Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-10-13
DAMON AND PYTHIAs.

~ estiA--tNO young lueu duu d SlTL
Stroke and bow were in heated discus
sion, and the dark brown eyes that
earlier in the afternoon seemed ever
seeking those of liquid blue before him,
We're now turned, sometimes to port,
sometimes to starboard, sometimes
over the squared shoulders, flashing
on the man in front-a young athlete
with eyes as blue and hair and skin
well-nigh as fair as those of the girl
at the helm. He of the stroke SOULS,
on the contrary, was tawny, almost,
as son of the tropics His head
was crowned by dark brown curls,
tumbling about neck and temples. The
shape of his face had the delicate
beauty of woman's. Among the four
score young fellows prominent in So
ciety of the western metropolis, there
was not one to deny to Paul Ladue the
palm for physical, or at least facial,
charm. Ever since his coming among
them four years before there was
hardly girl in all their circle in the
busting city that had not declared
him Simply lovely.'
What his face lacked was strength
and will. A physiognomist would have
turned from it speedily to study the
strong, virile features, the square jaw,
the firm set lips of the stalwart fellow
at his back. 1t required no unusual
power to tell that he and the silent
girl We're brother and sister, and that
between them sat, despite the heat of
ont 1o1~ IL
friend.
You'll never do 1t, even If you
muster in every man north of the Ohio,
Fred, said he of the dark, flashing
eyes. Our people will fight to the
last mainland then the women and
children will take it up
Fred Benton shook his head in dis
Bent-a sad smile on his face. For
p moment he ceased rowing and bent
Earnestly forward:
you at least can have no sympathy
with the south, after the wrong done
your father, Paul, and I'm blessed if
can understand your taking up the
cudgels for Alabama as you do"
The color deepened in Ladues face.
Benton had scored hit. The eyes
of the girl brimmed with tears There
was something Of reproach in the
glance she threw at her stalwart
brother Well as the story'was known,
people rarely spoke If it to the Ladues
Four years old though it was. it still
cut deep.
some time in '57 the editor of lead.
ing journal had received letter com
mending to him Francis Ladue, who
purposed settling in the city and going
into business there. Presently Ladue
came and with him his little family
a fragile, sad-faced wife, slender.
big-eyed boy of &c. and two young
children. Presently, too, marked copies
OF southern papers were received, and
little by little their story was told to
an indignant and sympathetic COM
munity. Natives of the south and
residents for years of beautiful old
southern metropolis they had been
banished from the home of their love,
driven from state to state, forbidden
ever to return, and compelled finally
to seek refuge among strangers in the
OF the finest bookstore on the Grlf
coast, stood charged with having sold
to an old customer one copy of Uncle
Toms Cabin" The business it had
taken Ladue nearly quarter Of cen.
tury to build up was ruined in a day.
Ladue was shy and reserved, his wife
q semi-invalid and Paul sensitive
hn
to thaw out at all, but Fred Benton,
near neighbor when they passed into
the high school, was the youth he
finally tied to, and then this strangely
assorted pair Joined forces, apparently,
for good and all. Damon and Pythias
they called them; for, after the first
six months of shyness on Ladue's part
they became inseparable. High school
finished, Ladue was needed as assis,
tant in his fathers growing business.
Benton had begun the study of law in
the Office of the famous old firm of
which his father was the head. But
before either had cast his first vote
the long heralded conflict between the
north and south had burst upon the
startled land. Sumter had fallen. The
president had called, first for $4,000
men to defend the capital, then for
100000 volunteers to prosecute the war.
For a moment there came no answer
to Benton's tentative. Already he re-
pented him of his words, yet there was
something he longed to know. Fol
upwards of three years there had been
no secret between him and his CHI osen
friend. Paul Ladue, who hitherto had
held 10 communication with his native
state, Sas writing letters thither and
feyerishly, furtively, perhaps, await.
ing reply. What did it portend?
On every hand men were quitting
the desk, the plough or the tools of
their trade, and fiocking to the recruit
ing Offices. Benton's name had been
sent to the governor for commission
in one of the new regiments. Mass
meetings were being held almost every
night, and energetic citizens were pass
ing subscription papers from desk to
desk that fund might be raised for the
benefit of the families of the rapidly