Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, December 13, 1900, Page 9

DAILY BEE Seesssststtttssss@eccctrccssscssscscssscese PATRIOTS By C. B, - (Copyright, 150, by 8. 8. McClure Co.) It wasn't § o'clock yet by the quaint old timepiece In the farmhouse kitchen, but darkness was falling upon the land. All day long there had been & roaring blaze i the freplace, but frost had gathered on the window panes, and when the cattle in the barnyard moved about the snow ercaked sharply under their fest. A woman who had been using the spinning wheel al- most without a halt since noonday, now set it aside, and as the whirr ceased and the last of a great ball of yarn was belng wound up a man sitting in the chimney eorner with a bible on his knees looked up quoted from the page They shall be smitten hip and thigh yea, verily, they shall be smitten without merey.' Yes, Ablgall, it's time to milk the cows and feed the stock. It'll be a cold job and I wish I was able to do It myself.” “But I'll wrap up well, Zachariah, and Bave It over In half an hour. How's your koot “Plaguey bad yit. I'm afrald T won't &It out for a couple of weeks. When rheu- matiz gits holt of me It hangs on. Don't forgit to throw an armful of fresh straw into the hogpen, und make sure that the henhouse door I tight shet. It's goin' to be a stingin' cold night and may the Lord Bev morcy on them poor soldlers at Valley Forge!" ve bin sort o' prayin' for ‘em all day, 1d the wite as she put on her hood and looked about for her mit ‘It our Zadok got that last bundle of things he'll be all right, but such weather is awful on all of ‘em.” Taking up the milk pail she passed out into the wintry gloom and cutting blasts and was soon busy at the barn. The farm- house was within twenty miles of the win- ter quarters of the patriot army. It had contributed cattle and sheep and wheat and corn and hay to Washington's quarter- master, and Dame Scott had spun her yarn and knit it into socks and mittens and comforters to benefit a score of men. And one of the first men In the nelghborhood to volunteer was Zadok, then hardly 18 years old. The tall and stromg-voiced Zachariah, with his white hair, rarely was such & thing as a beard in those days, the weight of 73 years upon his should would have gone with the riflemen, but they declared his years too many. He had done a patriot's full duty, however, and on the mantel shelf, where all who came 1n must see 1t, was a letter in wiich Wash- ington had expressed his thanks. Two weeks before our story opens old Zachariah bad njured his kneo and rheumatism had in and left him able only t hobile about. The “chores” at the barn had been fin- ished, and the good wife had picked up her pafi of milk and started for the house, when she heard the hoofbeats of horses and the jaugle of arms on the highway. Patriot patrols often passed the house, and twice that winter she had looked eut upon a small detachment of redcoats. As they made no stop she reasoned that they must have been scouting instead of ralding. Now, however, as the woman bent her head to peer through the darkness and listen the troopers came to a halt. As she hurried to the hcuse she saw them riding in at the gate. It was a party of ten redcoats. “What is it, Abigali?” asked Zacharlah in anxlous tones, as she came rushing into the kitchen. “The British! door!" “Hand me down the muskot. They will kill me and.driyq youeut and rob and huxn the houso, but Jehovah reigns and at least one of them shall dle!" The door was flung open and the troopers crowded tn. They found a grayhalved old man making use of his chair to help him stand erect, while he held his old fiintlock at a ‘“ready” and his eyes flashed damger and deflance. Besids hin, unarmed, but full of courage and dignity, stood his gray- baired helpmeet. “We come in peace,” sald the British ceptaln as he threw up his hand. “‘We #sk but to thaw our frozen bodles by your generous fire, and whatever man or beast may eat will be paid for in gold." Zachariah and Ablgail were patriots to the core, and as such the idea of succoring the enemy to the extent of a glass of cider had 4 smack of treason about They realized and pted the situation, how- ever. It were wiser to feed and warm the British than to have the farm devastated The old musket was put away and the man sat himselt down in his chair and encour- aged by a nod from him Abigail hustlel about to prepare supper. Some of (hs troopers took the horses to the barn and cared for them and not a word was spoken to give offense to patriotism. On the con- trary, officers and men were very civil, and though the mistrustful old man refused to meet them half way, he mentally gave them more credit than ever before. Threo miles away was the house of Colonel Talbot. He had come home & day or two before, bring- ing Major Hope and Captain Davis with him, and their orders were to beat up the country for