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 I 
 
 Copyright, 191 1, by 
 ROBERT EGGERT. 
 
 ©CIA30394 
 
PREFACE 
 
 ONE half century has elapsed since 
 Fort Sumter was fired upon and 
 the Civil War began. This war 
 closed four years thereafter with the 
 surrender of the Confederate forces to 
 the Union, and with the assurance of the 
 complete expulsion of slavery from the 
 United States. 
 
 The North and the South paid dearly 
 for the verification of the principle that 
 liberty and slavery cannot exist at the 
 same time in one and the same nation; 
 and that the existence of the one is the 
 death of the other. 
 
 The recollection of the magnitude of the 
 price paid is still fresh in the minds of 
 those steadily decreasing old veterans 
 who, once a year, decorate the graves of 
 their comrades. The last of those veter- 
 
 [?] 
 
PREFACE 
 
 ans must soon join the grand army of 
 the dead, while the present generation, in 
 their chase after the golden calf, are apt 
 to forget the sacrifices their fathers made 
 in order to cut out slavery from the body 
 politic and, for the first time in the 
 history of the world, to establish a 
 republic in which complete liberty, freed 
 from caste, rules supreme. 
 
 The civilized world was amazed that 
 from the purely artisan and farming 
 population of the North such vast armies 
 could have been created as were necessary 
 to suppress the most formidable revolu- 
 tion known to history. 
 
 From the foregoing facts sprang a 
 desire on the part of several old veterans 
 to retain from that creative period of our 
 nation a few episodes which would por- 
 tray the methods that had been pursued, 
 describe the actors who had aided to shift 
 the scenery in that bloody drama, honor 
 the dead that had fallen on the ramparts, 
 
 [4] 
 
PREFACE 
 
 and send to the present generation the 
 watchword of the old guard: — 
 
 "Slavery in a different form has since 
 shown its murderous instincts; Tyranny 
 has shot down among us, without the 
 remotest right or excuse for the murder, 
 the peace-loving, law-abiding citizen who 
 had lawfully sold his labor to an employer 
 against whom a self -constituted court of 
 employees had pronounced the ban, now 
 called the 'boycott.' Tyranny has 
 further destroyed, unlawfully and vi- 
 ciously, the property of the boycotted 
 as punishment for having exercised his 
 constitutional right of hiring labor where 
 he could lawfully find it. Attention! 
 Haul down that flag of modern slavery 
 and its associates, and guard well the 
 Goddess of Liberty whose purple has been 
 cleansed with the blood of your fathers !" 
 
 The following narrative, based on 
 facts, which has been written by one who 
 has personally drawn from reliable sources 
 
 [5] 
 
PREFACE 
 
 the events that are portrayed therein, 
 may serve the young as a reminder of 
 the time when the Union was convulsed 
 in her death-struggle; of the truth that 
 history will repeat itself, and of the 
 principle that eternal vigilance is the 
 price of liberty! 
 
 The Author. 
 August 10, 1911. 
 
 [6] 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Preface 3 
 
 CHAPTER PAQB 
 
 I. The Parting 9 
 
 II. From the East to the West 15 
 
 III. The Flight 27 
 
 IV. Congenial Friends .... 46 
 
 V. The Soul of the Log House 62 
 
 VI. The Solution of the Old- 
 est Question of Man- 
 kind 78 
 
 VII. The Danger of System Ap- 
 plied to Love 92 
 
 VIII. The Club's Maiden Effort 101 
 
 IX. The Test of the Golden 
 
 Rule Ill 
 
 X. The Distribution of Prizes 121 
 
 XL Secession and Union . . . 131 
 
 XII. Celebration of Christmas 
 and the Lull Before the 
 Storm 136 
 
 [7 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XIII. The Murder Trial ... 145 
 
 XIV. The Creation of Home 
 Guards and the Echo of 
 the Firing on Fort 
 Sumter 161 
 
 XV. The Demon of War Let 
 
 Loose 174 
 
 XVI. The Club's Embarking for 
 the Nearest Field of 
 Contest 187 
 
 XVII. Scenes of Home 199 
 
 XVIII. The Search for the Miss- 
 ing 214 
 
 XIX. The Battle of Wilson's 
 
 Creek 234 
 
 XX. Found at Last 246 
 
 XXI. The Reunion ...... 259 
 
 [8] 
 
The Log House Club 
 
 Chapter I 
 
 THE PARTING 
 
 IN the fall of 1860, at a street corner 
 in Buffalo, New York, a young 
 man of about twenty years and 
 a girl, three years his junior, were 
 engaged in animated conversation. 
 Below them, toward the west, stretched 
 out Lake Erie, covered with vessels 
 of many kinds, that, with their white 
 sails flopping in the wind, resembled 
 huge vultures of the sea. Suddenly the 
 shrill whistle of a steamboat was heard; 
 whereupon the young man embraced 
 and kissed his companion and tear- 
 fully hastened away in the direction 
 from which the disturbing messenger 
 had come. 
 
 A person's action is but the indication 
 of his mind. To understand this action 
 
 ~ [9] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 we must penetrate the marvellous folds 
 of that mind, and there detect the source 
 from which issue the mysterious mes- 
 sages that kindle the eye in the joy 
 of meeting and crush the heart in the 
 anguish of parting. Applying this 
 method of discovery to the incident 
 which has been related in the fore- 
 going lines, necessitates the giving of 
 a brief history of the young persons 
 who have been introduced. 
 
 Albert and Ruth Burdett were brother 
 and sister; they were born and brought 
 up in the city in which we met them. 
 Their father, who died about five years 
 previous, had been a successful merchant, 
 possessed of genial nature, fond of social 
 gatherings and fond of the treacherous 
 beverage, whiskey, which was then 
 retailed at twenty cents a gallon, and 
 which, by its worshippers, was lauded 
 as a medicine. The result was inevi- 
 table. Slowly, but with an unfailing 
 
 [10] 
 
THE PARTING 
 
 accuracy, this medicine did its work. 
 The steady use for years made the 
 formerly vigorous man a palsied wreck. 
 The prayers and tears of his wife could 
 not arrest the tragical end, the premature 
 death and the drunkard's grave. Upon 
 Albert, then but fourteen years old, 
 fell the main burden of providing for 
 the destitute family. A life-insurance 
 policy was found among the deceased's 
 private papers; the policy, however, 
 had been long since forfeited for the 
 non-payment of dues. 
 
