The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1900-01-16


well into her gayer hours, and that
happiness would bless their union. It
had seemed 80 until the declara-
ton of war with Spain. Then, when
the hardy sons of toll began to enlist,
the rarer delicacy OF his nature be-
came apparent, and his views differed
materially from the common opinion.
His leisure hours had been given
more deeply to books, and there were
moments when he would walk apart,
seeking to gather str ength to meet the
rough conflict of life. In a way he
might have been dreamer; but the
seriousness and strength of his char
acter made for him warm friends.
why don't you enlist?" Susan said
to him moro than once. half in earn
est, half tauntingly.
why should II" the young man
replied. ''There are thousands of
men ready to do battle. Fighting is
not to my taste. 1 am not needed,
and it would pain my mother, who
does not wish me to CO."
"Well, I would enlist if [ were a
man" the girl answered.
And there gradually grew q con-
straint between the lovers that could
not be overcome.
Dunbar was glowering at the blue
coat of the soldier when a hand was
laid on his arm and he turned to see
Miss Frisbee, teacher OF the county
school and deviser of amateur
theatricals, who led him half reluct-
antly away.
"Some girls are fairer, but others
are dearer," she hummed
Perhaps you're right" he said,
smiling. Twill you dance with me?'
They entered the pavilion, the shift
| ing panorama changed, and when the
musicians paused the two figures at
the swing had been joined by half
| dozen others.
Soon the slanting sun tipped the
| cotton-woods with purple and silver,
and made of every willow stem along
the river a golden pipe for Pan. With
merry iests the young people gathered
their baskets and belongings, and
soon various strings of buggies were
trailing along the valley roads darkly.
One contained Clyde Dunbar and
Susan Merrill. What they said no
listener heard, but when she alighted
at her fathers gate there was no good
night kiss, no lingering pause for
light jest, or fond idle word. Only
one fell from her lips. She had ut
tered it with biting venom. 1t was
Coward
The next morning, with a mothers
kiss still fresh upon his lips, the
pressure of q mothers reluctant arms
still felt about his neck, a slender
young man with a sad but determined
mien presented himself before Lieu
tenaut Raymond at Fort Leavenworth
for examination, and that night was
speeding across the continent toward
San Francisco, destined for the Sun
down islands beyond the Pacific,
where there was still some fighting to
be done.
Again Huddleston's grove was the
scene OF youthful frolic and merry
making. A year had slipped by-a
year with its stereotyped markings of
time. There were very few changes
in Ramon settlement. The same
| ebony-skinned fddlers sat on the
oaken benches in the corner OF the
dancing pavilion. The rhythmic tread
Of the lightly stepping feet upon the
/ rough boards told the same story Of
unqualified gayety. But there were
still some familiar faces missing. A
few OF those who had gone out at
their country's first call were absent,
and two or three new mounds here
and there under the slopes Of the adj
| iacent hills, carefully tended by low
| ing hands, were silent witnesses that
the reveille had called them not in
vain TO sign the roll OF honor with
/ their life blood Others were still
engaged in the Philippines.
Clyde Dunbar had been recruited
| in the Twentieth Kansas. He had
not escaped tho rigors OF the tropic
climate, and almost his frst introduc-
ton to military duty had been as the
occupant OF n cot in n fever hospital.
| Fully recovered, during the winter he
| had been sent 10 the front. and il was
reported that he was among the dar-
/ ing fighters. Other lovers had SUI
| perseded him, apparently in the
| affections Of his erratiC sweetheart
/ She had manifested no outward re-
/ pentance for having sent her lover
away without the cheer OF a farewell
kiss. II in her heart there bad been
Mt times the touch OF regret, she did
not show 1t 10 her friends, and when the
matter became common gossip he was
often the subject Of unfayorable com.
ment
| The vivacious and kind-hearted
Miss Frisbee was perhaps tho only
one who read Alright the changes TAX
ing place in her heart Miss Frisbee
had a cousin. one Dunning, a rough
and ready fellow, a gunner in the
Utah battery, aud when she learned
that the Twentieth Kansas and the
Mormons we're fighting side by side
IN the trenches aud swamps, she
wrote to him to look up Clyde Dun.