Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1904-11-04
Copyright. 1902. By q. W. Dillingham; Co
CHAPTER III.
THE FIRST UNIFORM.


eyed, submissive, broken man sat long
hours each day in a worn old rocking
chair, apathetic, accomplishing, yet
looking wistfully into the faces of the
few who came to see him as though
1mploring news of his now doubly BAN
ished boy.
In every way did the squire seek to
aid the needy household and, all unre-
buked now, Elinor went day after day
to see Ladue and the fragile woman,
his wife, who never left her room. In
one brief letter from ST. Louis, Paul
had announced his intention of making
his way to Mobile. After that-who
could say?
And Fred, too, Elinor's stanch ally
and supporter, was gone. Denied
commission in the earlier regiments Of
his native state, for the reason that
the men demanded the right to elect
their officers from among these en-
listing with them, a course which his
father had forbidden, he had found life
we'll nigh unbearable after the almost
tragic events Of that night in June,
and SO boldly wrote long, urgent, ap-
pealing letter to a general off1cer-an
old soldier of the old army-Who,
since before the days of the Mexican
war and until recalled to active service
in the spring of 81, had made the
Badger state his home. and that vehe-
ment, vigorous letter the general took
and laid before the president himself.
This was before the first serious
eye-opener-the battle of Bull Run,
and the tall, ungain1y son of the west
was sti1l able to see the whimsical side
Of things, untinged by the infinite and
suffering of the days to come.
| wants to be a soldier and to sink
the law, does he?" eaid the president,
stretching his long, lean legs under.
| meath the table and running his huge
hand through the crop of bPistling hair
that crowned his forehead like q
hedgerow, land the squire won't let
him enlist met Benton once at
Rice's caravanserai there in Chicago
and the boys won't have anybody that
doesn't start even with them? Well,
general, see only one way out OF this
| fx-that is to make him a second lieu
tenant of regulars, UNLESS" he contin-
ued, with twitch about the corners
of his broad mouth, unless I appoint
him brigadier general. According to
some of the papers I may have done
worse. Which shall it be?''
'The second lieutenancy will appeal
to him, think, SIR said the general.
'.and then can appoint him aide-de-
camp and teach him practical soldier
ing so that he won't be utterly a novice
when he goes to his regiment. I know
| the lad and am under many an ob1i-
| cation to his father
| $50 be it,. said the president And
| SO 1t happened that two days later
| there came to Fred wire from Wash
| ington bidding him join his general
| there forthwith, and within another
| 4S hours he was gone. For few days
| in mid July he was home again as aide
| to the general, who had been ordered
! thither to help the state authorities
| in the organization of still more regi-
ments. Tall and stiff and "swagger"
| he locked in his eaStern-made uniform,
| vivid contrast to many an old school
| friend whose first blue frock coat
| seemed more like an off-color edition
| of some clerical garment than the garb
| of a soldier. Fearfully and wonder
| fully were they made-those uniforms
| of our western volunteers, and much
did they of the great army about
| Washington marvel and make merry
at the sight Of the officers of the few
regiments from Badger and Hoosier-
dom chosen to represent their states On
the sacred soil'' of eastern Virginia.
| And about the first thing Fred Ben
ton had done on his return was to
snub, if not actually insult, his fathers
| junior partner, between whom and that
father relations were already severely
| strained.
Never yet had George McKinnon
| been able to satisfactorily explain how
| that letter addressed to Paul Ladue
had come into his possession. Impor-
| tant as it doubtless was held to be, as
| evidence of Ladue's active sympathy
1 with the rebellion, there were not a
| few responsible citizens who declared
| the postmaster 'gravely culpable for
| surrendering it to any but the lawful
| owner. Whereat the postmaster on
| hearing Of the cry against him came
| out with a card in the 'Watchman,"
] insisting that the letter had been
| placed by the distributing clerk in the
Ladue box, which was at least six feet
| from the general delivery window, and
that neither he nor any one of the
employees had subsequently touched it.
| Naturally matters looked squally for
McKinnon. He had been popular, but
| the better class of people felt that
| Paul Ladue had been harshly, even
outrageously, dealt with, and that Nc
Kinnon's insidious, if not fiery,
| speeches were the direct cause.
| A revulsion of feeling had set in.
Before leaving for Washington there
had been ample time for Fred Benton
/ to spread abroad Ladue's declaration
/ that 1afSthinsz would IaerSuade him