 The mother, once the enthusiastic and 
 able teacher in the public schools of 
 Buffalo, had accepted her lover's offer of 
 marriage without the precaution of inves- 
 tigating his former habits. She was 
 entirely ignorant, at the time of her 
 marriage, of his fondness for liquor. 
 
 Before the birth of her oldest child, 
 however, she had noticed, with deadly 
 fear, her husband's growing passion for 
 
 tin 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 strong drink. Dreading the results that 
 might ensue to her posterity, the chief 
 task of her life was henceforth to counter- 
 act the hereditary tendencies of nature 
 by teaching her children that self-control 
 and those high ideals of virtue which, 
 like a talisman, guard their possessor 
 against the vices of this life and insure 
 for him a happy old age. 
 
 Although the payment of the expenses 
 of her husband's last sickness and death 
 had necessitated the sale of every avail- 
 able means of future support, the mother 
 was determined to keep her family 
 together. Albert's scanty earnings 
 proved insufficient to provide for the 
 necessaries of life, therefore the frail 
 mother was compelled to take in sewing 
 and other light work in order to make a 
 living. Thus unremitting work, depress- 
 ing care and tantalizing fear of the 
 future were slowly draining her life. 
 Five years after her husband's death, the 
 
 12 
 
THE PARTING 
 
 mother was also summoned. She died 
 in her son's arms, with an indescribable 
 expression of love and tenderness in her 
 eyes, after her darling boy had pledged 
 to remain ever true to her teachings. 
 
 The memory of that moment overcame 
 Albert when, in the painful hurry of 
 another parting, he saw, or seemed to see, 
 in his sister's eyes the reflection of his 
 angel-mother's last look. 
 
 With a small sum of money that was 
 left from the proceeds of a public sale, 
 Albert purchased a steamboat ticket for 
 Milwaukee, and a valise for his clothes. 
 These, together with a few school books 
 that he had refused to sell, constituted 
 his entire wealth, all of which he had left 
 on board the steamer on the evening 
 before he was to leave Buffalo. His 
 sister had found a home with a friend of 
 the family, by whom she was welcomed 
 as a daughter. Thus freed from present 
 care, brother and sister had, on the 
 
 [13] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 morning of Albert's departure for the 
 West, once more visited their mother's 
 grave and those other places to which the 
 heart-strings will cling most firmly when 
 leaving the old home. 
 
 Westward! W T hat a word then and 
 now! Like magic arose before Albert's 
 view endless prairies, gigantic streams, 
 sparkling lakes, primeval forests, tower- 
 ing mountains, eternal snow, eternal 
 spring, wealth, power, and freedom from 
 social rank and social vice! Whose 
 pulse would not beat quicker, and whose 
 eyes would not shine brighter, at the 
 thought of the glorious West? 
 
 [14 
 
Chapter II 
 
 FROM THE EAST TO THE WEST 
 
 IN those gloomy days of political unrest 
 and grim signs of an approaching 
 storm, that was steadily fanned by 
 the friends of free trade and slavery, 
 business was almost at a standstill; 
 public and private improvements were 
 not even considered; consequently, the 
 demand for labor was stagnant in the 
 East as well as in the West. Money was 
 scarce; interest thereon and the prices of 
 all commodities were high; whereas the 
 prices of labor and produce were low. 
 
 Albert's ambition, from early boyhood, 
 had been to go West; now that his 
 mother had died and his sister had been 
 provided with a pleasant home, there was 
 nothing to keep him from carrying out 
 his wish. 
 
 The whistle, which caused the young 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 persons' abrupt parting, had been the last 
 signal prior to the departure of the steam- 
 boat on which Albert had secured passage. 
 Although running as fast as he could, he 
 was too late; the boat had just started. 
 Through the captain's kindness, how- 
 ever, who had noticed the boy's frantic 
 efforts to be taken along, the steamer was 
 stopped and a rope was thrown to the 
 belated boy, with the help of which he 
 got on board. 
 
 This incident taught Albert, in the 
 most practical manner, the importance 
 of punctuality. He, then, for the first 
 time, comprehended fully the wisdom 
 and magnitude of his mother's gentle 
 rebukes, which had been caused by his 
 occasional acts of carelessness in that 
 direction. 
 
 The boat was a large one, with side 
 wheels that were driven by two gigantic 
 steam engines. The steam was gener- 
 ated by wood, since wood was then a far 
 
 [16] 
 
FROM THE EAST TO THE WEST 
 
 cheaper fuel and was more easily obtained 
 than coal. A large majority of the 
 passengers were emigrants from Europe 
 who had landed at New York, thence 
 they had been taken by rail to Buffalo 
 and from that city they were sent by 
 steamers to the various states adjoining 
 the lakes. 
 
 As soon as Albert was on board, he 
 thanked the captain for his kindness and 
 asked whether in return he could do 
 anything for him. The captain, with an 
 approving smile, said, "All right, my 
 boy!" and then turned to a uniformed 
 officer and whispered a few words which 
 Albert failed to understand. Commin- 
 gling with the passengers, Albert was 
 surprised at the various languages spoken 
 and the different costumes worn. He 
 marvelled why Europe did not simplify 
 intercourse among her nations by adopt- 
 ing one language, instead of clinging to a 
 score or more, which he heard spoken 
 
 ~l [17] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 among the passengers, and which only 
 the few chosen ones were able to under- 
 stand. His first acquaintance was a 
 young Dane, whom he aided in removing 
 a heavy trunk from the passage-way. 
 The Dane, desirous of thanking Albert, 
 addressed him in Danish, which language 
 Albert could understand no more than he 
 could understand the language of the 
 birds. 
 
