A FAIR REBEL.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 6052, 31 October 1889, Page 4

A FAIR REBEL.

LITERATURE- !

A TALE OF THE AMERIOAJN CIVIL WAE. I replied that I did not wish to join the Confederate army in any capacity. ‘Why not?' asked Bee. ‘Do you not now forward to us all the troops that pass here P ’ ‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘as engineer of the South Carolina Railroad, but not as a member of the Confederate army.’ ‘Well,’ he replied, ‘you do your work in a very satisfactory manner; but I had hoped that you would accept the appointment, because it would put an immediate stop to the local prejudice that is growing up against you. For your-own sake, you should make it plain that you are favourable to the Confederate cause. The report that you have refused this offer will only tend to make your position here more uncomfortable with our people who

surround you.’ ‘ I am very much obliged,’ I replied, ‘ for the honour tendered me. but must still refuse. I am fully sensible of the inconvenience that my declination may bring to me, but cannot reconsider the proposition. Do you know, by the bye, who was it that recommended me for the position ? ’ : ; , ‘I believe Mr Amos Pierson, of Savannah, who has lately accepted some large contracts, for army supplies for the Confederate Government,’ replied my friend. With this the two officers said goodby, leaving me to reflect that Mr Amos Pierson, through his recommendation to General Beauregard, had succeeded in compelling me to assume a stand that in this exciting time would probably cause my social ostracism by most of my neighbours in Columbia. Evidences of this in the next few days became apparent. My refusal to accept an office upon the staff of General Beauregard was noted by the local papers and commented upon in no flattering terms, and the cold shoulders that had been turned to me for some time past during my business and social intercourse with the citizens of the town became much more cold. Even Laura remarked this with a sigh as she said : ‘ What a pity, Lawrence, that you are not one of us—one who loves the South.’ ‘ As well as I do one of its maidens/ laughed I, but the laugh had a rather forced and unpleasant ring in it. The second event was the departure of young Arthur Peyton with his company to join the forces about Charleston.

The lad went off in high spirits, laughing and happy as if he were going to a picnic or a frolic, but after that a little of the coming gloom of the war descended upon his family. His father sighed more often, and Miss Laura and Miss Belle seemed to be even more southern than before in their sentiments, the latter young lady saying to me one day : ‘ If I don’t soon make a true South Carolinian of you by coaxing and by being your friend in your suit for Laura, I shall begin to try sterner measures, Mr Lawrence Bryant,’ She said this with a very sweet sixteen-year-oid laugh, but I felt, notwithstanding, that there was an unpleasant tone of truth in her remark. So things drifted on and on, always for the worse, until one day Columbia became a ferment of excitement under the news of the bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter by the Confederate forces. From that time on I knew that thers was no hope of any peaceful solution of the difficulty that had begun by the secession of South Carolina four mouths

before, I felt that my duty called me to the North, that my love bound me to the South, and so I lingered despite the warning of Mr Tom Baxter, who arrived the day afterward from Georgia. ‘ Are you going with me, Lawrence ?’ he asked.

‘ Going where ? ’ ‘ North, of eourse, while you have the chance.’

‘ Not at present/ I replied. * Not at present ? ’ he echoed, l lt you don't go now, you will never go. When two armies face each other in Virginia and Tennessee, it will not be so easy a matter to pass through their contending lines as it is to buy a through ticket for Washington and get north in less than two days, as 1 am about to do.

‘ Still/ I replied, ‘ I shall remain here for the present.’ ‘Ah ! I suppose it is the young lady who still detains you ? Marry her, and take her north with you,’ ‘ At such a time she would not leave her lather and her sister. I fear that I will lose her if I leave her, and I love her too well to give her up,’ ‘Well, my boy/ said the sententious Tom, ‘if you stay here two months longer, you will not be able to leave peaceably, and you’ll lose the girl anyway,’ ‘ What makes you think that ? Laura Peyton loves me!’ muttered I, in almost a tremble.

‘ Laura Peyton loves you now ; but wait till the fighting begins, and your sweetheart will very soon grow cold to a man who is not willing to risk his life for the cause she loves. You will not be able to stand against her prayers and entreaties ; and if you do not, you and I, my dear old chum, will perhaps meet in combat upon the battle-field. Take your last and only chance to do your duty. There’ll be no half measures in this conflict. Go north and be a northern man, or remain in the South and you, nolens volens, will have to fight for the Confederacy.’ With this Mr Baxter proceeded on his way, but though out of my view, his remarks lingered in my mind, and had it not been for the beautiful eyes, welcoming arms, and beguiling smiles of the girl I loved, I should soon have followed Mr Baxter north.

Thus, undecided, struggling between love and duty, I remained until the first day of July, 1861, drew near. From that day the Confederate Government'had decreed that all people remaining under its jurisdiction should he considered subjects of the Confederacy

and not be permitted to leave its borders without its permission. Such permission it was considered a military necessity not to grant, save to women, children, and persons not subject to military duty. I was now compelled to take some definite action. After a night spent in alternate wavering between my love for my countrj and my love for Laura Peyton, I decided to return to the North, if possible taking her with me as my wife, —if not, hoping that she would be true to me through the few months which I thought it would probably take to settle the contest now beginning between the North and South.

Actuated by this idea, I rode out through the pretty streets of Columbia to the home of my sweetheart. It was a very calm, beautiful summer evening, but I hardly noticed it, so engrossed was I in the misery and anxiety which my resolution had brought to me. As I rode up the avenue, a horseman rapidly passed me, apparently coming from Judge Peyton’s house. He was dressed in the uniform of a captain of the Hampton Legion, and rode by me so rapidly that I did not think he saw me, for he uttered no word of greeting, and gave me no salutation. He was muttering to himself in some trouble apparently greater than mine. His features were not so distorted by misery, however, that I failed to recognize in the uncertain light the face of Harry Walton. That he did not notice me was not altogether surprising, though we had been great friends a lew months before, and chums at college in ’55, and it was partly owing to bis friendship that I had obtained my railroad position. Still, ever since the bright face of Laura Peyton had come between us, he had grown colder and colder, and his hearty shake of the hand had gradually changed to a bow, the bow to a nod, and the nod had become colder and colder, until we were now almost strangers. This was partly due to our different political sentiments, but more from his suspicion that I had found favour in the sight of the woman he loved, though as Laura’s engagement to me had never been formally announced, he had by no means given up all hope of winning her hand, and his visits to her home in the last few months had been as frequent as my own.

(To he Continued, j