The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1903-08-19
THE BULLET THAT
MADE IT ALL THE SAME
[Original.l

70 the var Qf 1870: ! was sitting in
tie garden With Aunt Margaret. 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. 1 had re-
Gently visited West Point, and every
thing connected with war interested
me- But l noticed when I read the
telegram in the newspaper that Aunt
Margaret shuddered.
"You don't like war, Aunt Mar
garrett" said. 81 think it must be
fine"
"If you had been old enough to real
1ze what we passed through from 1861
65, you wouldn't consider it so fine.
You would consider it horrible"
Cant you tell me something to make
| me feel as you do about it, Aunt Mar
garrett"
She was silent for some time, then
said:
II shall have to touch upon CON
quest but you must excuse that and
not consider me vain. l was at West
Point during the civil war when one
of the classes was graduated There
was a 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 1t was scarlet. He singled
me out from among the girls for his
special devotion. This amused some
OF the cadets, and I could see them
laughing together when he came up to
me all in fidget, blushing to the tips
of his ears, to ask me to go down Fir
tation walk or climb to Fort Put or to
dance the second or third time during
hop. 1t was rather amusing to me,
too, for. lsWas used to attentions from
only tlfesmost courtly young men at
home
l 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, chat Pm
making a fool of myself, but / can't
help it." did all 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 position in
society to maintain and an officer of
the lowest grade in the army. He said
he knew it, reiterating that he was a
fool, but couldn't help being fool
There was Il pathetic look on his face
when he babe me goodby, saying that
southern bullet would doubtless make
1t all the same to him. OF course it
wouldn't do for me to laugh at this,
though I fancied he would be in love
again in less than year, possibly a
few months.
AT first the war was quite exciting,
and the young fellows who were hur-
rying about in theiy new uniforms en-
joyed it, and everybody was interest.
ed. But 1t dragged Oh and on, and aft.
er awhile an unusual number of wom-
en- began to appear in mourning, the
mourners increasing every year. Then
l read an account of an affair where
number of men had done something
very wonderful, the whole thing hay
ing been planned and the men led by
Lieutenant Iutchins. | believe they
entered the southerners' camp and
spiked a lot of guns, though 1 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 it
call the same for him" came and end
ed his career before it had fairly be-
gun. ...-s,-,.-ers :. = :. u
"He died?' .--,'sssassss.s--s '.-''---'
Eyes; 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
1t aside. 1t seemed to Inc that there
was something incomplete about hel
story. wondered if the young mans
death had affected her. She had sucl
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 could not believe that it haG
been q matter of much moment.
Long after she told me the story |
one day went to her dressing case to
borrow an article of jewelry-for was
used to appropriating her belongings
to my own use-and, runmaging
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.
tently stumbled upon skeleton
aunt Margaret" l said later, "did
they ever extract the bullet that killed
your friend Hutchinsi'
II Yes; he died under the operation"
what became of it?"
Il ga claSSmate of his whn was with