The Portland daily press., 1898-03-07
TContinuGM.l

SLOUGH, going about with his overcoat
unbuttoned, but you must bear III mind
that my life at present is somewhat
more sedentary than it used to be at
home, and an overcoat is something 1
have rare occasion for.
Happily he said to himself, 'see-
ing that mine went to make leggings
for that poor devil Of a consumptive
months ago.
s'The gold disks I made out of my
three stuks, hammering them fat and
engraving the dates Of three birthdays
that have been kept this year without
any gift from me for the first time on
record, but thought of each one OF
you, my darlings, very tenderly on your
birth dates, and I asked the dear Lord to
let this be the last ones we should ever
spend apart. What glorious little feasts
Aunt Nellie used to get up for US on
our birthdays! don't feed quite SO
high now, but perhaps that is SO much
the better for my liver.
There lay or the table upon which
little Potts was writing the fragments OF
his prison breakfast. 1t was not such as
was calculated to appeal to pampered
palate crust Of stale bread, the
bones of herring. nothing more.
sEI.he carnelian heart carved out Of
my watch seal. AS there is but one I
send it to that one Of you who has said,
tPoor papa!' or Poor brotherl' seldom
est. The little hearts and arrows i'm
bedded as settings to the rings were
made from my gold sleeve buttons. Now
!. believe I have accounted for all OF my
1aIuables. You can't imagine what
resource we find this sort of work. Our
amusements are rather limited, and all
the men ays making trinkets OF some
sort to senoenome when they can.
81 know You are anxious to hear
when [ am coming home. There is
good deal of red tape about this institu-
ton, but I don t think can possibly be
detained much longer. The fact of my
being q Union man from the outset
must tell in my favor as soon as l can
get at the right ears. know this is
bearing very heavily on you, my dears,
but we must be patient.
eyes, patient, o Lord, if only can
keep life in this failing body to carry
me back to them.'' Little Potts laid his
head down On the table and wept. There
was no disparagement to his manhood
in those tears. He had but just dragged
through a fierce attack of prison fever,
and the spirit within him was aweary.
81 heard a grievous piece Of news
Yesterday He resumed his pen reso-
lutely. ga new batch of prisoners was
brought in. They were men who were
engaged in the battle of Chickamauga.
One of them tells me that my dear,
dear friend Bascom was slain in that
fight.
ssI cannot tell you how this dreadful
news has depressed me. loved Bascom.
He was a good man. never knew a
better. He was apt to be little rash at
times. 7 am afraid he was when he
came to his death. But, after all, it was
q splendid way to die. Of such stuff are
heroes made, and bare my head in
reverence to him.
81 am not over well supplied with
stationery and find myself reduced to
crossing this. Julia will recall how
used to.scold her for crossing her let
ters from school. An, well, I've been
sent to school myself since then, my
loves, and some of my tasks have been
rather hard to learn. Goodby and God
bless you. - He threw down the pen and
sat staring at the closely written sheets
with despairing eyes. He dared not
trust himself to go On. Something would
be, sure to creep in which would mar
all his heroic attempts to write cheer
fully. He fingered the fimsy sheets Of
paper contemptuously. What would
Nellie and the girls think if they knew
that he had barJared weeks rations Of
coffee for the stuff to write to them
upon? They should never know from
him what lingering agony the days
were to him.
His letter was written. His parcel
was delivered to the prisoner for whom
the gates were about TO open, and then
little Potts threw himself upon his pris-
on bed with a groan Of physical pain.
The emotion resulting from putting
himself in communication with his
home brought on return of his fever.
81 think - said Julia, looking doubt
1Ully lEOu HE du4O W AOA HA9US+' W.
ought to ring the bell again."
"The courthouse bell?''
eyes. -
"What for?''
"To let them hear about papa"
Miss Melanie made q gesture of pas
sionate impotence.
''They dom t want to hear about him.
Everybody has forgotten his very exist
ence. Nobody has given thought to
him since the last pound of meal was
given out in his name.''
"Oh, Aunt Nellie, what dreadful in
CRATES you make them all outr'
emo, [ don make them out TO be
anything. They are just on an average
with everybody else. We treated him
like a maIefactor ourselves. How can
we expect others to take any interest in
hin?''
"Listen."
They listened. The courthouse bell
,x5,,rs n = n rrca+ ro+a Tho Hhrpa