Evening star., 1899-02-11

with a pair of domestic scissors. and drill
ing never persuaded him 10 move his large
frame with other than the same Self-con-
sciOus restraint; his siIIOw face had the
same set lines There Is something III the
SaxOns blood that will not let him alter
with circumstances. and it is by virtue Of
II that he cDnqHerS i'll the end.
But no dOorkeeper III the house of Cod
the deacOn's service in the meeting hOu-e
at Brewster-whO should come perforce to
dwell in the tents OF wickedneSS would pre-
tend to like it. Besides, Company had
no tents. 1t came from the lower wards
of the great city: and if YOU take Dinkey
Cott. for instance. that thin-legged, stunt
ed, imp-faced. hardened little Bowery
sprout. ne put his left fist in the deacon's
eye the first day of their acquaintance,
and sw0re for several minutes in the pleas
anteSt manner possible.
And the deacon Cufed him because he
had been schCo master in his day, and
did not understand how he would be de-
spised for knocking Dinkey down in that
amateur fashion. and the lieutenant gave
them both guard duty for fighting in the
ranks.
The deacon declared that young man
COtt hadn't no moral IDEAS and did his
guard duty in bitterness and strict con-
science to the last minute of 1t. Dnkcy
put his thumb to his nose and offered to
show the lieutenant how the thing should
have been done and the big man laughed,
and both forgot about the guard duty.
Diukey had no sense whatever of person
al dignity, which was partly what the deaI
con meant bN utUtdt llrGS, IpF IeNtT-
ence for anything above OF beneath. He
did not harboT any special anger either,
and only enough malice 10 point his finger
at the elder man, whenever he saw MIN.
and snicker loudly to the entertainment of
Company G..
Dinkey's early recoIlections had to do
with the cobbieStoneS of Mulberry Bend
and boot backing Pearl street. Deacon
TerreIrs began with a lonely farm where
there were too many potato hills 70 hoe.
a little school house where arithmetic was
taught with ftrTule. Il white meeting house
where the wrath OF God was preached Win
enthusiasm. both seemed far enough away
from the weary tramp, tramp, the picket
duty. and the camp At last one misty night
in thick woods on the Stafford hills, look
ing over the Raprahannock TO the town OF
Fredericksburg
What happened there was not clear to
Company q. There seemed to be a deal OF
noise and hurrying about cannon smoke
in the valley and cannon smoke on the ter
races across the valley. Somebody was
building pontoOn bridges. therefore il seem
I'd likely somebody wanted TO get across.
They were having hard luck with the
bridges, That was probably the enemy on
the ridge beyond. There seemed to be no
end to him anyway; up and down the val
ley. mile beyond mile. the same line Of
wooded heights and drifting smoke.
And the regiment found itself crossing q
shaky pOntOOn bridge on Il Saturday MORN
ing in the mist and climbing the bank into
most battered and tired-lOOking little
town. which was smO!derng sulkiiy with
burned buildings and thrilling with enOr-
nous noise. There they waited for some
thing else TO happen. The deacon felt i
lump in his throat, stopping his breath.
Git out o me tracks," snickeTed Din
key Cott behind him. IN step on yer
Dinkey had never seemed more mpish.
uEholy and incOnSruous. They seemed to
stand there a long time The shell kept
howiinS and whizzing around; they howled
till they burst, and then they whiZZed.
And now and then some one would cry out
and fall IL bad for the nerves. The
men were growing.
"Aw, cap. give US a CHANGER
1T amt my fault. boys. / got 10 wait
for orders. same as you
Dinkey pOked the deacOn's legs with the
butt of his rifle
Say. it's rotten, amt 1T? Say. Gully. my
ma don't like me full o holes. How
yours
The ether gripped his rife tight and
thought OF nothing in particular
Was II hve hours that passed or twenty
or oneE Then they started. and the town
was gone behind their hurrying feet Up a
steep slope to a stretch of broken level
rush and tramp and gasping for breath:
fences and rocks ahead, elumps OF trees and
gorgesi ground growing rougher and steep
er' but that was nothing If there was
left 1t behind You plunged up a hill and
didn't notice It, You dove into a gulJey
and IL wasn't there. Time was liar OBJ.
stacleS were scared and ran away tS,,i
haf way up the last ran a turnpike with
stone wall In front that spit fire and
came nearer and nearer. IL seemed Green.
ing down vfeiousiy to meet you. Up up iii
the powder OF the guns almost burned the