Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1905-01-27


command an audience when in SO he
city, but later, when they met at the
fremont in Chicago, was the rival of
the little giant, Douglas, in joint de-
bate Now, just as Douglas had held
the hat of the victorious Lincoln dur
ing his inaugural address, so would
Squire Benton go to any length to back
this inspired, and, as Benton is now
beginning to believe, God-given leader.
More troops must be had without de-
lay is the burden Of what the senator
says. Will Benton go west at once
and use his utmost influence? Benton
will. He has only come, he says, to
assure himself that Fred is safe-to see
Elinor, now scorning the sea breezes
of Cape May and insisting on her right
to be useful as nurse among, the hos
pitfalls. Then the squire will start
within the day. Meantime, says the
senator, we must see the president,
and then there is & further muttered
conversation that Fred cannot hear,
nor does he care to. His one thought,
after seeing that Jack Chiffon lacks
nOthing-after one little word, per-
maps, with Jacks no longer imperious
sisters to rejoin the division as it
comes through with the now reorgan-
iZing corps. But, meanwhile, it is the
senator's wish they should both go
with him to the white house, and
there, amidst the throng of impor-
Inmates in the ante-room. Fred is
startled to see the colonel. of regi-
ment in the First brigade holding low
nified man in black swallow-tailed coat,
high stock and silken waistcoat, to
whom their western statesman bows
with Difference and then whispers to
them his name. Then the colonel
turns and Benton is more startled to
see how sad, sOrrow-stricken and bag
gard he looks. The matter is soon ex-
| planned, though the colonel speaks with
| choking voice. His son, lieutenant
in the Fifth New York-Duryea's zou-
aves-had been down with Chickahom-
| my fever at Newport News, so i'll that
| the mother had fastened thither,
nursed him through and then stayed
and cared for dozens of poor boys
| whose mothers could not possibly
reach them, and so, Slapped her own
strength and finally succumbed, and
noW-her cofined body lies here at
the wharf. Their sympathetic general
| had given the bereaVed soldier permits
sion TO turn over the command of the
regiment temporarily and to seek at
Stanton's hands a four-days' leave
| just time enough to take the beloved
and honored dust back to the home
| where weeping younger children await
1 I4- Ia
though the wife of his youth, his man
hood, his maturer years, the love %
his heart and life is laid away, he will
return instantly to his duty, his COM
mand. Impossible will it be for them
to catch Lee within that time. No
battle can occur that will involve the
| old division, but Stanton sternly says
i no; bids him ship the remains that
night If need be, but rejoin his regi-
ment before the morning.
''The brigade is marching through
this moment" says the colonel, with
quivering lips, "but the senator
brought me hereto the president I
have telegraphed to brother to come
if must CO." and the haggard eyes
look in dumb appeal into the equally
|
that ever-patient ear to both, as again
the sad, pathetic tale is told. Oh, the
pity and sorrow and sympathy in the
deep-set, somber eyes, the anguish in
the rugged features as he hears the
words, stanton says no, because the
brigade is marching through this mo-
ment.''
For an instant the strong hands are
clenched and uplifted almost as though
in appeal to Heaven. but though the
deep voice breaks and trembles, though
the pallid lips twitch with pain, the
answer comes inf1exibly:
"And no it must BET Not a man, not
a musket, can we spare. 1t may be
the very crisis of the war, and should
be false to my trust if 1 did not hold
myself and every soldier to the duty
OF the hour. Let the dead bury their
dead. I cannot rob regiment of its
leader at such a time
And the two men, the sorely griev-
ing colonel, the sorely-tried command
er-in-chief, look one instant into each
others swimming eyes. There is a
soldier salute-but utter silence, and
the colonel turns away.
you don't need me here" gulps
Fred a moment later. 81 am going tC
see if I can help the colonel. There's
no one with him. I'll come to you
father, later-at Wizards"
And so it happens that, riding al
the earliest dawn to catch the division
; Benton passes carriage at the out
skirts of Georgetown, preceded by {