miles around and forward further contributions. The soldiers at Val- ley Forge were on half-rations, clothed in rags and seven-elghths of them frost-bitten, There were compantes which could not have turnad out five men If the drums had beaten the long roll; there were nome which could have made a five-mile march if the fate of liberty depended on it. In some way the British had got word of the presence of the three officers and they had planned a sudden dash to capture them. They were ahead of their time when they reached the Bcott farmhouse and the ldea was to lay up for an hour. When they had been warmed and fed they went their way and a gold- lece was left on the table to pay for their enmtertalument. As the sounds of the horses’ hoofs died away Zachariah reached down his bible and opened 1t and read: “They shall be smitten hip and thigh— yea, verlly they shall be smitten without " Then, looking up at his wife, he They are right at the ake, but for other reasons. they stayed their hand?" The wife had begun clearing away the dishes. She stopped to look at Zacharlah, and of a sudden her face grew white and she graped the table to hold herself up. “They—they aro here to capture Colonel Talbot!" she gasped. “God! God! 1t is so! It Is so!" replied Zachariah as he rose to his feet and fell back with a moan. For a long minute the two looked at each other in a dazed and helpless way. It was all plain to them, but they could not lift @ hand to prevent. The capture of the ¢M- would be another blow at the ragged, starving and discouraged little army shiv- ering and muttering—aye, and weeplng— amidst the snowdrifts of the valley. “God help us! God help us!" groaned the man as he covered his face with his wrin- kled bhands. “It 1s In God's hands,” whispered the woman as she hid her face in her apron and sobbed. They did not hear the frost-bound snow ereaking upder the footsteps of men at the door. They did not note the shuMing and hesitation before the door was softly pushed open. It was only when the draft of cold alr uck them that they looked up. Inte the great kitchen with its roaring fire of hickory walked four young men—four rag- ged and shivering and gauut-faced young men with muskets io their hands. The door was pushed to behind them and the four 8 1 wonder why OF OLD. LEWIS, e ettt ttttttttrrttcs@Prerrrstecetsssstsrsesssssld looked Into the faces of the man and worian The old clock ticked fifty times before the woman, making never a motion with hand or foot, but with her eyes fast glued to the face of one of the four, whispered Zadok. It Is our Zadok “Yes, mother," rep! 1 “Zadok! It Is our Zadol father. ‘Yes father, and here are Tom Patchen, Willlain Haynes and George Switt, We are freezing and starving. Look at our shoes—our rags!" ““We are freezing and starving!” repea‘ed the men behind him, The mother did not spring to her feet to clasy in her arms the boy she had not seen for months. The father did not hold out & hand of welcome. The four inon looked down at the floor, and for the next minute the suap of the fire sound of musketry, and the tick-tack of the clock was as a bell tolling out its death notes. By and by the mother dropped her head to the table and a shiver passed over ber, and {n a low, stern voice the father asked “Wha do you here from the Valley was no answer. With their eyes on the floor the men moved their feot un- eastly “I know!" shouted Zachariah in a volce Wwhich thrilled and startled. “Aye! 1 see it in your facees! Ye are deserters from Washington! Ye are traitors to the cause of liberty! Because of {he cold una hunger and the rags yo have skulked away and come whining back to your homes! God! And ve Zadok—ye have done this—and ye,Tom and William and George, sons of my nelghbors!" “But father—" began Zadok, when the old man rose up as If the pains In his knee had suddenly departed, and swinging bls arm about he cried out: kulkers from the camp! Deserters from hington! Traitors to the cause! Before God, T would blast ye where yo stand, but that ye may atone for & hundredth part of your disgrace by reddening the snow with your blood! A small troop of red-coats left here an hour ago to capture Col Tal- bot and his brother officers. They are ten to five, but we will fall upon them!" “Zachariah!" whisnered the wife as she crossed over and lald a b “Away, Abiga shouted as he shook off her hand and reached for his musket. “You would speak of tood and drink and warmth before we g0, but it shall not be. Were Zadok Scott a thousand times my only child, he should fast and chlll and be unforgiven | until he has won back his manhood. Come on—come every one of ye!" Mufled in great coat and as erect as in the strength of youth—with his musket on his shoulder and the night blasts fling- ing his gray locks about—the Zachariah who would bave given home, wife and his own life for the cause of liberty, stalked out Into the