Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1901-03-22

CHAPTER /.
THE APPEARANCE OF ! STRANGER

THE APPEARANCE or a STRANGER.
The little village Of Beckett's Mil
had never been in such a state Of ex-
element i'll all It's history.
Women, bareheadcd and with rolled
| up sleeves, rushed wildly To and fro
| across the towns single street or lean
Ell from their open windows and called
| excitedly back and forth. asking hun
dred questions that no one pretended
| 10 answer. The children huddled
about their mothers, clinging to their
| skirts. iheir faces white and their eyes
| wide with wonder and fear. The men,
aweStricken, collected on the street cor
/ ner in front of the postoffice and talk
cd together in low hushed tones
| The cause of all this excitement was
! the heavy booming Of cannon away off
/ 10 the south and the barely distinguish
| able rattle OF musketry which told only
TOO plainly that a battle was being
! fought and that men were being killed
| and mangled by their fellow men.
1t was in the spring of 1861, a the be-
ginning of the long and bloody war be
| tween the south and the north The
people at Beckett's Mill and all over
that part of Missouri known as Postum
Ridge had heard rumors of coming
war, but they had gone on in their
quiet, nneventful way. giving little
thought 10 what they heard and feeling
confident that even if war came il
would not affect them.
And now. right at the beginning, a
battle was being fought almost at their
very doors. Just a few miles away
General Sterling Price and his army of
men in gray We're laying siege to Lex
ington and its garrison of men in blue.
Unused as they were To war. the peo- |
pie of Postum Ridge saw a dreadful /
meaning in the rattle Of the musketry |
and the booming of the heavy cannon.
As bad as war is in reality. TO the inn
agiuation of those people ii was a thou
sandfold worse II filed them with
feeling of awe ana terror that is indie
scrihable. and they could scarcely have
been more affected had they known
that the end of time was at hand.
One old man known as Pap Samp-
son. who had long been looked up to as
the village oracle. shook his head
gravely and predicted sad and awful
things to come.
as | have said time an ag'in," he re-
marked, the people have grown wick
ad an UurGly in their stiff ncckcd pride,
an the Lord he's a-gwine to humble
EN-. an he's a-gwinc to humble en-
down into the very dust. I've see it
a comm for years. an I've knowed the
mind Of the Lord. l knowed he was
patient an long SuffeTin, but l knowed
lie want a--wine to bear with these
people forever an that sooner or later
he was a-gwine To humble EN-
oh. my Lord, my Lord an old wom-
an walled as She paced slowly back
and forth, frantically wringing her
hands. "Oh. my Lord jest a-l>ten to
them cannons a-boomin an them guns
a-poppin. Oh. Lordy, its jest awful!
They're a-kilIin an a->laughterin an
a sIayin 'em by the thousands. an afore
its over with they'll all be killed an
there won't be nary a one left. Oh.
my Lord. my Lord. its jest awfulr'
We'll may you say that. Gran'ma
Fell another woman, a religious en-
thuSiast, remarked, IAN wen may You
trimblc for all them thousands that
are a-bein killed. for they are a-dyin in
their sins an never stoppin to AK their
selves the question. Where are we
a-gwine:' Its the duty of good Chris
tians to pras for 'em, an I'm a-gwine
TO do it.
Suiting her actions to her words. the
woman knelt in the street and prayed
long and ferventIy. but she prayed all
alone. Everybody else was too excited
to listen to her petitions even. much
less take part in them.
IT'S sholy awful" Jacob Hicks re
marked, with an ominous shake of his
head Pears jest like the whole
world IS Coin all to smash an that
pretty soon there amt goin to be no
end TO nothin. Seems like | can most
hear the groans an the cries of the
thousands that are manGled an dyin-
My Lord. my Lord. l wonder what
the world is ever goin to come to any
how"
An the wuSt amt begin 10 come
yit." Ebeuezer Sparks said solemnly
Lord, the war amt fairly got started.
an this hghtin amt nothin 10 what il
win be before its over. Jest wait till
you've seed fghtin as I've seed il, with
thousands an thousands of men a-fGht- =
in an ever body agittin killed. w.
thar'S war shure enough"
Il wonder if that warll git I'D
some one asked in trembling and f
AT this question the men and w
all looked inquiringly and with
eyes in one another's face as
vitinE an answer. After short
Ebenezer Sparks said confidently
Land, OF course that war
here. How can ii help il when
nighG Yes, stree. You bet il
here. Why. them two armies wi
lop each other all round OK,
country jest like a paSsel OF dos
lop one another all over eve
when they sit 10 hGhtin. Coul