Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-06-17


Dear Jesse:
Word reached us this morning that
a battle has been fought with the
Indians at a place called White
Stone Hill; but as yet we have no
details. OF course everybody is un-
easy, not knowing who may be among
the killed or wounded or missing.
Your mother is very anxious about
you, but she is very quiet and very
brave; she constantly reminds me
of what l have read about the women
of the Revolutionary war. / am so
sorry for her. If anything has hap
pened to you oh, jesse" (here
the page appeared to have been blot
ted as though several drops of wat
er had fallen upon it-as perhaps
there had)-"We shall not rest one
minute till we hear from you, we.
father, mother and all of your
friends. Let us know just as soon as
you can all about the battle. Was
Eowah or Little Crow injured? or
are they among the prisoners? Have
you heard anything of James Cobb?
or Niger Godfrey? and our own
boys-What of them? We shall wait
with great anxiety till we hear from
you. All sorts of rumors are in cir
culation, one is that Tim Fleury and
Stephen Petrie were both killed. /
am writing this in great haste and
much anxiety.
As ever your affectionate friend,
Frances Armstrong.
P. S.-Give my love to Eowah if
she is among the prisoners, and say
to her that l am thinking of her,
and ready to help her or her father
in any way / can. Make them as
comfortable as possible Jesse, but
that ! know you will do. l hope and
thrust Mr.. Grayling is safe.
i Oh! / must tell you, since you
left, several more of the boys have
enlisted and gone south. Emil Ro.
seminal, Harry Holmes, Fred Reum
Ed Parman, Sandy Grant, Ed Bear
Frank Cratsenberg, Martin Soukul
: and Arnold Gilbertson have all been
ordered to report to the army al
Chattanooga. And, OH Jesse, what
} do you think? A drum corps has
been organized here, the Maynard
! boys, Franklin and Gordon Green
Arthur and Rollo Jennings, Harold
Green, Horace Tracy and little Billy
johnson are all members of il, be.
J sides lot of others whose names
did not get. ! hear that they are tc
join one of the Iowa regiments, neal
Nashville. So many of the boys are
leaving, it is going to make it very
dull here, / guess; but we must be
J patient and patriotic and submit to
the call of the country.
Now this author is quite well
aware of the fact that he has utter.
ly failed thus far, in his description
of the persons of Miss Frances Arm
strong and her devoted lover. to
conform to the prevalent custom
among writer's of fiction. He has
used no extravagant expressions, OF
highly colored Characterization
when he has had occasion to refer
to either of them. In this he has
been remiss.
There ought to have been before
now, many delightful manifestations
of devotion most wonderful, such
in fact as had never before been ex-
perienced. Also the personal beauty
of the lovely heroine ought to have
far surpassed that of the most charm
ing among the distinguished heroines
of the world, past or present. The
dictionary should have been ran
sacked for adjectives to suitably ex-
press her marvellous beauty.
i Moreover Lieutenant Jesse would
have appeared with far greater lus-
tire if he could have been invested
with many astonishing traits of her.
ole character, which should, by all
that is wonderful, have lifted him
far above the ordinary life of COM
mon mortals, and rendered him an
lobject of worship among his friends,
and of envy among his enemies, If
he had any. Also, inasmuch as the
course of true love never, never, new
er did run smooth, there ought to
have been several angry breaks on
the Fart of Jesse, and as many tear
full times or periodical poutings, on
the part of his lady love, who, on
more than one occasion should have
imagined that she had good reason
for jealousy, because Jesse had APP
peared to be altogether too intimate
with that little mink Vera Van Val
kenberg.
Just to even things up, Jesse
should have been miffed more than