night and was foliowed by the deserters. “God! God! That Zadok should do this that he should become a deserter groaned the old man as he trampled up the snowy road. We did not mean to desert,” whispered each man to himself. “We were freezing and starving and could hakdly drag about, and wo wanted food and care. We would have gone back to the valley again.” Behind them, in the farmhouse kitchen the woman knelt down beside a chalr and prayed to God. The tible was left un cleared, the wparks snapped across the floor unheeded, the clock stopped Its tick- ing because 9 o'clock had come and gome and it had not been wound. She prayed— and prayed. She prayed for the son-—for the father—for herself. She prayed with was like ad THEY ARB & sobbing in her eves With heads bent to the wind and feet stumbling through the snow the five men pushed their way along for two miles aad a half. Then the sound of firing came to thelr errs and they halted for a moment and each one girded himselt up, as it were. “They are fighting at Talbot's—they have ot been captured yet!" exclalmed Zacha- riah, as he looked round upon his men “Forward now—forward to smite them hip and thigh, and spare not!" The B the house by surprise, but the alarm he been given and a stout resistance was being mede. Two troopers had been killed and the captain was making ready to set fire to the sheds and thus drive the patriots out Into the open. He had no fear of rescue on such a night, and the coming of the band of five created consternation for a mcment ‘Smite them down!" he heard a volce erying through the night. “Smite them from head to heel, and spare not! The redcoats rallied. They were elght throat, but with dry to five, but three fell as the patriots fired ' and then it was five to five, and | a volley, with clubbed musket against saber and pletol they fought across the snow ridges and back and forth under the great limbed waltut trees. By and by there were but two left. It was the barrel of a shattered musket agalnst an officer's sword Smite them and spare not! Smite them and show no mercy!" cried Zachariah as he whirled his weapon about his head and ad- and gave way and struck and re- covered. Under the trees—over the ridges —eross wind-swept spots and tho flower beds ot summer they fought, and now and then they stumbled over men lylng dead At length there was but one left on his feet. He threw away the sword red with life blood and staggered and lurched like a drunken man as he made his way down to the gate. The ten horses were t HERH TO'CAPTURE COB. TALBOTT: 8 sh troopers had hoped to take | THURSDAY Mayors Johnson of Denver, president of the league; Maybury of Detrolt, Gray of Minneapolis, Harbison of Harttard and Hartenblower of De Addresses Governor M. R myth. The respons delvered by President Johnson. After re ports of several committees were read and referred to the proper committogs a recess was takn until atternoon. The sessfon was devoted to the discussion of several toples in relation to municipal gov- or deliyered by and Mayor afternoon "y, an Inquisitive oy pmmission, Bachelors do not, evidently post them- selves on statistics of longevity, or thelr numbers woukl surely suffer diminution, says the Clucinnati Tribune. This life has | Its 1lls and its trials, but the great ma- | Jority of men, bachelors as well as bene- dicts, wish to cling to It as long as pos- sible The Interesting ‘question arises, Do mar- ried men live longer than siggle? We have definite information as basls of a reply. The British government thirty years ago appointed a royal commission on the sub- ject of marriage legislation. This commis- slon, though statistics were not then as carefully and exhaustively compiled as to- day, brought out some surprising conclus slons as to the relation between marriage ark, registrar general for Scot- fovud, for instance, that the death | rate of unmarried men was much higher than that o married men and widowers So marked was the difference that Dr. Stark felt constralned to remark that | “bachelorhood {s more destructive to life an the most unwholesome trades, or than residence in an unwholesome house or dis- trict, where there has never been the most distant attempt at sanitary improvement of any kind." This statement may be, indeed, looked upon as startling enough to call forth by elordom from Its slumber of false security. e GASPED! ,’? there. They had pawed and reared and plunged as the nolse of battle reached them. They were quict now. The staggering, gasp- ing man loosened one and mounted to the saddle with a groan, and as he gathered up the reins the steed set off at a furlous gallop. As the woman in the farmhouse prayed she heard the hoofbeats on the aking snow and she prayed in low eath: “If 1t 1s Thy will let it be a messenger that it is well with my people.” The hoof beats came nearer and nearer— they slackened a little—then continued om at