The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1903-06-12
Forty Years After.
The assistant chief was worried.

The assistant chief was worried.
Anyone who knew him we'll would have
guessed it by the deepening of the two
little vertical lines between the eyebrows
and the stray lock that hung down over
his forehead and made him look like
Napoleon.
A little dark-eyed girl from Louisiana
bent over her work seemingly all absorb
ed i'll it, but she knew without. any
speculation the cause of his anxiety She
had seen that look many times, and once
before she had been the cause off
Another girl knew also and could not
hide her exultation.
When the Little Rebel left the land of
Spanish moss and magnolias and mock.
ing birds, she took with her heart
Southern to the core I'm Southerncr,
a Rebel and Il Democrat" she announced
bravely, and her little gold and enamel
Confederate flag bore out the declaration.
She had always worn it lovingly, and no
one had ever openly objected to it. But
the second day in the big Census Bureau
brought forth objections. Miss Lyman,
a girl whose father had given up an arm
for he Northern side, and who was as
ardently Union as the Little Rebel was
Confederate, asked the assistant chief To
request the wearer to leave her little flag
at home.
1t was Il delicate situation. A Yankee
himself, he could not believe that the flag
meant any harm, but the discipline ofhis
section was at stake, and he was forced
to act.
The Little Rebel remained at noon, as
requested. As she passed up the aisle to
the assistant chiefs desk, she heard some
one saying: "That flag has been called
down before"
The bright eyes flashed a look ut the
speaker, and she answered: Yes, but
the principles for which that flag stood
will life as long as liberty itself" Miss
Lyman laughed, but made no answer.
With gentle but firm manner the youth
tul head told her to wear her flag con-
cealed during office hours for the sake of
discipline. 81 shall wear it hidden in the
office for the sake of discipline; | shall
wear it always, hidden or not, for the
sake of TRUTH
That was their first rupture, and she
called him the Yankee" afterward, and
would have hated him if she could.
And now she had committed another
and Il graver otfense. and Miss Lymans
opportunity to report her had come
again.
The 6. A. X. was holding its encamp-
ment in Washington, Miss Lyman's
father was among the visitors. twas
time for everyone to show his true colors,
and the Little Rebel appeared with
twclvc-inch silk flag bearing the stars
and bars of the dead Confcderacy.
Miss Lyman glided up to the assistant
chiefs desk. For my fathers sake,
ask you to have that flag put away"
she said with her checks crimson, her
eyes flashing with anger and hatred.
He wished that Confederate shell
had blown her father to atoms
and that the daughter had never been
born.
Every we'll, he answered curtlv.
81 believe he loves that Little Rebel"
she unused, as she watched him run his
hands through his hair and set the little
lock free and then frown in the fashion
that made him look for the world and all
like the Little Corsican."
"Miss Ninette, must see you for few
moments at noon today"
The small, graceful figure stood beside
him at the noon hour and waited patient
ly for him to begin.
He tried several times and failed.
Finally he said Not ofmy own accord,
but again for my sections sake, | must
ask you not to display that flag i'll the
Office
She rolled it up slowly, aflectionatcly,
and stuck it through her belt at is the
the time for true colors, she said, simply,
"and | wanted to wear mine"
All that afternoon the assistant chief
kept CHANGING at her and every now and
then she bent her head and buried her
face i'll Il bouquet of small rcd roses that
stock on her desk. When the assistant
chief stopped for a moment to ask
question. she said: They are like the
flowers that grow in my grandmother
garden at home, and love them because
they are Southern"
Could you love anything not South.
crn'" he asked, and then hurried away
without waiting for her answer
A few days later the Little Rebels desk
was empty, and it soon became known
that she had typhoid fever. The weeks
slipped by, and as the assistant chiefs
eyes wandered again and again to the
place where they had been wont to find
her, a loneliness and longing such as he
had never known before crept into his
heart and made him almost afraid of
himself.
He found a place where he could OBJ
tain the homely little flowers she loved