 Upon inquiry Albert ascertained that 
 Denmark with her two million inhab- 
 itants, Norway with about the same 
 number and Sweden with a few millions 
 more, had each a separate language, 
 although the entire population of those 
 three countries was but a trifle more than 
 that of the State of New York. Young as 
 our friend was, he comprehended keenly 
 what obstacles to a universal education 
 these different languages must offer in 
 those three countries, which by nature 
 and ancestry should be but one. This 
 
 [18] 
 
FROM THE EAST TO THE WEST 
 
 young reasoner, in whom was instilled the 
 love of meditation, which had hitherto 
 been encouraged and guided by his 
 mother, had very little time to ponder 
 over the languages and nations of Europe, 
 since the officer to whom the captain had 
 spoken, requested him to sweep the deck 
 and thereafter to report to him. Albert 
 at once went to work with an enthusiasm 
 which could not fail of recognition by his 
 superiors. 
 
 From that time to the landing at Mil- 
 waukee, Albert was steadily employed 
 under the direction of this officer, who 
 was the ship's steward, and who proved to 
 be a kind friend and master. During the 
 few days of the journey Albert assisted 
 the cook and the machinists; helped at 
 the different stations to take in the cord 
 wood that was used as fuel under those 
 large boilers ; polished the windows of the 
 different cabins, and in fact made himself 
 so useful that he became the favorite of 
 
 19] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 all. He was also one of nature's favorites ; 
 slender and a trifle taller than the average 
 man, with deep-set gray eyes and broad 
 forehead, and with features that expressed 
 the honesty of his actions and his desire 
 to please, he appeared like a sunbeam 
 among the anxious and careworn faces of 
 the strangers on board. 
 
 At the end of the journey the steward 
 handed him a five-dollar bill and invited 
 him to remain in service on board the 
 ship at a corresponding rate of wages. 
 Albert was amazed to receive pay for 
 services that by agreement he had ren- 
 dered free of charge, and to receive an 
 offer of employment when he had feared 
 that his work had been so insignificant 
 and poorly done as not to meet approval, 
 nor had he ever thought of a permanent 
 occupation on board of any ship. He 
 reluctantly took the money, but excused 
 himself for not accepting the offer of 
 further employment. Albert was unable 
 
 [20 
 
FROM THE EAST TO THE WEST 
 
 to express his longing for the West and 
 for the realization of his dreams of 
 independence, which had chiefly pre- 
 vented him from accepting the steward's 
 kind offer; or else he would have added 
 an explanation to his excuse, thus lessen- 
 ing, if not entirely disarming, the chagrin 
 that the steward felt upon Albert's flat 
 refusal. 
 
 Albert left the ship's crew with a heavy 
 heart, fully appreciating the value of 
 such an offer when labor everywhere 
 went begging and enterprise seemed to 
 be extinct. The steward's chilly good- 
 bye and his refusal to shake hands with 
 Albert upon parting, tormented the boy 
 with the kind heart; and if he had not 
 accidentally heard that the captain's in- 
 terest in him had been chiefly caused by 
 the fact that Albert's mother, whose 
 history the captain well knew, had been 
 for years the teacher of his children, and 
 that her unwise marriage and its fatal 
 
 [21] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 results had been known and freely com- 
 mented upon, especially by the parents of 
 her scholars, Albert would have immedi- 
 ately returned and would have accepted 
 the offer of employment with thanks. 
 While Albert appreciated the captain's 
 kindness, he instinctively shrunk from 
 being pitied, preferring to choose the path 
 carved out by himself, no matter how 
 difficult of ascent, to the easy, well trod- 
 den path prepared by others. 
 
 Who is going to blame the boy? Is 
 not the man's ideal likewise his heaven, 
 no matter whether it leads him to fame 
 or to death? 
 
 Milwaukee was then, as it is now, one 
 of the prettiest cities in the West. Upon 
 Albert's arrival the rays of the setting sun 
 were reflected by the scrupulously clean 
 windows of its buildings. Delighted with 
 the sombre beauty of the city and land- 
 scape, he searched for a modest, but clean, 
 hotel, in which the charges would be in 
 
 [22 
 
FROM THE EAST TO THE WEST 
 
 accordance with the condition of his 
 purse. He made these arrangements in 
 anticipation of finding something to do 
 in order to enjoy the beauties of the city 
 and its surroundings before going further 
 west. 
 
 For five days he searched for employ- 
 ment, being ready and willing to do any 
 honest work for any reasonable compensa- 
 tion. A farmer, living about five miles 
 from the city, offered him work on his 
 farm for the entire fall and winter, agree- 
 ing to pay him five dollars a month with 
 board and lodging until December first 
 of that year and thereafter board and 
 lodging only. Albert was very reluctant 
 to accept that offer and asked the friendly 
 farmer for three days' time in order to 
 find a better job, if possible, to which 
 request the farmer cheerfully assented. 
 
 Albert had never worked on a farm; 
 he understood nothing about that work; 
 the wages were so low as scarcely to 
 
 [23] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 enable him to purchase the necessary 
 clothing during the approaching winter. 
 With such thoughts, he walked anxiously 
 through the streets of Milwaukee on the 
 last day before he would be bound. He 
 had striven hard to obtain some better 
 paying and more congenial employment, 
 but all in vain; every employer whom he 
 had asked for work had promised some- 
 body else the place if a vacancy should 
 occur. His courage was tested sorely; his 
 glowing picture of the West was rapidly 
 displaced by scenes of ghastly poverty; 
 he even censured himself for having 
 rejected the ship steward's generous offer, 
 and as a partial consolation he resolved 
 to act more wisely in the future. 
 
 While wrapped up in such gloomy 
 thoughts, and in the very act of return- 
 ing to his hotel, resolved to accept the 
 farmer's offer, he observed a man posting 
 on a billboard a placard containing the 
 following announcement : 
 
 [24] 
 
FROM THE EAST TO THE WEST 
 
 MEN WANTED! Wages 85 Cents a day! Free 
 
 Transportation ! Enquire at the office of 
 
 Railroad Company. 
 
 Agent. 
 
 This timely information kindled a ray 
 of hope and confidence in Albert's down- 
 cast mood. He thought of his mother's 
 steadfast belief, often expressed by her, 
 that the darker the night the nearer and 
 brighter would be the morning. No 
 brighter morning had ever dawned for 
 her; disappointment and anguish had 
 ever been her lot; or was her last look, so 
 full of love and confidence, despite the 
 death struggle, the dawning of that 
 brighter morning? 
 
