin's 8
All my clothes is gone
and I'm locked in. What does it
mean?"
"Means you're where you're goin'
to stay for WHILE" returned Mrs.
Barlow, with decision. "I've locked
you in myself, an you amt a'comin'
out till you give me your word you'll
say nothin' more about enlistin'. You
can promise now, an' I'll let you
out"
The habits of thirty years are not to
be broken down in q moment, and her
husbands instructive impulse was to
surrender. If the two of them had
been face to face, there is no reason
to suppose that he could have held
out. But an inch OF two of pine
board stretched between them. Eliza
Barlow could not see through it and
watch the limp figure slowly stiffening
to a soldierly straightness and firm
ness, as he said, after brief pause,
and with an accent of reproach which
somehow filled her with momentary
pang OF shame
81 sha'n't make no such promise,
now or never. You can't keep me
here forever. Where's my clothes,
'Liza?"
'You haven't got any"
Haven't got any?" gasped the
astonished Billy.
"fNo. I've burnt 'em, every stitch
you owned. Look out of your window
and you'll see the ashes Of 'em in the
back yard"
'I guess you set round in rags and
dirt that blankets heaven to, when
you was soldering. / hain't for
gotten it, if you have. You go way
from the door and I'll slide in your
breakfast on q tray. amt goin' to
starve you. But you can't come out
till you've give me your word. We
can have war right here at home, SO
long as you're hankering after it."
"War?"
eyes, William. 'Twon't go so fur
as hand-to-hand fightin', mebbe, but
I'll see that you get all the blockade
you can tend to without goin' to
Cuba"
The key turned in the lock, and a
tin tray set forth with corn bread and
coffee was thrust in. Billy listened
as he ate to the sound of her brisk
coming and going about her house
hold duties down stairs, with a curious
idea working in his shallow brain.
No prisoner of state ever accepted
his situation with more notle spirit,
and as the day wore on, Billy sat at
the window scanning the road towards
the village as if expecting a squad of
cavalry to come pelting onward N a
cloud of dust to his rescue. Alas,
none appeared Mrs. Barlow pro-
vided frugal dinner, a still lighter
supper. She was rather surprised at
the obduracy with which her captive
held out against her, and yet she went