Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1903-02-11

M N August sun was
MA beating down on
MAA Strathboro. The lit
MM tie town wore O
~ I'M strange aspect. Ar
intelligent bird, com
ing from afar and
flying over houses, yards and gardens
might have realized something curious
In the look of things.
The square surrounding the court
house and lined with shops was utterly
deserted. The shop shutters were gen
orally up, and the courthouse, which
had no shutters, showed the need Of
them in many a shattered pane OF
glass, which gave 1t an air of degraded
desolation. Both in the square and be
You'd, grass and weeds evergreen in 1
disorderly, squalid way many an un
accustomed spot. The ample gardens
behind the houses We're oftenest n tan
gle of luXuriant unframed growths
The asparagus beds flung out theil
feathery foliage in great spreading
masses, and against them the ironweet
and ragweed and jamestown wee'
grew tall and lusty, and among thes
climbed wild morning glories. At on
side perhaps would be little patch o
cultivated ground where few swee
potatoes and little corn took up mos
of the room.
Not man was to be seen anywhere
but now and again sunbonneted VIC
man or several sunbonneted women to
gether would pass from one house t.
another.
Inside the houses or on their shaded
galleries groups, still altogether femi
nine, were gathered, talking with al
air curiously uniting listlessness ant
restlessness, apathy and anxiety.
The truth was they had special i'm
mediate cause for fear, but they ha
suffered SO long and so much in simila
ways that in many the capacity 70
keen feeling was blunted. Yet the;
would have told you they suffered nom
the less because they suffered DULY.
1t was in 1868. The Federal force
under General Paine were in possession
Of this part of Tennessee, and he ha,
his headquarters at Tullahoma, nc
fifteen miles away.
Strathboro had been well stripped Q
men for many day. Even the foul
teen and fifteen year old boys wer
away fighting. But until this mornin
few male persons were to be see
about, and, though usually they wer
old or sick or deformed, the sight wa
a comfort to the weary eyes Of the w,
mankind. Rightly or wrongly, the
now involuntarily felt as never befo1
the superiority of the dominating Sc,
1t was they who were fighting out til
war, and even the least awe inspirin
man represented the power that ca
ried fate in its hand. And now toda
here they were, left without man
white man, that is-in Strathboro. N
not literally without one. Uncle Bill
Caldwell, aged eighty-two, still sat T,
home in his big chair quivering an
bewildered, and Blossier, the Frenc.
man, was also left behind.
This peculiar state of things WI
brought about by General Paine in b
efforts to stop sudden Confedera1
raids upon his bridges, railroads an
telegraph wires. These attacks WEI
4 always made and the offenders gor
before punishment could reach ther
and under fresh provocation Gener
Paine had conceived the idea of hol
ing the few remaining and helple!
male citizens of Strathboro responsib
for the doings of the soldiers he couI
not catch. So this morning an arme
squad had descended upon the di
heartened little town and had marche
off to Tullahoma the lame, the ha
and the blind. Falstaff's army was
robust body compared to this handfl
Of mutinous spirits.
Uncle Billy Caldwell was not on
eighty-two, but he weighed nearly 81
pounds. If taken, he was obviousl
sure to die OH the way, and that won,
inevitably cause some delay and il
convenience, SO it was plainly discre
that he be left behind. But, as to IL
Frenchman, there was no logical re
son for the leniency shown him.
was simply that the Anglo-Saxon CO
querors had, in common with IL
Anglo-Saxon conquered, SO deep fec
ing of his foreignness that he SCENE
outside of humankind. The questic
of taking him to Tullahoma was di
missed with grin, as IT might ha,
been had it referred to one Of Unc
Billy's ancient hounds. But old Bio
sier himself naturally took no sue
| view of the matter. He understoc
English very imperfectly, but he b
lieved that France was honored In b
person, and he had his ragged stra
hat pressed to his bosom as he bowe
low to the officer in command befol
beginning to express as best he cou
between the two languages his graf
fed sense of their regard for Ia bel
France, when, 10, he raised his hes
and officer and men were gone, hurr
ing, backs toward him, up the street!
Strathboro people would have CO.
sidered old Blossler crazy if they ha
not felt obscurely that such an opinic
included an admission that he had on,
been sane, an admission SO unthinkab
that they contented themselves wit
explaining everything on the grour
that he was Frenchman.
Yes; he was Frenchman. That W,
still clear to even his poor confuse
brain, though little else autobiograp.
ical was He was nor old in yoora n,
much more than forty, but the adje
tive was more than an epitheti 1t w
descriptive Of his relation to life. Ho'
he had drifted to strathboro he MoAl