Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-05-14
DAILY SHORT STORY
Bullet That Made It all Same
TOriginal.l


the news in America that France had
declared war against Prussia. / refer
to the war of 1870. / was sitting in
the garden with Aunt Margaret. l was
then eighteen and Aunt Margaret was
twenty eight. She was still beautiful
and was always what may be best de
scribed as high bred dame, having
great dignity and reserve. l had re-
Gently visited West Point, and every
thing connected with war interested
me. But l noticed when l read the
telegram in the newspaper that Aunt
Margaret shuddered.
you don't like war, Aunt Mar
garet?" l said. Il think it must be
fine"
IF you had been old enough to real
ize what we passed through from 1861
65, you wouldn't consider ii so fine.
You would consider it horrible
Cant you tell me something to make
me feel as you do about it, Aunt Mar
garet?'
She was silent for some time, then
said:
81 shall have to touch upon n con
quest but you must excuse that and
not consider me vain. / was at West
Point during the civil war when one
of the classes was graduated. There
was little fellow in the graduating
class-his name was Hutchins-who
looked funnier in his cadet uniform
than most of them. His hair was crop
ped very short, and his face was I'M
usually red, except when he blushed,
and then it was scarlet. He singled
-. i'll, III
special devotion. This amused some
OF the cadets, and 1 could see them
laughing together when he came up to
me all in a fidget, blushing to the tips
of his ears, to ask me to so down Fir
tation walk or climb to Fort Put or to
dance the second or third time during
a hop. 1t was rather amusing to me,
too, for / was used 10 attentions from
only the most courtly young men at
home
| 1 tried to keep the boy off without
wOunding his feelings, but that was
impossible He told me his classmates
rallied him on what they called his as
surance and poked a great deal of fun
at him. Il know" he said, that I'm
making a fool of myself, but l can't
help it," did all 1 could to show him
that he was not making fool of him
SELF but at the same time gently hint
ed at the impossibility of anything Sc
rious between a girl with a position in
society to maintain and an officer of
the lowest grade in the army. He said
he knew it, reiterating that he was
fool, but couldn't help being a fool.
There was a pathetic look on his face
| I,nf
southern bullet would doubtless make
it all the same to him. OF course it
wouldn't do for me- to laugh at this,
though 1 fancied he would be in love
again in less than a year. possibly
| few months.
| At first the war was quite exciting,
and the young fellows who were hur-
rying about in their new uniforms en-
| joyed it, and everybody was interest
ed. But it dragged on and on, and aft
er awhile an unusual number of wom-
| en- began to appear in mourning, the
mourners increasing every year. Then
read an account of an affair where
number of men had done something
very wonderful, the whole thing hav-
| ing been planned and the men led by
| Lieutenant HutchinS. l believe they
entered the southerners' camp and
spiked n lot of guns, though l don't
know what that means. Hutchins was
very badly wounded during the re-
treat A bullet had entered his chest
so near the heart that the surgeons
| did not dare to probe for it. So, after
ALL the bullet which was to make 1t
''aII the same for him. came and end
ed his career before it had fairly be-
gun.
HE died?"
"Yes; he died in hospital"
I waited for her to say something
more, but she did not. She took up the
paper, read the war dispatch and laid
| it aside. 1t seemed to me that there
was something incomplete about her
story. 1 wondered if the young mans
death had affected her. She had such
admirable control of herself that
could not tell. Indeed, so well poised
was she, so used to the attentions of
wealthy bachelors, men of the world,
that 1 could not believe that it had
been a matter of much moment.
Long after she told me the story l
one day went to her dressing case to
borrow an article of jewelry-for l was
used to appropriating her belongings
| to my own use-and, rummaging
through the drawers, came upon an
| ebony box curiously mounted. The
key was in the lock, and, turning it,
lifted the lid The first article that ar
rested my attention was a round
leaden bullet. closed the lid and hur-
ried away, feeling as if had inadver-
L 4 Il