 With clenched teeth he fought down 
 the tears and went to work. He searched 
 for the railroad company's agent; ascer- 
 tained the condition and the kind of the 
 future employment; stipulated with the 
 agent about the time of leaving for his 
 new field of labor; sent notice to his 
 
 [25] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 farmer friend; settled with his landlord, 
 whose bill balanced Albert's cash, and on 
 the next morning he entered the cars for 
 the unknown West. 
 
 [26] 
 
Chapter III 
 
 THE FLIGHT 
 
 THE journey by rail proved very 
 interesting to Albert. The rail- 
 road was but recently built; the 
 roadbed was still rough; the speed of the 
 train was rapid and the motion of the 
 cars was correspondingly jolting. The 
 varying panorama of the landscape was, 
 on the other hand, so beautifully strange 
 and pleasing that Albert's attention was 
 continually riveted upon those scenes 
 of passing forests that had never been 
 disturbed by man; of endless prairies 
 that were covered with strange flowers; 
 of glittering lakes that resembled spark- 
 ling diadems in Queen Nature's crown, 
 and of rivulets that seemed to be the 
 silvery paths of nymphs. These pictures 
 were now and then interrupted only by 
 a lonely building or some little hamlet or 
 
 [27] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 town. Albert's imagination was aroused 
 to the utmost, notwithstanding the oc- 
 casional bumps that he received from the 
 refractory car nor the pangs of hunger 
 caused by an empty stomach and an 
 empty purse. 
 
 About an hour before sunset Albert 
 noticed every now and then, far in the 
 west between a chain of hills, what 
 appeared to be a white cloud, upon which 
 the rays of the sun were reflected with an 
 unusual brilliancy. While his whole 
 attention was directed to that phenome- 
 non, the train was rounding a curve; 
 what had hitherto appeared like a cloud 
 to Albert's searching eyes, revealed itself 
 now to be in fact the Mississippi, the 
 "Father of Waters," stretching his gigan- 
 tic arms toward both poles, encircling 
 large islands, carrying majestic ships and 
 silently, but irresistibly, gliding onward 
 to his destination. Albert gazed, with 
 folded hands, upon that stupendous sight, 
 
 [28] 
 
THE FLIGHT 
 
 of which no description had ever given 
 him even a faint idea, and of which no 
 picture had ever been a remote resem- 
 blance of its grandeur. 
 
 Upon arrival at the terminus of that 
 branch of the railroad, an official directed 
 the passengers who desired to continue 
 their journey on that evening, to a land- 
 ing on the bank of the river. A small 
 ferry boat, driven by steam, awaited the 
 travelers, among whom was Albert, who, 
 wearied from the day's exciting scenes, 
 penniless and hungry, wondered what the 
 next developments would bring. 
 
 A twenty minutes' ride among some 
 islands landed them at dusk on the desired 
 shore. The outlook was discouraging; 
 no buildings of any kind were visible; 
 the boat was tied to a rude platform that 
 was fastened on logs; while as far as 
 the eye could reach nothing but willows 
 could be seen. A farmer with his ox-team 
 and wagon, a few boys and a tall man with 
 
 [29] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 a lantern, received the newcomers; no 
 other being was in sight and Albert felt 
 as if he were entering a new and unex- 
 plored world. 
 
 The man with the lantern turned out 
 to be the postmaster of the next village, 
 Albert's destination, and its sole hotel- 
 keeper. However pleasant the meeting 
 of Uncle Sam's protecting arm in the 
 shape of a postmaster and a dispenser of 
 the daily bread in one and the same per- 
 son might have been to the other 
 travelers, the dualistic nature of the 
 officer indicated to Albert the size of the 
 settlement which was to be his next home, 
 and reduced his expectations in propor- 
 tion which his picture of the great West 
 bore to the picture of the supposed 
 village beyond the willows. 
 
 The captain of the little craft handed 
 a mail-bag to the postmaster and also 
 introduced him to Albert and the other 
 two passengers as Mr. Henry who would 
 
 [30] 
 
THE FLIGHT 
 
 thereafter take care of them. Mr. 
 Henry's invitation to follow him was 
 gladly accepted. A mile's tramp on a 
 poorly kept road brought them to a small 
 village where they halted before a dimly 
 lighted frame house. The landlord en- 
 tered with his three followers and invited 
 them to sit down and make themselves 
 at home, while he would be distributing 
 the mail in the next room. Albert smiled 
 at the suggestion of making himself at 
 home in the dingy room that was filled 
 with rough pine tables and benches, 
 interspersed with a few indifferent looking 
 chairs. One wall was decorated with 
 some plain pine shelving upon which 
 stood a large assortment of half-filled 
 bottles containing a variety of whiskies 
 and brandies. The air was still dense 
 with tobacco smoke instead with the 
 fragrance of a tasty supper, and Albert 
 was penniless, tired and hungry! 
 
 His traveling companions were an 
 
 [31] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 Irishman and a German; both middle 
 aged, and neither showed any signs of 
 discomfort; on the contrary, they 
 searched for their tobacco, filled and 
 lighted their pipes, leaned back in their 
 chairs and smoked, filling the room 
 denser and denser with smoke and com- 
 pelling Albert, who had never used 
 tobacco, to go outdoors in order to keep 
 from choking. 
 
 In the meantime the landlord was busy 
 with sorting and handing out the mail to 
 several callers, some of whom entered 
 the so-called barroom and from there 
 reached the small room in which the mail 
 w T as distributed and which was called 
 the post office. This latter room was 
 also accessible from the street. 
 
