Year: 1875

merry Oiu place In former times but
however pleasant tradition may hand
down those by-gone times. know that
for long time there was ever a skeleton
at its domestic fireside.


Martin Timberlake, who for years
dispensed hospitality with lavish hand,
was a gentleman of the olden school, q
man full of honor, and with that nice
sense o: propriety that makes liberal
culture and generous mind.


No man in the land more sincerely
deprecated the civil strife which de-
vastated one portion of the country and
paralyzed the other, than Martin
Timberlake. So deeply did the dis
asters of his country affect his mind,
that he sickened and died in the first
year of the war.


He had two sons. Horace, by his
first wife, was a man of forty years,
with dark complexion, and silent and
thoughtful mien. Morris, the son of
his second partner, was q hght-haired,
blue-eyed man of thirty, with so Joy
ous temperament that he never knew
sad hour. Horace would have chosen
medicine as his vocation, and Morris
Woulu hhNC CSpOuSCu tuC odI Dut MI
Timberlake, who was possessed Of large
means, never would permit his boys to
leave his roof to engage in any business
so long as he lived.


There was no lack of servants in those
days, and as every guest was usually
provided with one, the old mansion
generally resembled an huge inn. 1t
may have been that Martin Timberlake,
amid all the confusion incident upon a
house full of gnests, found relief from
the thoughts which preyed upon his
spirit. Some men in his condition
would have drowned the past in deep
beakers, but he never joined the nightly
revels of his friends, though he fur
nished them an unlimited quantity of
good wine. and bade them be happy IN
their own way.


The kind of spirits that he enter
tained scarcely waited for the invita-
tion, for they came oil race of deep
drinkers and hard riders and in later
days they marched to meet death with
an unblanched face and obstinate
courage worthy of a better cause.


The disposition of Horace Timber





gatherings in his fathers hall. His in
clinations rather led him to shnn than
court the humor of the men assembled
there. But Morris could sit it out with
the stoutest, and his laugh never failed.
nor his spirits tagged, so long as the
wine was flowing. He, therefore, was
the most popular of the two brothers.
Horace loved lady who resided in a
Southern city, while Morris was be-
trothed to one whose home was where
the roses had but brief life. and cold
winds early stripped the leaves from
the creaking trees. is it a wonder,
then, that these brothers took opposite
paths in later daysP


Mr.. Timberlake was among those
who had early discovered the little war
cloud, at first scarcely larger than a
mans hand, and his heart failed him
when he contemplated things that were
to be. When hot and angry discussion
was running rife. his health began to
fail so rapidly that it was a marvel to
observe the change in his appearance.
Then followed the crash which for
time hurried matters into a chaos. The
lurid flame ran reddening through the
land, and Martin Timberlake counsel
ing his boys not to be carried away by
the public clamor, sat down to await
the issue.


Martin Timberlake never lived to see
the end. He died implOring his sons
to have nothing to do with this fratri-
cidal strife. Did they obey him ? l
trow no., for matters waxed So hot in
their locality that men had to show
their hands without any discrimination.


The brothers were sitting together
one day, when Horace opened the con-
versatiOn.


"Morris," he said, eve shall not be
able to remain neutral much longer.
Our poor fathers dying request has
been obeyed by us both as long as We
could save ourselves from the whirl-
pool. We shall be drawn into it ere
long. What think you speak, brother :?
You know my sentiments In regard to
the fatal step our countrymen have
taken, and yet it may have been i'm
possible to avoid it."


"Say not so, Horace, l never can be-
lieve it every evil that is now upon us
springing from the hasty action of
demagogues might have been avoided.
Bad counsel from first to last has been
at the root of all this. For my part L
whatever.


A smile inst discernible appeared
about the corners of the elder brother 8
mouth.


"Alice Waring lives in the North,
Morris" he said.


The blood mounted to the face of the
younger, as he replied


"And Mollie Hunter is a born
Southern woman"


Horace nodded his head as he spoke :


There's the trouble, Morris. She
writes met that she would rather see
me in the camp than idlIng my days at
Bearstrack. She is very vehement on
the subject. may be driven to it at
last. Who knows"


"Hush, Horace" interposed his
brother. 1--WE have loved each other
to this very hour; do not, / beseech
Won. raise q barrier of blood between
us. Listen to what Alice Waring says,
and he drew q letter from his pocket
and read


"Even If you should join the rebel
ranks, ] would love you, but it would
break my heart to know that one l
priced so dearly had allied himself to a
cause that cannot have the blessing OF
heaven, and must inevitably receive the
detestation of every true-hearted lover
of freedom"


"That sounds well, Morris but il
was written by one out of the sound oi
hostile cannon. The case is different
here all our women are for war. san
culinary and vigorous. and l fesr the
man who refuses to take his musket
stands small chance of favor in the eyes
of the women of the South. | can per
ceive plainly that shall have to choose
between suit of gray and something
worse"


Gas much as I love Alice Waring,
replied Morris, 81 wo uld give her NJ