The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-07-24
AN ECHO or THE BATTLE.
Carrie Elizabeth Logan.

emily among the hills and changed the
destinies of North and South. The fol-
lowing night was branded on my men,
DRY forever. Heavy smoke Of battle
hung over the valleys and bullets still
Missed and ploughed into the ranks of
the fallen blue under the trees. l lay
grooming with a bullet in my right leg.
"Comrade," said a man who had lain
so still that l thought him dead, are
o done for?"
mo. 1 don't think it's mortal. It's
my leg"
Can YOU take a message to my lit
tie girl?'
TN DO my best"
II live in Washington. My little
motherless girl is with my sisterinlaw,
who isn't exactly kind to her, and she'll
have a hard tim when I am gone. 1
did mo- trust the Here his
voice began to grow faint and his mind
wandered. It's a low ceiled room, with
heavy w~ainscoating. Back of the-side-
observation-disclosures. Press rose and
leaf
waited. What is your name. coln-
Tade? Al that me it seemed that
the forest fell on my shoulder and I
knew no more.
A couple of years after the close of
the war my wounds helped me to Sc
cure a position in the treasury depart
ment in Washington. l boarded with
Mrs. Blake, n promptly fell in love
With her pretty daughter Maude. The
daintiness OF the young girl attracted
me. She looked like a Dresden shep-
herdness with her faint coloring and in
nocent blue eyes. Her simplicity in
dress satisfied the demands of my SOU.
The only disagreeable factor in the
Blake house was the presence of Lor-
eta Blake. maid of all work, niece
OF Mrs. Blake. She was a girl of 16.
slovenly and sulky, who Went around
with - o1n0roN fooo nrI o,o, t1,,@
showed much weeping. Patient Maude
sighed when she came near and shook
her head sympathizingly in her moth
er's direction.
Yes. MI. Dunlop, poor has
had so much trouble with Loretta's
sullen disposition, but she is an orphan
and would be homeless If we turned
her out
She might at least be grateful" I
said, and turned my disappearing eyes
on the slatternly girl.
Spring i'll Washington is very delight
ful. l noticed the young caves popping
forth and FOCUSES rearing their golden
heads as took a stroll through Lafay-
cite square to have a quiet smoke and
dream of Maude.
A young girl on a bench in an obscure
corner attracted my attention. She was
evidently in great distress. AS | APP
preached l recognized the lachrymose
Loretta.
Miss Blake" I said. gently, ''can l do
anything for you?" Her dress was ILL
fitting and badly soiled. Her feet We're
slipped in ragged shoes and the hands
covering her face We're scratched and
coarsened by toll. though not ILL
shaped.
She stopped crying in surprise, and
raised a pair of pathetic brown eyes to
my Interested face.
why do you cry?" I asked, as 1 sat
down M the bench beside her.
Because l am unhappy. Because my
father Is dead. Because I have no one
to love me-"
Your aunt is good to you. Where
would you be IL 1t were not for her?"
Every one says that said the girl,
impatiently.
II am sullen. ungrateful. lazy. Yet 1
work like a dog. and am treated worse"
had considered Mrs. Blake a charit-
able woman. but l would look into this
case a little. Loretta, do you go to
SCHOOL,"
NO. Aun say that drudgery. not
books, is for the dull and stupid"
This was bad. Mrs. Blake should
certainly send her to school. ''Why do
you not mend your clothes, and take
care not to soil them?"
Il did not tear this dress nor grease
1T. 1t belonged to the washerwoman."
This evidence vas stunning me.
could you not wear Maude's clothes?"
iS w " AItiC " IlS. IN
them TO the church for the Christmas
box
Surely. your cousin, Maude, is good
to your
She looked at me with wise, sad eyes.
You like Maude, and I shall not tell
you" Then she caught my coat in her
hands. Don't tell them" she pleaded.
Aunt will beat me. and I am too big
G home. little girl. and come some
other evening to talk to me here. I can
keep a. secret"
On second thought I should not pro-
pose to Maud until I was satisfied Of
her attitude to this child with haunt
Ing dark eyes.
Poor Loretta! Nagged by her aunt
and sneered at by her cousin, she had
battle of Gettysburg deprived her Of
her father. Every device that would
degrade a sensitive girl had been prac-
tised by Mrs. Blake and her daughter
while posing as martyrs to charity.
Finally I decided to take Loretta to
ishe dressed In her poor best n met
ire IN Lafayette square at our usual
trysting place. l had grown to love
this lonely girl, and only her nde
age kept me from disclosing the state
of my feelings.
AS soon as I entered the Blake
homestead felt a strange sense OF
familiarity. "A low ceiled room. side
board. Panel. Money" echoed in my
brain, accompanied by the roar of cam
ron and the groans of the dying.
You shall never go back. Never,
daughter" said the doctor, when Lor-
eta told her story.
In the course of the evening I Of
fered to tell them a story Of Gettys-
burg. Loretta fixed her bright eyes
hungrily on mine AS I told them of
the interrupted message 1 seemed to
speak with a tongue OF fire that
aroused both the ans and the spirit
of my audience. j
Mr.. Dunlop. 1t was my brother"
said the doctor. but Loretta wept.
We moved the %sideboard. We pressed
he rose and leaf in the papered wall
Just above the w~ainscoting. The spring
moved. disclosing a recess, and a pack
age was before us,
Loretta's father made her %independ-
ent. and provided means for an excel
lent education. My dark eyed wife.
with her deep, passionate. loving soul,
is more to me than any dainty. orna-
mental piece OF femininity.
-
All in the Point of View.
From London Tit-Bits.
The rigid observation OF English
rules in South Carolina courts, and a
NEGLECT of the same on the mart ~ nv