 As soon as the postmaster was alone,. 
 Albert entered and asked him whether 
 there would be any show of obtaining 
 supper and a night's lodging without 
 present payment; explaining further that 
 
 [32 
 
THE FLIGHT 
 
 he had been sent by the railroad company 
 to work in the neighborhood, and that he 
 would soon be able to pay his debt; 
 yet, in order to secure the payment, he 
 would pledge his valise and its contents 
 with the landlord. The latter looked 
 amused and kindly answered the con- 
 scientious boy that a supper for the three 
 guests was ready to be served in the 
 dining-room; that Albert could stay over 
 night without pledging his property; that 
 the railroad company had sent him 
 notice of the arrival of the three new 
 men and that the company would be 
 holden to him for the payment of their 
 first night's lodging and one day's board. 
 How little is sufficient to throw the 
 human mind from gloom into exultation! 
 The prospect of supper and the riddance 
 of his immediate financial troubles, cast 
 a ray of light over Albert's features that 
 caused the landlord to lay his hand en 
 Albert's shoulder and direct him into the 
 
 [33] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 dining-room, where, behind a large table, 
 which was covered with a neat cloth, 
 stood the landlord's pretty daughter who 
 pleasantly invited him to sit down and 
 help himself. She then called the other 
 two men, who were still smoking, to 
 get ready and come to supper. They 
 reluctantly put up their pipes and obeyed 
 the order. During the meal Albert heard 
 the daughter whisper to her mother in 
 the adjoining kitchen: "See, mamma, 
 what a contrast there is between the clean 
 face of that boy and the smoked, grimy 
 faces of the two men!" 
 
 Early the next morning the guests were 
 called to breakfast and told that the 
 "boss" had sent for them, and for that 
 purpose had entrusted his own light 
 wagon and spirited horse to the messenger 
 who was waiting for them outside. The 
 news was gladly received by the three 
 guests who, immediately after breakfast, 
 mounted the boss's two-seated light 
 
 [34] 
 
THE FLIGHT 
 
 wagon. Albert seated himself beside the 
 driver, a boy of his own age, after the 
 two smokers had instinctively chosen one 
 and the same seat, much to Albert's 
 relief, who inwardly repeated the old 
 saying, "Birds of a feather flock 
 together." 
 
 It was a beautiful morning as they 
 drove through the little village; the sun 
 had dispersed a light fog and was rapidly 
 warming the chill morning air; the few 
 stores were slowly opened and the smoke 
 issuing from the chimneys, went straight 
 up to heaven. 
 
 The two boys were visibly touched by 
 the majestic splendor around them, 
 whereas the two men were lighting their 
 pipes and bemoaning that their supply 
 of tobacco would not last them until 
 evening. A two-mile drive landed them 
 in front of a large cabin, before which a 
 group of laboring men was apparently 
 waiting for the arrival of the re-enforce- 
 
 [35] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 ment from the village. The newcomers 
 were subjected to a close inspection by 
 these men who were destined to become 
 their co-workers. Albert was the first 
 to dismount. With his valise in hand 
 he bade a cheerful "good-morning" to 
 the bystanders, who, without responding 
 to his salute in any way, stared at him 
 as if his appearance among them was a 
 mistake, whereas the two men were 
 welcomed with such ease and cordiality 
 that invariably create in the stranger a 
 home-like feeling and take from him, in 
 the very beginning, the peculiar un- 
 pleasant sensation of being among 
 strangers. 
 
 The boss, a man of middle age, tall, 
 broad-shouldered, red-faced, with a light 
 moustache and sharp gray eyes, welcomed 
 the newcomers with a hearty shaking of 
 hands and directed them to put their 
 bundles in certain parts of the cabin and 
 then, if they were ready, to commence 
 
 36 
 
THE FLIGHT 
 
 the work with the others. His directions 
 were readily obeyed, especially by Albert, 
 who had been longing for a kind word 
 from any one with whom he had to asso- 
 ciate thereafter. 
 
 The laborers formed two gangs; the 
 two men were detailed to the one and 
 Albert became a member of the other 
 that was under the direct supervision of 
 the boss himself. The cabin was built 
 on the side of a high hill and was protected 
 from the north and west winds by a 
 thicket of jack oaks and underbrush. In 
 a few minutes' walk toward the river the 
 men reached their field of labor, namely, 
 a roadbed at the foot of the hill, which 
 was to be raised by the removal of earth 
 from the adjoining hill, until the required 
 grade was reached. The wheelbarrows 
 used for that purpose were run on planks 
 that were supported by devices made 
 of scantlings. These devices were of 
 different heights in order to conform to 
 
 [37 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 the varying elevations between the hill 
 and the grade. Each gang was sub- 
 divided into diggers and wheelers; Albert, 
 who had the choice of the two occupa- 
 tions, chose the wheeling. 
 
 At noon, the two gangs met at the 
 cabin; the practice of washing hands 
 and face at noon seemed not to exist 
 among them, consequently Albert had 
 to shift as well as he could in order to 
 yield to that lifelong habit of washing 
 himself at noon, without letting his 
 violation of the prevailing fashion be 
 noticed by the company. Upon entering 
 the cabin, Albert observed at a glance 
 the frowzy red hair of the woman and 
 the streaky hands of her spouse, with 
 which he gave the finishing touches to 
 the knives, forks and spoons that were 
 scattered upon the two tables. 
 
 Stationary wooden benches served as 
 chairs. A baby, apparently six months 
 old, was lying upon a couch near the 
 
 [38] 
 
THE FLIGHT 
 
 cooking stove, kicking and yelling lustily. 
 The whole scene had a depressing influ- 
 ence upon Albert, which was considerably 
 enhanced after he had fished from the 
 soup one of those red hairs; and after the 
 husband, with his streaky hands, had cut 
 a special large piece of bread that he 
 handed to Albert, and after the baby 
 kept on yelling notwithstanding its 
 mother's boisterous scolding. Albert's 
 appetite and hunger, although keen at 
 first, fled, and after excusing himself, he, 
 too, fled from the untouched dinner into 
 the clean atmosphere outside where, 
 throwing himself down among the trees, 
 he wondered why man himself should 
 be his greatest foe. 
 
 Still faint from hunger, the disen- 
 chanted boy stood his ground with heroic 
 courage during the afternoon's work. 
 His Irish friends, who loved to joke with 
 the greenhorn, as they called Albert, took 
 special pains to load his wheelbarrow the 
 
 39] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 heaviest in order to test his strength and 
 make him ask for a change. Toward 
 evening Albert's hands were blistered, 
 his back was almost broken and his limbs 
 trembled from the unusual work; he 
 was in the act of demanding a rest when 
 luckily a loud whistle gave the sign that 
 the day's labor was ended. 
 
