Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-05-18

implor.ng 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
n 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 q
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
well nigh %unbearable after the almost
tragic events of that night in June,
and SO boldly wrote a long, urgent, ap-
pealing letter to a general oflcer-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, ungainly son of the west
was still able to see the whimsical side
of things, untineed by the infinite and
suffering of the days to come.
Wants to be a soldier and to sink
the law, does he?" said the president,
stretching his long, lean legs under
meath the table and running his huge
hand through the crop of bristling hair
that crowned his forehead like q
hedgerow, land the squire won't let
him enlist met Benton ono at
| Rice's caravanserai there in Chicago
and the boys won't have anybody that
doesn't start even with them? Well,
general, l see only one way out of this
fiX-that is to make him a second lieu
tenant of regulars, unless" he contin-
ued, with a twitch about the corners
of his broad mouth, unless I appoint
him a brigadier general. According to
some of the papers l may have done
worse. Which shall it be-"
"The second %lieutenancy will appeal
to him, | think, SIR" said the general,
"and then l 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 obi
cation to his father"
so be it," said the president. And
so it happened that two days later
there came to Fred a wire from Wash
ington bidding him join his general
there forthwith, and within another
4S hours he was gone. For a 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 looked in his eastern-made uniform
a 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 CARL
Of a soldier. Fearfully and wonder
fully were they made-those uniforms
of our western volunteers, and mucl
did they of the great army abou
Washington marvel and make merr.
at the sight of the officers of the few
regiments from Badger and Hoosier
dom chosen to represent their states OF
the sacred soil' of eastern Virginia.
And about the first thing Fred Ben
ton had done on his return was tt
snub, if not actually insult, his father:
junior partner, between whom and tina
father relations were already severed!
strained.
Never yet had George McKinnor
been able to satisfactorily explain how
that letter addressed to Paul Ladu'
had come into his possession. lmpor
tant as it doubtless was held to be, al
evidence Of Ladue's active sympath.
with the rebellion, there were not
few responsible citizens wno declared
the postmaster gravely culpable TO-
surrendering it to any but the Lawful
owner. Whereat the postmaster OF
hearing of the cry against him cam
out with a card in the "Watchman,
insisting that the letter had beel
placed by the distributing clerk il tn
Ladue box, which was at least six fee
from the general delivery window, ant
that neither he nor any one of thu
employees had subsequently touched it.
Naturally matters looked squally TO
McKinnon. He had been popular, bu
the better class Of people felt tina
Paul Ladue had been harshly, ever
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 Their
had been ample time for Fred Bentol
to spread abroad Ladue's declaration
that nothing would persuade him Il
cast his lot with the south.
Such was the state of feeling tina
Gale, the would-be heroic leader of pub
lie sentiment, awoke to the fact that
might be wise for him to cross tn
lake and visit kith and kin among tn
Wolverines, for city officials had com
and asked ugly questions, and Their
was talk of arrest and indictment TO
melting riot.
McKinnon called at the Bentons an
asked to see Miss Elinor, and Mis-
Elinor asked to be excused. Bentol
senior approved her conduct, for ther
had been words between the partners
unpleasant words. In the end, McKin
non withdrew from the firm and allie