The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1907-10-17
The Power
OF a Smile.
lOriginal.1

in my grasp. | was a southern girl on
my fathers plantation in Tennessee.
One morning Federal general and
his staff rode up to our house and ask
ed for breakfast / was so bitter
against them that l would have given
them nothing. but mother had better
sense. She gave them all they asked.
They didn't leave us for a week
Where the generals troops were we
didn't know, and since be wouldn't
permit any of us 10 leave the planta-
ton we naturally inferred that he
wished to keep the Federal move
ments secret. One young fellow, an
aid-de-camp, seeing me scowling all
the while at him and his fellows, kept
constantly joking me, trying to make
me laugh He had the sweetest smile
I'm the world, and. although the more
he persisted, the more / scowled, still
from the first 1 was madly in love with
him. / had never seen much of city
people, and his refinement, his manly
beauty and his military dress readily
overcame my country girls heart.
1.-THE general estab lished an Office in
the next room to mine,' with nothing
between but board partition One
day l heard him debating dispatch
which knew to be Of great impor
lance. 1t occurred to me to take the
information to our southern command
er of the district, but I couldn't re-
member enough Of it to make the jour
ney worth the while. That afternoon
saw the aid coming out of the gen.
erals office, putting an envelope in
his pocket, call for his horse and ride
away. l mounted my Madge ara
rode after him.
In time | caught up with him an
called TO him. He turned and, seeing
me, gave me one Of those smiles FIAT
had won my heart. But was ele,er
mined nothing should interfere witt
my purpose. which was to get his dis
patch from him and deliver it to OH.
Z general. He asked me what / Wished.
and said / had something to tell him
He rode up beside me. had formed
no plan and didn't know what to say.
or do. Seeing water trickling across
the road. | told him I was thirsty. We
left the road for little distance to go
to a spring, where we both dismount-
ed. He plucked large leaf and, fold
ing it into cup, stopped to get me
some water. Quick as fash snatch
ed his revolver from its holster at his
hip. He turned to see me standing
with it pointed at him.
He thought it bit Of pleasantly and
laughed at me; but, assuming all the
gGeadiness of which / was capable, /
demanded his dispatch. He only
laughed the more. If he had made
move for resistance or talked harshly
to me l might have had the heart to
kill him. for realized the Importance
Z to my people or securing the paper
But he stood there looking at me with
that amused imperturbable smile, and
it was the worst thing for my object
he could have done. Then l braced
myself for a desperate move and fired
a bullet within few inches of his ear.
"'Try again. he laughed. Aim for
the center of my forehead
81 put another ball so near the other
ear that I was frightened for fear l
had hit him.
''That's better he said, still unruf-
FED. The next shot will do the job
Then we both heard the tread of
borses' hoofS up the road. We stood
still. listening, and soon knew that
horSenen were coming our way. My
enemy for the first time looked seri
GUS
eff they're Confederates you've got
me- ne said, for once without smile.
"My heart was beating wildly. Sup
pose they were Confederates. They
would secure my getting the dispatch,
but they would capture the messenger
If they were Confederate citizens or
guerrillas perhaps they would shoot
him. Notwithstanding the Importance
of the information to be secured
felt that / could not turn him over,
with the frightful risk that course in
volved 1t was only one life among
the many to be sacrificed in the strug-
gle, but l couldn't sacrifice it, even
for southern independence. But I re-
solved that if the coming horsemen
proved to be Confederate soldiers l
would call to them. If they were Fed
erals my stunt, as you call it, was
failure.
"My enemy and / were so far hid
den by trees that we were not likely
to be noticed, but we could see the
road through openings. We stood
waiting silently for the result. Near
er came the horsemen, and we could
hear clankinO of SaharS that told us
they We're cavalry. Only one alterna-
tive remained. They were either Fed
eral or Confederate. Then suddenly
the stars ard bars emerged into view
I had won
'I turned to my enemy. He smiled
at me- Not bit of reprOach, simply
a smile l turned to the Confederates
and tried to call. | couldn't. Don't
ask me whether my voice failed me or
Ay heart failed me or anything else
failed me. I simply couldn't.