The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-06-27
CAUGHT HIM BEFORE Hn FELL.

CAUGHT HIM BEFORE HR FELL.
glance at the last struggling files Of
his comrades, arose and took up his
musket to follow them.
But there was something that trou-
bled him far more than his trembling
limbs. He wore little of that which is
the pride of a ier-uniform-and
what there was of it was torn and
soiled. A young girl was looking at
him sympathetically with a pair of
tender brown eyes, and to leave her
he must expose his rear. and from a
truded portion OF his shirt tail.
How could soldier expose such ig-
nominy? But while he stood deplor-
ing the necessity of doing so dark
ness came before his eyes. he tottered,
and the girl caught him before he fell.
1t was several weeks before the
young soldier, Abner Wicks. was well
enough to leave the farmhouse, and
when he was his departure was made
painful from the fact that he must
leave his heart with the little girl who
had nursed him. True, her mother
had done the greater part Of the nurs-
ing. but the daughter had done the
loving. Lucy Barton was of an age
when love comes easily and from
many causes. In this case it arose
from pity. Abner was but year old
er than she, and he loved her because
hop ax,ao xryaro l,rou1v, oud fooat1co che
pitied him. 1t was love that might
be broken as easily as 1t had come or
might endure when both, with locks
white as snow, should totter arm in
arm together.
One morning Abner took up his
musket to go and rejoin his regiment.
His moving away was not so embar-
RAISING as It would have been a few
weeks before, for Lucy's mother had
patched the seat Of his trousers. New
ertheless there was nothing in his APP
pearance to inspire such admiration as
Is often given a soldierly man In be-
coming uniform.
Abner had waved his hat-not his
handkerchief. for be had no handker-
chief-from a crest a short distance
from the farmhouse and had passed
out of sight when a vision of another
kind appeared in the direction oppo-
site from that In which he was going.
A British general and his stan. all on
horseback. came caracoling toward
the farmhouse Their coats were
scarlet, covered with gold lace, and
the sun glittered on their brass but
tons and their side arms. Here surely
was something admirable for the eye
to rest upon. There was not a rip in
any mans uniform, not q rusty spot
on any saber, not furnished bit of
lace.
They trotted on up to Farmer Bar
toms house, and the general, call
ing Mrs. Barton-the farmer was at
Valley Forge-asked If there was a
creek or spring near by. She told
him there was brook farther on, but
If he wished water only for the party
he had with him she had a-plenty in
her well. to which he was welcome.
During the brief chat Lucy, who
stood by her mother and was looking
with admiring eyes at the group of
equestrians whose chargers were i'm
patiently paving the ground, could
not help contrasting their appearance
with that Of those ragged Continentals
who had passed the house few weeks
before. There was In the party a
blue eyed. faxen haired young Brit
Usher with real English roses In his
cheeks, who sat on bis horse admiring
her simple country beauty. and she
thought how different he was from the
boy who but a few minutes before
she had watched retreating down the
road. the two prominent objects in
his dress being the patches-one
square, the other round-in his seat
and especially noticeable from their
color being different from that of his
trousers and from each other.
1t is a blow to our ideas of human
constancy to contemplate the change
that Immediately came over Lucy
Barton's heart, for she Immediately
withdrew 1t from Abner and gave It