 The shovels were then cleaned, as they 
 had been at noon, with such unusual 
 care that Albert wished that the same 
 care would thereafter be applied to the 
 victuals and dishes of the culinary depart- 
 ment. All hands then gathered in front 
 of the cabin around two barrels of water 
 and a few benches on which were scattered 
 several wash-basins and pieces of soap. 
 Each gang used one barrel, one bench and 
 one towel. When Albert's turn came 
 to use the towel, which in the beginning 
 had been of questionable cleanliness, 
 but which now had the color of the soil 
 they had handled all day, he, whose 
 
 [40] 
 
THE FLIGHT 
 
 mother had taught him to observe the 
 utmost cleanliness, shrank from touching 
 it, but preferred to let the wind do the 
 drying part. 
 
 The unpleasant features at the dinner 
 table were more or less applicable to the 
 supper. Albert managed, only with the 
 utmost self-control, to eat sufficiently to 
 lessen in part the pain of the gnawing 
 hunger, which, after the short rest from 
 work, had attacked him fiercely. 
 
 For the better understanding of the 
 events that took place after supper, which 
 will be hereafter related, a brief reference 
 to the educational standing of the acting 
 persons is necessary. 
 
 A large majority of the laborers who 
 were employed in the two gangs, were 
 of foreign birth. They were jovial and 
 witty, but, as a rule, lamentably defi- 
 cient in general knowledge and in 
 the culture which a general knowledge 
 necessarily creates. Albert, however, 
 
 [41] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 had received from early infancy special 
 training from his mother, who had care- 
 fully nourished and guided the boy's 
 inquisitiveness; his teachers had followed 
 his mother's methods and principles. 
 They had a special liking for the boy with 
 the open face, whose eyes seemed to 
 implore them incessantly for a revelation 
 of the wonders which he met daily. Nor 
 did this educating process end when 
 his father died and he was compelled to 
 leave school in order to aid his mother in 
 keeping the family together; although 
 steadily employed, he still, with his 
 mother's help, found and forced oppor- 
 tunities to enlarge his knowledge. 
 
 Albert's appearance among his co- 
 laborers became at once one of the topics 
 of conversation. His acts and language, 
 his reserve at the table and elsewhere 
 were criticized by some and praised by 
 others. He had been, during the work- 
 ing hours, considerably annoyed by some 
 
 [42] 
 
THE FLIGHT 
 
 attempted ridicule of his actions uttered 
 by several of his co-laborers while con- 
 versing in a tone just loud enough to be 
 heard and understood by him. It was 
 plainly observable that his better lan- 
 guage, more refined conduct and his 
 abstaining from the use of tobacco, 
 made him odious to the envious and evil 
 disposed members of both gangs. 
 
 After supper Albert selected a quiet 
 spot in the grove and read the newspaper 
 which his kind landlord had given him 
 on the evening before. Exhausted as he 
 was, he soon fell asleep and did not 
 awaken until he heard a loud voice calling 
 him. Entering the cabin, a strange sight 
 met him; the large space along the walls, 
 between them and the benches, was filled 
 with straw upon which had been placed 
 blankets and pillows; two blankets and 
 one pillow were apportioned to each 
 person; several of the men were sleeping, 
 while about ten of them were seated 
 
 [43] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 around one of the tables, smoking and 
 frequently passing to each other a gallon 
 jug filled with whiskey, of which the com- 
 pany drank freely. 
 
 A loud, coarse laugh greeted Albert as 
 he entered; one of the drinkers, who 
 had just finished a considerable swig, 
 handed the jug to Albert with the remark 
 that a good drink would stiffen him for 
 the next day's labor. Albert politely 
 refused. His would-be benefactor there- 
 upon angrily demanded the reason why 
 he refused, to which Albert made no 
 answer, but asked the cook's husband, 
 who had just entered, what sleeping 
 arrangements had been made for the 
 newcomers. Before the latter could 
 answer several of the drinkers had arisen, 
 among them the first questioner, who, 
 once more handing the jug to Albert, 
 sternly demanded him to drink or be 
 damned. 
 
 By this time every person in the cabin 
 
 44 
 
THE FLIGHT 
 
 was awake and looked at the contestants 
 with eager interest, mentally choosing 
 sides between them in anticipation of the 
 approaching fight, which, as experience 
 had taught them, was sure to follow. 
 Albert's antagonist was by far the taller 
 and heavier of the two, and, fired with 
 whiskey, he became a dangerous man; 
 all of which was known to the older hands, 
 but not to Albert. Angered by the rough 
 and commanding tone of his tormentor, 
 he shoved the jug to one side and was 
 about to select that part of the straw 
 and blankets as his bed where his valise 
 had been placed, when he was savagely 
 interrupted. Provoked at Albert's silence 
 and refusal to drink, the infuriated Irish- 
 man, with an oath, seized the jug and 
 struck at his head ; Albert, how T ever, with 
 almost lightning speed, dodged the blow, 
 snatched his valise and fled. 
 
 [45] 
 
Chapter IV 
 
 CONGENIAL FRIENDS 
 
 "X^TTHAT next?" These words 
 ^/^ were involuntarily uttered 
 ™ by Albert as he hastened 
 
 from the scene in which his cup of misery 
 had been filled to the brim. He pene- 
 trated the dark night toward the village 
 that contained the only place for which he 
 longed, namely, the little room in which 
 the landlord's outstretched hand and 
 sympathetic words had brought to the 
 wandering orphan a touch of home. 
 What a magnet is a kind word! How 
 rapid were the strides with which Albert 
 hurried to the only kind face that he had 
 met in the great West. He soon lost the 
 faint wagon track that led to the village, 
 yet he tramped swiftly onward, being 
 directed by the great river only, his 
 earthly friend, since all the celestial 
 
 [46] 
 
CONGENIAL FRIENDS 
 
 guides, sun, moon and stars, had failed 
 to give him light. Although nearly a 
 mile distant from the river he heard the 
 splashing of its waters and saw occasion- 
 ally the glimmering of its bright face. 
 
 In this connection his mind recalled 
 the beauty of yesterday's picture as he 
 unexpectedly beheld the river and its 
 majestic valley. He pondered over the 
 present gloomy situation, which, as he 
 reasoned, had been brought about by 
 man's depravity only. Suddenly, like 
 the recollection of a long forgotten mel- 
 ody, came to his agitated heart that belief 
 in the final triumph of justice; that peace 
 of mind which man has vainly sought 
 in the grave-like stillness of the cloister 
 and in the bloody tumult of battle; that 
 peace which descends only to him who, 
 like his friend the river, quietly and 
 steadily performs his duties and rids 
 himself from the slush of the world with- 
 out soiling his conscience. 
 
