The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-11-26
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; The Courage Of a
...NOncOmbatant
By W. R. ROSE.
3 s-s-i-00-F00-ai-0 0s~t0o +-Fo0 -t-s-0t

They were having an informal gather
ing at the Burlington Browns. Mrs. Buff
fngton Browns brother, Jack, had drop
/ ped into town suddenly, and his loving
sister wanted few of the young people
of her acquaintance to meet him, and it
! had to be an informal affair because Jack
/ was obliged to be in Washington at a
certain hour, and there was only this one
evening to meet him.
His sister was very proud Of Jack, and
well she might be. Jack was in the army
! and had seen service in both Cuba and
Luzon. 1t had been brilliant service, too,
especially in the Philippines. where with
little band in khaki he had held off a
| host of insurgents and then been rescued
| just as the last cartridge was reached.
| He had got a bullet in his arm in this
warm affair and never knew it until aft
! er all was over. And he had been men
! toned in the dispatches and been pro-
NOTED, and the newspapers made quite a
| hero of him.
! He looked like a hero. He was tall
and robust, with thick dark hair and a
! bronzed complexion and wonderful flash
! ing eyes. And he talked well too. Being
| the lion of the affair, he had to talk and
of course his talk turned in the direction
| of his own exploits. That was what the
/ guests called for and what they wanted,
| and, roar as modestly as he might, he
had perforce to roar of his own prowesS. .
/ 1t was please tell us about that fight
at Tarrimena, Mr.. Chalmers. How did
you feel when the last cartridge was
gone? And is it true that you made the
men tear up everything white they had
about them for fear they might be tempt
ed to raise the signal of surrender
But he went through with it very well
indeed Even the men who were present
had to admit that. AS for the girls. they
thought him adorable.
When it was time to break up and the
goodbys were being said, Mrs. Bufing-
ton-Brown had asked Edgar French to
see that May Freeman got home safely
The distance wasn't far, and Edgar was
an old friend of the family. Perhaps
Maud Buffing ton- Brown had an idea that
Edgar would be pleased at the trust re-
posed in him. Everybody liked Edgar.
May Freeman looked up at him as he
carefully adjusted her cape. Perhaps she
mentally contrasted him with the glori-
Gus Jack
Edgar was of medium height, of fair
complexion, with a rather firm chin and
bright gray eyes. He was not of the
stalwart build that marked the wac hero,
and yet he looked well knit despite his
slenderness.
As they moved away from the house
May turned to him and said:
"Would you mind, Mr.. French. if we
prolong our walk little? Tie night Is
so pleasant and the air so bracing. I'm
choked up with all that battle smoke, ana
the clear atmosphere is such a relief"
81 am delighted" said Edgar, and it
gave him quite a thrill to feel that he
could grant her even so small a favor.
1--WE will walk around two extra blocks,
if you please" said May, "and by that
time l think I'll get the rattle of the
musketry out of my ears. Wasn't he
finer
"He certainly was" replied Edgar. ITO
me it seemed that he was in almost as
| embarrassing a position as that at Tarri-
mena. But he came out of it with flying
colors."
Il should have thought all the men
would have been dreadfully jealous of
him." laughed May.
mo doubt we were for the moment"
laughed Edgar in return, ''but possibly
we were consoled by the thought that it
is quite impossible for all of us to go to
war. Some of us, as the philosophical
young gasftter in Caste remarks, must
stay home and pay rates and taxes
But May did not laugh at this.
81 suppose" she said, that it is an in
herited tradition that makes women love
physical courage. Probably it comes
down to them from the time when man
fought for them and the stronger or
Drawer took the prize
She turned and half looked at Edgar as
she spoke. Perhaps she wondered if this
man whom she knew loved her would be
willing to fight for her as the wooer
fought for his bride when the earth was
young.
Il know that l am arguing from the
unsympathetic standpoint" said Edgar,
but it seems to me that any man who is
useful to society, who fills any worthy
niche, no matter how small, is doing So
cety as well as himself an injustice when
he needlessly or recklessly exposes him
self to danger. OF course there are times
when such exposure becomes necessity.
1t was so with the man who has enter
tanned us tonight. That's his trade It's
shop with him as much as cotton broker
age is with me- What l contend is that
the ordinary mans life is quite too valu-
able to the state to be thrown away
through a merely barbarous sentiment"
May was silent for a moment.
Il think you must be brave, or you
wouldn't nave the courage to advance
such a belief" she said ITS part Of
/ the spirit of commercialism, isn't it?'
Edgar WINGED
81 suppose it is he said.
"And you mean to say" she went on
without needing his murmured assent,
that if you were attacked say, by high
waymen, you would offer no resistance"
"Well," said Edgar slowly, 'it would
be question with me whether a trinket
or two and a few dollars would be a fair
equivalent for the grievous risk l would
run of much bodily injury in case l re-
sisted
"And you would hold up your hands
and submit TO the looting and the humili-
atom May asked, and there was an un-
musical edge to her usual pleasant tones.
'Under ordinary circumstances l fancy
| should play the philosopher rather than
the hero" replied Edgar. and he asked
himself in the silence that followed why
he was painting his picture in such I'M
prepossessing colors.
They had almost circled the second
block and were on their way back to the
avenue in which May resided. The cross
street was Il lonely one, and as they near
ed the corner of an intersecting alley Ed
gar saw that three men were standing I'M
der lamppost. They separated as Ed
CARS eyes rested on them and came slowly
forward, two next the curb and one close
to the fence. Edgar looked back. The
street behind him as far as he could see
was deserted.
He did not change his gait. but. with
Mays hand resting lightly on his arm,
walked steadily forward. May was 81
lent. His words had Jared upon her
sensitive spirit She did not notice the
men.
As they approached the trio Edgar saw
that he and May must pass between the
pair and the single man. If anything was
to happen, he would precipitate it.
He walked directly ut the pair.
Hold on there" said a gruff voice, and
one of the men drew something from his
pocket that glistened as he raised it.
Edgar swung May back.
"What's that?' he said.
Throw up your hands," growled the
gruff man, and the barrel of Il revolver
was thrust against Edgar's breast. go
through him, Jim. Hustle
The second man pulled open the vic
TINS coat. Edgar's hands, held in front
of him, with his arms half bent, We're
slowly rising. His eyes were fixed on the
eyes of the man with the revolver.
May had drawn back instantly as the
third man quickly advanced Then she
started to run up the steps of the nearest
house.
Hold the girl, joe" said the man with
the revolver.
The third man intercepted May in her
Hipht