Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1898-01-19
A SERGEANT'S LOVE.

We met her at the railroad station, ten
| miles from the fort-a captain and SER
geant and his squad-and she made the rest
of the journey in an ambulance, seated be-
side the officer 1t may have been known
among the officers and their families for
| weeks that she was coming-a blue eyed,
fair haired girl of IS from the east named
Miss Bell-but the first we heard of it was
when we went to the depot as an escort.
We did not know whether we We're to meet
man or woman until Captain johnson
came out of the building with her. We
could use our eyes and talk to each other
and we were not two minutes in deciding
that the new arrival was a peach" and
that we were glad she was going to honor
the fort with her presence. The escort
was more matter Of form than necessity
although there We're rough, rude men on
the frontier i'll those days, and there had
been instances where half drunken men
had to be severely handled.
Miss Bell was a regular chatterbox and
full of natural curiosity, and she'd have
had word tn every soldier in the escort
but for the captains admontion. She
couldn' understand the wide gulf separat-
ing officer from private, but in her awful
ter whether L. carried saber or a sword.
Being left alone with Sergeant Larkins
for a few minutes while the captain sent
off telegral. for her, she did not hesitate
to chatter away as if she had been formally
introduced and had met before, and this
action of hers was to have a strange bear
ing on after events After a couple of
days we noticed a change in Sergeant
LarkinS. He was n Young man of 50, we'll
educated and evidently something above
the common, and there were rulrOrS that
his father was "a wealthy New Yorker and
that the son had entered the army because
of a quarrel between them. He had been
speedily promoted from private to sergeant,
and there Were those who said that outside
influence was the cause Of this However
that may have been, the sergeant was
prompt in his duties, respectful to his SUI
periors and Fixed by all the men. l repeat
that we saw change in him, and pretty
soon it came to us that he had fallen ii
love with Miss Bell at first sight 1t wuj
the sheerest folly under the circumstances,
but these THU rs are generally beyond cor
troll. The fc> ling was likely all Oh l.
part, and military discipline would scarce
permit him ~ use his eyes to see her across
the parade q und.
A little rins of us laughed and made
merry behind the sergeant back, but l.
er on it sobered us TO realize that he W.
seriously in earnest. He committed
breach of ,''scipline in placing himsl
where he cc--'1 speak to her, and he was
sharply repr handed for neglecting his
duties, and h and by half hundred men
got to know hat the sergeant had lost his
head over Mi. Bell. If she had ever even
mentioned his name after arriving at the
fort no one had heard of the incident We
came to know that she was of a stylish,
wealthy family, and we voted that Ser
geant Larkins ought to have his he, Il
sandpapered for making a Ounce of HIM
self.
Miss Bell had been at the fort about a
month W hen the Sioux on the reservatiC i
began to make trouble, and the Indian
police reported that number OF them
had broken way and were marauding Ii
the foothills Such stories were always
a1oat and TO credence was given them
until some deed Of violence had been com
mitted 1t had been planned by half
dozen officers and their wives to hold
picnic at the falls of Buffalo river. and but
for the reports from the reservation they
would have gone without escort. The colo
mel favored the picnic, but insisted that
an escort go along, and so Sergeant Lar
kins and the same half dozen>of us were
again detailed Without the knowledge OF
the ladies we were ordered to take so
rounds of cartridges per man, and all the
officers were armed with revolvers 1t
was ~ miles to the falls, and the picnick
Frs were loaded into two ambulances.
There were five officers, seven ladies and
three children, and the escort was ordered
to keep them in sight. While we were
nominally under command of Serge. mt
Larkins, Captain Williams would have
charge in case of any trouble arising. We
gave the ambulance half mile the start
and then trotied after and nothing worthy
of note happened on the march out To
reach the falls one had to enter a gorge
from small valley and proceed up mar
row and rocSSy path on foot for half mile
The ambulance and our horses were left in
this valley, and after two of the escorts
had carried up the baskets of prov isions
they returned to us and We prepared for a
comfortable day
From the first Sergeant Larkins sat
apart from US ana seemed moody and
taeiturn. There was no question but what
jealousy was at work, and he hadn't the
strength of mind to throw it off and real
iZe the situation. We had n.any a wink
and laugh ut mis- expense, anu yet we felt
to pity him AS the wind blew down the
gorge we caught the laughter OF the wolu-
en- and the shouts OF thu eAildrea now and
then, and the hours passed away and We
had no thought OF danger We had been