 [47] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 "But did he do his duty when he 
 refused to give his reason for not touching 
 the liquor?" severely asked his well- 
 trained conscience, its severity being 
 somewhat increased by the recollection of 
 his departed mother's patience with him 
 when he had failed in that respect; yet 
 this very recollection consoled and tor- 
 mented him at the same time. Was not 
 the use of liquor sanctioned by high and 
 low, and did not his refusal to drink 
 appear as obstinacy intended to provoke a 
 quarrel with a drunken man? Why did 
 he not tell his assailant that he had 
 pledged to his dying mother never know- 
 ingly to drink a drop of liquor? Would 
 not that answer have prevented the ugly 
 scene? Perhaps! Should he, however, 
 in such company have mentioned his 
 mother's name, spoken of her last mo- 
 ments which he had ever regarded as the 
 most sacred recollection of his life? No! 
 Rather than to commit such a sacrilege 
 
 [48] 
 
CONGENIAL FRIENDS 
 
 he would suffer the odium of being called 
 a coward. 
 
 Albert's heart grew lighter at the 
 thought that he, on the spur of the 
 moment, had acted wisely and justly. 
 Serenely, like his friend the river, he 
 pursued his way, entering the hotel with 
 beaming face just as the landlord shook 
 hands with a tall, bearded man of middle 
 age and bade him a good night. 
 
 Albert's entrance at that late hour — the 
 clock was striking eleven — had a remark- 
 able effect upon the landlord, who, with 
 a queer expression of wonder, turned to 
 his tall visitor and said: "That is the 
 very boy I told you about." Both men 
 thereupon shook hands with Albert and 
 pointing to his valise asked him: "Now, 
 tell us!" 
 
 They seated themselves around a table 
 on which the landlord placed crackers 
 and cheese; having been informed of 
 Albert's peculiar aversion to whiskey 
 
 [49] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 and tobacco he added a glass of soda 
 water for the boy, while he and his friend 
 took brandy and munched crackers be- 
 tween drinks; whereas, Albert, with an 
 appetite becoming a twenty-year-old boy 
 and with a corresponding hunger after 
 the day's fasting, made the crackers 
 disappear as quickly as he had made the 
 clouds of misery disappear, that but a 
 short time since had almost driven him 
 to distraction. 
 
 After Albert had faithfully related the 
 events that had caused his flight, both 
 men shook hands with their young friend, 
 fully approving his conduct. The land- 
 lord added that rows among those two 
 gangs had been frequent, and that they 
 must have had a severe fight among 
 themselves after Albert had left, since 
 the village doctor had been sent for and 
 had not yet returned. 
 
 The landlord then explained to Albert 
 that his friend, John Gibson, was engaged 
 
 [50] 
 
CONGENIAL FRIENDS 
 
 with a company of young men in grading 
 a part of the railroad-bed near the village, 
 and that the company desired to engage 
 a few more young and decent men to 
 help, and for that purpose had authorized 
 Mr. Gibson to call at the hotel on that 
 evening to inquire after any new and 
 suitable arrivals and at his discretion 
 engage one or more. Mr. Gibson, who 
 in that vicinity was known by the name 
 of John, by which name we shall also 
 know him hereafter, replied that the 
 landlord, just before Albert's entrance, 
 had spoken of a young man who had 
 come to the village on the evening before 
 and who would have been the desired 
 man if the railroad company had not 
 sent him to the Irish division; that 
 therefore Albert's entrance (who was 
 the young man referred to) at that time, 
 with valise in hand, seemed to them 
 miraculous; but that the miracle, now 
 fully explained, had nothing more wonder- 
 
 51 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 ful in it than there had been in miracles 
 that occurred many years ago. 
 
 John further stated that his company 
 was composed of nine members; each 
 one having received a fair common school 
 education, and some of them had even 
 attended colleges and universities; that 
 the company was a peculiar mixture of 
 nationalities, but since they were all 
 sensible and temperate no serious quarrels 
 had as yet arisen. At this juncture 
 Albert glanced involuntarily at the empty 
 glass before the speaker; John, noticing 
 the movement, repeated smilingly: "Yes, 
 all are temperate, even I, who use liquor 
 strictly medicinally." 
 
 John further explained that his com- 
 pany had contracted with the railroad 
 company for the building of a large stretch 
 of roadbed at a certain price per cubic 
 yard; that they were paid semi-monthly, 
 but that ten per cent, of the amount 
 earned was withheld until the final com- 
 
 [52] 
 
CONGENIAL FRIENDS 
 
 pletion and acceptance of the roadbed 
 as provided for in a written contract; 
 that they had leased a two-story log 
 house, adjoining the village, from the 
 railroad company and had engaged a 
 family to keep house for them; that after 
 the payment of all the running expenses, 
 the net earnings, during each fortnight, 
 were divided among them in equal shares, 
 and that hitherto the ninety per cent, of 
 these earnings had exceeded the amount 
 which they could have earned at the usual 
 rate of eight-five cents a day. He 
 continued that there was a serious danger 
 of losing the ten per cent, by winter 
 setting in early and preventing them 
 from completing the job as agreed upon; 
 that therefore the company was desirous 
 of engaging one or more intelligent, sober 
 and industrious young men who would 
 accept these conditions and were willing 
 to run the same risk of payment as the 
 members of the company had done 
 
 [53] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 hitherto. He then asked Albert whether 
 he would accept a partnership on those 
 terms. 
 
 Instead of answering, Albert pressed 
 his friend's hand. The unexpected offer, 
 the sudden change from the prospect 
 of humiliating poverty before him to 
 an offer of a paying position among men 
 of culture, acted upon his vocal organs 
 as the sudden transition from utter 
 darkness to brilliant light would have 
 acted upon his organs of sight. At the 
 parting on that evening it was agreed 
 that Albert should stay at the hotel over 
 night, and on the following day, after 
 breakfast, join his new comrades at their 
 work. 
 
