Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-03-05


easy for reserve, too graceful for in
difference, which always and effectu.
ally restrained the obtrusive. He could
smile with his followers, but he rarely
laughed with them. When he ad.
dressed them, he did so with great re.
spect, which always tutQred them
when they spoke with him. He al
ways rose for this purpose, IL previous
ly he had been sitting. His was thai
due consideration of the man, as
man, that never permitted the same
person, as an animal, to suppose tina,
his embraces would be proper to his
intercourse. Yet nobody ever thought
Of accusing Singleton Of pride. His
gentleness of manner, ease and grace
| and frankness of speech, were pro-
verbal among his men. Truly, ne
was the man to be leader Of south
ern woodsmen. Even now, while his
heart was sorely bleeding with frater-
nal sorrows-fearing all, yet ignorant
still Of the extent Of his loss-he smil.
ed pleasantly with his followers, and
spoke in that language of considera-
ton which seemed to show that ne
thought of them rather than himself
IThey did not know that the reason
Iwhy he fingered so long among them
1 was chiefly that he might escape from
| himself and his own melancholy
II
| thoughts. :,
Having gone the rounds, seen to all
! things, and properly prepared his men
\ for the march by sunset, Singleton
| threw himself down in the shadow OF
a dwarf oak, beneath which he had q
couch OF moss on which he had SLEPT
the night before. While he lay here
musing equally over his duties and al
fections, Lance Frampton placed him.
II fAt1x hn nj
| tree. 1t was some time before the lad
| attracted his attention. When al
length he noticed his appearance, II
/ seemed to him that the boys face was
| full of grave interest.
1 whats the matter, Lancer" he In
quired kindly.
/ "I thought, sir-I was afraid that
! you were sick" answered the boy.
"Sick I? sick! Why, what should
make you suppose that am sick?'
"Why, sir, you talked and groaned
so, In your sleep, this morning;
| mo, surely! Is 1t possible?"
"Oh. YES. sir; 1 woke before day
light and heard you, and 1t frightened
| me, sir"
frightened you, boy! That is an
ugly confession for a soldier to make,
| You must not suffer yourself to be
| frightened by anything. A soldier is
| not to be frightened, even when sur
prised. But what did I say to fright
en- your"
"Why, sir, you were quarreling with
somebody in your sleep, and you swore
too"
"swore! Did I? A trooper habit,
Lance, and a very bad one" said the
other gravely. Surely, Lance, did
not swear. You must be mistaken. !
never swear. have an oath in heav-
en- against the habit"
/ This was said with grave smile.
| "Yes, sir; but you did 1t In your
sleep"
"Well, I suppose I am not quite re-
sponsible for what Is done In my sleep;
( but the fact argues for the possibility
Of my doing the thing when awake.
Put you are sure, Lance, you were not
asleep yourself. and dreamt the whole
matter?"
"Oh! quite sure, sir, for got up
and looked at you. 1t was just before
morning, and the moon was shining
right upon your face. / went round
and broke the end Of the branch-you
see where it hangs, sir-so as to make
IT fall betwixt your eyes and the
moonlight, and after that your face
was quite shaded. But you swore
again and gnashed your teeth togeth-
| er, and threw out your hands, as II
you were fighting somebody in your
sleep"
"a decided case of nightmare: and
you would have done me a good ser
vice, Lance, had you taken me by the
shoulders and jerked me out Of my
dream. But thank you for what you
did. You are a good youth, and prop
erly considerate;-ands so you broke
that twig to protect my eyes from the
glare?"
Eyes, sir: but I reckon 1t was not
the moonshine that troubled you, but
something in your thoughts, for you
swore afterwards worse than ever"
"It Is strange" said Singleton grave
| ly. "It shows the thoughts to be more
wicked when sleeping than waking.
And the speaker mused silently after
hearing this account. He looked to
the broken bush, and the gentle de-
votion Of his youthful protege touched
his heart. Resuming, he said gently
"I am very sorry, Lance, that
swore in your hearing. L certainly 40
not swear Willingly. l try not to fall
into the foolish habit, which beg
that you will not learn from me, for
get what you heard. and In duty to
yourself, never initiate the lesson. To
make you remember this counsel, ]
give you little token. Take this dirk
and recall my advice whenever II
meets your eye. Fasten 1t there, with
the sheath, close by the left side
Let the point come out little In 'front.'
| while the handle rests under the arm
Take care Of It. 1t may be useful 70
you in various ways. 1t has saved my
life once; 1t may. save yours; but use
II only when 1t Is necessary to such 9
| vo,, rnav lpaVa me- now. and
for the morning, amuse yourself as
YOU please within the camp"
The boy, made happy by the kind
ness Of his superior, would gladly have
| fingered beside him, but he quickly
saw that Singleton desired to be alone
He disappeared accordingly from
sight, finding no difficulty, among the
various humors Of a camp, In Willing
away the hours assigned to him TOT
| leisure.
These humors of the camp But II
Is time that we see what preparations
for his feast have been made by our
corpulent lieutenant of dragons. Oh
course he was busy all the morning
Porgy had a taste. In the affairs OF
the cuisine. Porgy claimed to have a
genius. Now, 1t will not do to miscon-
ceive Lieutenant Porgy. If we have
said or shown anything calculated 10
lessen his dignity in the eyes of any
Of our readers, remorse must follow
Porgy might play the buffoon. II he
pleased; but in the meantime, let II
be understood. that he was born to
wealth, and had received the educa-
ton Of a gentleman. He had wasted
his substance, perhaps brit this matter
does not concern us now. 1t Is only
important that he should not be sup
posed to waste himself. He had been
planter-was, in some measure,
planter still, with broken fortunes, up
on the Ashepoo. HE had had losses,
but he bore them like philosopher
He was sort of laughing philoso-
pher, who, as If In anticipation of the
| free speech of others, dealt with him
self as little mercifully as his nearest
friends might have done. He had es-
tablished for himself sort Of reputa-
tion as a humorist, and was one OF
that class which we may call conven-
tional. His humor belonged to sophis-
| tication. 1t was the fruit of an arti-
fetal nature. He jested with his own
tastes, his own bulk of body, his own
| poverty, and thus baffled the more Sc
rious Of the ill-tempered by anticipat-
ing them. We may mention here, that
while making the greatest fuss. al
ways about his feeding, he was one OF
the most temDerate eaters In the