the old pace. the woman prayed: “I am childless and a widow, but Thou O God, will be with me!” And when the men who had so long and bravely defended themselves threw open the | doors at last and stepped out into the night | the clouds which bad hidden the moon for an hour thinned away and they looked about | them at men lying dead on their backs, on | their faces—dead men half burled in the | drifts. There was one who lay at fall length like some great oak which had lived for a century to go down before a blast which had swept a thousand acres bare to the grass roots. Clutched in his hands was the bent and battered musket barrel which had smitten its quota and more, and at his feet lay the corpse of the son, who bad ylelded up his life to remove the stain on his in- tegrity. And the woman In the kitchen rose from her knees with a sob in her throat, and lghting a second candle, she sat down, with hands on her lap, to walt for the sounds of other footsteps creaking and crunching in the snow—the footsteps of men bringing home her dead. A coated tongue, foul breath and clogged condition of the bowels suggests the use of Prickly Ash Bitters. It {8 just suited for such ailments. Mayors of Many Clties Meet. CHARLESTON, 8. C., Dec. 12.—-The fourth annual convention of the gue of Amerigan Municipalities met In this cfty - day. The ndance at the o sion wa among those p And In softest whispers | But, even if regarded as too sweeping in itself, there are today figures at hand to prove that there is a striking difference in the mortality rates of the married and the single. We have figures showing the yearly mor- tality of each class per 1,000, the accuracy of which s confirmed by a much wider rango of cbservation than either that of the British royal commission or Dr. Stark: Husbands Unmar- and Widowers. ~ried. 0. A ers between 40 and 45 years of age 1,407 dle annually, while out of a similar number of | unmarried men at a like age 1,35 dle every | year. The difference is even more marked |in the earlier ages. Some explanation of this disparity in the death rate is offered by the statement that the strong and the healthy marry in larger numbers than others. But the grand, irremovable fact remains that marriage is, as a state, more healthful than bachelorhood. CLEANLY WOMAN, Cleanly woman has an erroneous ldea that by scouring the scalp, which removes the dandruft scales, she {s curing the dan- druff. She may wash her scalp every day, ard yet have dandruft her life loxg, accompanied by falllng halr, too The only way in the world to cure dan- druft is to kill the dundruff germ, and there 18 mo halr preparation that will do that but Newbro's Herpicide. Herpiclde killlug the dandruft germ, leaves the hair free to grow as healthy nature intended, Destroy the cause, you remove the effeet. Kill the dandruff germ with Herpicide, The road fo health Fletcher, W. Va., Feb 23, 1900. feel it my duty te write to you to tell you what Wine of Cardui has done for me. i not knowing that I would ever be any better, 1 would take flooding spells. like all the blood was drained from ray body, although I had two as seemed like not! Id do ood until m Cel dodk Thedledyvaiid, 48, me say good wol packages of Blagk-Draught. 1 also used one injection of carbolic acid. first bottle checked the flow. Let rmn. Whea my menses came it was at the correct time and without pain, bave bad three changes since and I go on and o Cardul and Thedford’s Black-Draught ace the best medicines on earth, Wh unds, When T weighed 108 for preparing gave me and al 1 quit taking the treatment I weighed 120, 1 such pwnudkim. do my work, as if nothing were the matter. league was | Thus, out of 100,000 husbands and widow- | | When 1 first wrote My menscs had been rregular 0 paia: Twas confiad to my bed five manthe of » finse, It scemed doctors as were in the state. It nk“( Mrs, Wetherholt, advised me to try Wine of I took four bottles and three me tell you I feel like 2 new , for the first time in my Iife. 1 think Wine en | commenced taking them thaok you for the advice g&« NANCY E. SKEEN. WINE «-CARDUI Could greater praise be given to any medicine than the simple and sincere statement of Miss Skeen? Wine of Cardui brought her back fo health when she was so sorely distre:sed that life seemed a burden. The dragging agony of disordered menstruation coupled with the terrible weakening drains of leucorrhaea and falling of the womb are almast worse than death itself to a highly strung and ner- vous woman. For Miss Skeen Wine of Cardui invigorated the weakened and diseased organs, built up the shattered nerves and made her *feel like a new woman”, It will do druggist will sell you a $1.00 bottle of Wine of Cardui, For advice in cases requiring special directions, address. giving symptoms. “The Ladiew Advisory Departme attanoogs M the same for YOU. 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