Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1904-10-22

night. Men. in this hitherto staid old
southern city. hurried. under the spur
of emotions that seemed born of a con-
tag1on in the air, and anxious women
went about with willing hands to aid
in every department they might in
wade. Among these. her life adjusting
itself easily and gratefully to the new
demands, was Frances Brool1in. the
tenderness of her fine face softened
and deepened into divine womanliuess.
the love-ray eloquent in her melting
eyes.
Swiftly the holiday ssse 80 a.
had faded out of view Agonized ST.
lence swallowed up laughter. For the
drift was coming in from where the
storm of battle ragged, wrecks of hui
man forms once freighted with Ife's
rarest merchandise Soon every hos
pital, every available space in church
and public building and the most spa
cious of private homes were to have
their quota Of the wounded, the diving.
and the dead. The southern woman was
entering upon that field of labor in
which she achieved her noblest dignity,
her fame its immortality. Foremost
among those who first gave their en-
ergies, their whole lives to the allevia-
ton of suffering, the inspirati of the
hopeless and the despairing. was Fran
ces Brookin. Free to dispose of her
time as she would and with an album
d'ant means at her disposal. she made
herself ministering angel wherever
a soldier suffered. Day and night she
labored, sustained by boundless patri-
otism and an elation for which she
could not account. try as she would.
She failed in her self-analysis from
ignorance of the fact that voice that
has once spoken to the heart is never
quite silent afterwards, and that
= youth when it buries its ID tramples
not the sod above it. Fiery hatred of
the invader possessed her, as it did
her sisters; bred in the bone and nour-
/ ished with the mothers milk it could
net be quelled except by years Of gentle
association and a common cause, but
! by strange paradox this bitterness
3 excluded every stained and bloody
! blue uniform or haggard northern face.
, Out of the fight, these were ever out of
the sweep OF a southern woman's VEN
} geance. Upon the suffering prisoners
; Frances delighted to lavish the tender
ness Of her nature, now broadened and
deepened by its own ministry; and
something touchingly human carried
her among them, although she was not
: eoGseiauS of i. -----
For this had come to pass: within
the heart OF Frances Broolzin there
lived fiction, the Richard Somers OF
No ri f--rau tch
she had seen him face to face one night
10 under the burning match, his voice
ringing strong and true and tender
upon her hearing. Before him, shut.
ting him into the sanctity of her room
she had dropped veil of iridescent
gossamer, and within that room, seen
only through the veil, the man lived
and reigned and had his kingdom
Through this veil, too, stirred by the
breath of the suffering and the dying
OF his own country, he spoke gently
tenderly to her in the lonely hours o.
her vigilS. The other Richard haC
been dismissed, not harshly or hastily
not in anger. but sadly-a man un
worthy; a mar ut war with the truth
and nobleness OF her nature and at wal
with her people. No one knows how
such fictions come about, but tn,
hearts of most women carry them.
And time had helped Frances, fo
looking back she re-establisheG. man,
vital facts that lessened the sadness o
memory; the man must once have beer
noble-his deeds Of mercy and gentle
ness proved that; innately noble h
must have been when she met him, 70
in the face Of great temptation h
had kept his promise to his friend, eveI
to the extent of shutting his eye
against the girl whose arms had bee
about him, whose lips breathed love 70
him. And somew here, despite all tn
trickery, there was still nobility, 70
silently he had ridden away, faithful
to his friend. He had lain under he
hands wounded by the pistol shot, an
no woman ever hated a helpless, suffer
ing man. AS for his receptions, hi
plots, some fearful necessity must hav
compelled him. The other woman
She had been too base for him-she ha
: been at heart a murderess. She ii wa
: who had dragged him down. And wa
he not caring for the child? France
would not have admitted it to herse
4 had she realized it, but in the depth
5 OF that heart she had forgiven Rich ar
. Somers. Her heart was big enough
I hold him and al his weakness. Wa
there a loss Of something from her n;
ture? Or was there a gain?
No message had ever come to hi
from Somers. no good or evil repor
, None? Yes, just a scrap soon after tt
war began. From some one, Brodna
:. probably, since his name was upon
- she had received a northern paper 81
= ing in its war gossip information tn;
Richard Somers had been reinstated
. the army and promoted to be capital
of artillery.
:, But one day early in the spring
1862, when the great federal movemel
:, against Richmond was beginning al
= when every train was bringing in
bloody harvest, she leaned above
. wounded enemy. The question so ofte
asked, "To what command do you
lono?" drew forth an answer tn