The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1914-07-31
HE SAVED
HIS FACE
By DOROTHY BURNS

While amusing myself over some Old
letters from India, written by my
grandfather about half a century ago,
| came across one TO his mother. IN
which he announced his engagement
and gave an account of how he came
to marry:
you know, my dear mother, that
have always contended that's neither
clergymen nor soldiers should marry.
The first should always be ready to
light the devil under the banner Of the
cross in any land, however ba%rbarouS,
and the second to fight the enemies OF
his country under its flag. And it
seemed to me that If a soldier should
take a wife she should have about her
something Of a soldiers nature. | do
not mean that she should be expected
to march to battle like a man, but that
in. moments Of great danger she should
retain her self possession.
you remember that | came out here
the year before the great mutiny and
was assigned to the til Bengal cav
airy at Meerut, where it broke out.
| saw enough of the terrors a soldiers
wife is liable to among the English
women, who were obliged to fly for
their lives, many of them being butch
cred and some burned in their houses
while their husbands attended to their
military duties, to confirm my opinion
thnt N cn1Iinr Shnlild NOT hn nnnnn,har-
ed with a wife, or at least if he has
n she should be a marvel of courage.
"A few months ago, dear mother, l
was invited to the quarters of Colo.
nel Croker Of the fuSiliers. The colo
mel has been in India twenty years
and has a daughter. Cynthia, born just
after his arrival here, so that, never
having left India, she has never seen
England. At my first meeting with
this young lady felt that she was to
prove a strong temptation to me to
desert my principles. After being con-
stantly at her fathers bungalow for
three months the first part of my reso-
lution-never to marry so long as
was a soldier-was completely broken
down. was passing an intermediate
stage between that resolution and my
second-if l did marry while a SOL
der to mate only with a woman OF
such remarkable nerve under danger
as / had seen among the officers
wives and daughters at the breaking
out of the mutiny at Meerut-when an
aniSnHa honnanad fhot hrnlya do"n oil
my scruples against marriage.
Il was dining one evening with Colo
mel Croker and his family. The colo
mel sat at one end of the table, Mrs.
Croker at the other, while n of the
younger children and Cynthia sat on
n side and the other child beside
me. A servant was pulling on the
punkah; another, an Indian girl. was
serving us at dinner. In these days
one seldom talked about anything ex-
cept the adventures of the mutiny,
and the colonel, who was at the time
it broke out at a cantonment about
two miles from Delhi, was telling how
he tried to induce the mutinous Sc
poys of the regiment to which he vas
attached to remain faithful to their
duty when he was interrupted by Gym
thia quietly telling the waitress to
place a bowl of milk on the floor. The
colonel gave over his narration and
looked at his daughter ~anxiously, her
mother doing the same. l saw at nee
that she was moved by some powerful
emotion. But she neither moved nor
spoke. We all sat waiting while the
maid placed the bowl of milk on the
floor not far from Cynthia's chair and
in a position where l could see it.
What was my surprise and horror to
see a cobra slowly creep from where
Cynthia sat to the bowl.
"The snake had been wound around
her leg and uncoiled to get the milk.
Suddenly Colonel Crocker seized a
carving knife from the table and. dart
ing to the snake, with one blow severed
it in two parts.
and now, dear mother, l have come
to the other important statement con
tanned in this letter. This brave WON.
an has consented to be my wife. ]
can keep, at least, my resolution not
to marry a woman who Is untitled to
be the wife of a soldier. Colonel and
Mrs. Croker have consented, and Gym
thia and l are very happy. To crown
all, the colonel is to be retired in
few months and will use his influence
to have me ordered to England. so that
we shall doubtless all sail for home to
gether. Cynthia and l shall not bt
married till we reach England. and
you, dear mother, will be at u wed
ding"
This is the end of the story as giveI
in my grandfather's letter to my great
grandmother. All turned out satisfac
torily. Colonel Croker was retired as
expected and had influence sufficien
to secure an order for his intended
son-in-law to report at the val Office
In London about the same time as h
himself expected to reach there. s.
they all went home together. and thu
wedding was celebrated at Twicken
ham, where the Crockers took up thei
.1St1nnnn aftor thntr rat,trn