The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-02-21


mans thin face as he wrote that sen
tence. 1t would never do to tell Melani,
and the girls that be had no shirt t,
wear the studs with, for of course they
could mover be brought to consider hin
a gentleman again.
Therefore l have converted mint
into little souvenirs for you three.
hope you will observe the niceness Of
the workmanship. think it rather cred
liable to an amateur goldsmith; but
then, you know, always was con,
ceited follow, ready to place the high,
est possible estimate on my own per.
formances.
1.-The black rings are cut from the
horn buttons OF my overooat. Now there
you go, Olliei l can hear you even at
this great distance declaring that your
papa must have become a, regular
SLOUGH, going about with his overcoat
unbuttoned, but you must bear in mind
that my life at present is somewhat
more sedentary than it used to be at
home, and an overcoat is something
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.
"The gold disks I made out of my
three studs, 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 I 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 on the table upon which
little Potts was writing the fragments Of
his prison breakfast. It was not such as
was calculated to appeal to pampered
palate-a crust of stale bread, the
bones of herring. nothing more.
"The carnelian heart carved out of
my watch seal. AS there is but one
send it to that one of you who has said,
Poor papa!' Or Poor brother' seldom.
est The little hearts and arrows i'm
bedded as settings to the rings were
made from my gold sleeve buttons. Now
i believe L nave accounred Tor all Of my
valuables You can't imagine what q
resource we find this sort of work. Our
amusements are rather limited, and all
the men are making trinkets of some
sort to send home when they can.
81 know you are anxious to hear
when I am coming home. There is q
good deal of red tape about this institu-
ton, but don't think l can possibly be
detained much longer. The fact of my
Icing Union man from the outset
must tell in my favor as soon as 1 Can
get at the right ears. I know this is
bearing very heavily on you, my dears,
but we must be patient"
ayes, patient, o Lord, if only I can
lleep 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 disparagefhent to his manhood
in those tears. He had but just dragged
through a fierce attack of prison fever,
and tho spirit within him was aweary.
II heard grievous piece Of news
He resumed his pen reso-
lately. IA 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
II cannot tell you how this dreadful
news has depressed me. loved Basoom.
He was a good man. I never knew
better. He was apt to be little rash at
times. l 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 1 bare my head in
reverence to him. o..
II am not over well supplied with
stationery and find myself reduced to
this. Julia will recall how I |
used to scold her for crossing her let |
ters from school. All, well, I've been |
sent to school myself since then, my |
loves, and some of my tasks have been |
'ather 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 |
rust himself to 60 on. Something would
De sure to creep in which would mar
Ill his heroic attempts to write cheer
ully. He fingered the fimsy sheets Of
PAPER contemptuously. What would
Nellie and tho girls think if they knew
hat he had bartered week S rations Of
otfee for the stuff to write to them
,pon? They should never know from
lin what lingering agony the days
we're to him.
His letter was written. His parcel
vas delivered to the prisoner for whom
he gates were about to open, and then
title Potts threw himself upon his pris-
II bed with groan of physical pain.
he emotion resulting from putting
imself in communication with his
ONE brought on return of his fever.
II think" said Julia, looking doubt
lilly from her aunt to her sister, 1--WE
ught to ring the bell again.
"The courthouse bell?"
eyes"
"What for?''
"To let them hear about papa"
Miss Melanie made gesture of pas
onate impatiencc.
"They don't want to hear about him.
verybody has forgotten his very exist
ice. Nobody has given thought to
i'm since the last pound of meal was
wen out in his name"
ooh. Aunt Nellie, what dreadful in
'ates you make them all outr'
NO. l don't make them out to be
,ything. They are just on an average
it'll everybody else. We treated him ,
ke a malcfactor ourselves How can
o expect others to take any interest in
m?"
Listen"
They listened. The courthouse bell
AZ ringing at great rate. The three J.,
omen donned their hats in excited
ste. AS they ran down the terraces ,
le by side Miss Melanie wondered if 8
notify Drew could have been officious