 Next morning Albert appeared at the 
 appointed place. He was cordially 
 greeted by John and the other members 
 of the company who were in the act of 
 commencing the day's work and who, 
 like the members of the Irish gang, gave 
 
 [54] 
 
CONGENIAL FRIENDS 
 
 him the choice between digging and 
 wheeling. He chose, as before, the 
 wheeling. 
 
 Albert worked with a will. The 
 intelligent faces about him served as an 
 inspiration to his mind and as a strength- 
 ens to his muscles. He soon noticed 
 that his wheelbarrow was less heavily 
 loaded than those of the others, which 
 caused him to beg the diggers, quaintly 
 and sincerely, not to stint him but to 
 give him his full share and more, if pos- 
 sible. As soon as his demand had been 
 communicated to those that had failed 
 to hear, a rippling laughter broke out, 
 and a young man, dressed in blue over- 
 alls, turned his wheelbarrow upside down, 
 mounted it, and with a loud voice, but 
 with an accent that clearly marked him 
 to be a foreigner, proposed to give the 
 new recruit three cheers in recognition 
 of his courage, sense of justice, and of 
 having successfully passed the ordeal of 
 
 [55 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 initiation as the new member of the 
 Log House Company. The three cheers 
 were given amidst the banging of shovels 
 and the rattling of wheelbarrows; then 
 every member shook hands with Albert, 
 after which the work was resumed with 
 increased energy and with increased 
 results. 
 
 At precisely twelve o'clock at noon 
 John, who was evidently the manager, 
 called "Dinner," whereupon every wheel- 
 barrow stopped and every shovel was 
 dropped. Albert expected that accord- 
 ing to the practice in vogue with the Irish 
 gang, the shovels would be carefully 
 cleaned before going to dinner; therein, 
 however, he was strangely disappointed. 
 He failed to recognize that the skilled 
 builders of railroads, for which the Irish 
 were noted, although lacking in the so- 
 called culture otherwise, will do their 
 utmost to reach their ideal of building 
 railroads, whereas the college-bred youth, 
 
 [56] 
 
CONGENIAL FRIENDS 
 
 whose ideal is yet the building of air- 
 castles, is very apt to overlook some essen- 
 tial point in building railroads. 
 
 The men started toward the house 
 which was located in a grove, about two 
 hundred rods distant from where the 
 grading was carried on. Upon the way 
 John briefly informed Albert of the 
 name, nationality and, as far as he knew, 
 of the history of each member of the 
 company and that their ages varied 
 between twenty and twenty-five years. 
 Commencing with Fred Lambert, the 
 speaker of the morning, John gave the 
 following sketches: 
 
 "Fred Lambert is a native of Germany 
 and a graduate of one of its universities. 
 He left Germany in order to escape a 
 military career that had been mapped 
 out for him by his parents and relatives. 
 He drifted West for want of congenial 
 employment in the East; from a boot- 
 black in a hotel he rose to a wielder of 
 
 [57] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 the shovel, and he is now a valuable 
 member of this organization. 
 
 "Ralph Bowdoin and Paul Gerard are 
 two New England boys. They were 
 friends in the East and remained friends 
 in the West. Both were graduated at 
 the same time from an eastern high 
 school, began teaching school, and during 
 vacations read law with some practicing 
 attorneys. Becoming short of money, 
 they tried the great West and her enticing 
 fortunes by commencing to help build a 
 railroad. 
 
 "Byron Burns is an Englishman; he 
 ran away from his studies in Oxford 
 University and from a guardian's tyranny, 
 as he expressed it, in order to breathe 
 the air of freedom in America, of which 
 our prairies gave him more than he 
 expected or desired. He is a close 
 reasoner, an indefatigable student, and 
 an excellent worker with the shovel; 
 each evening he copies a list of German 
 
 [58] 
 
CONGENIAL FRIENDS 
 
 words and commits them to memory on 
 the next day during working hours. 
 
 "Hugo Brenner, a native of Prussia, 
 had been drafted to serve his king for 
 three years as a soldier; after serving three 
 months he left his country in full uniform, 
 armed with sword and musket and crossed 
 the Prussian frontier, at midnight, into 
 Belgium; there he changed his attire, 
 packed his uniform, sword and musket 
 securely in a large trunk, dressed himself 
 as a Belgian student, took the train to 
 Havre and then went by ship to New 
 York and finally to the West. 
 
 "Carl Kron is a native of Denmark; his 
 parents died while he was still in his teens. 
 He had by hard work earned sufficient 
 money to attend two terms of an eastern 
 college, but was then compelled to go 
 back to work for the want of funds. 
 He, too, followed the emigration to the 
 West and is now a good worker and a 
 close student. 
 
 [59] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 "Lou Johnson is a Norwegian. He 
 left his native land when he was sixteen 
 in order to join his uncle, who was a 
 resident of Michigan. On the day he 
 arrived, the uncle was buried, leaving 
 a widow and three small children with 
 scarcely sufficient means to sustain them. 
 He stayed a few days with his relatives, 
 did what he could for them and then 
 hired out to a farmer with the privilege 
 of attending school whenever it was 
 in session. He became a passable good 
 English scholar. When he was twenty 
 years of age he quit farming and came 
 West. 
 
 "Peter Ivan is a native of Hungary; 
 while attending a university in Austria he 
 fought a duel with an Austrian nobleman's 
 son, whom he crippled for life, and for 
 which he was condemned to a long term 
 of imprisonment. He escaped to the 
 United States by a daring flight which, 
 at the time, created a great deal of 
 
 [60] 
 
CONGENIAL FRIENDS 
 
 interest among all classes of people in 
 Europe. 
 
 "About you and me, we shall talk at 
 some other time," laughingly remarked 
 John as they arrived at the log house 
 before which their comrades, who had 
 been less deeply engaged in conversa- 
 tion, stood ready to enter for dinner. 
 
 [61] 
 
Chapter V 
 
 THE SOUL OF THE LOG HOUSE 
 
 WHEN they entered the dining- 
 room a well-cooked dinner, 
 tastefully arranged and ready 
 to be served, stood upon a long table 
 which was covered with a spotless cloth. 
 The whole scene forcibly impressed Albert 
 by its simple elegance and scrupulous 
 cleanliness. His mind wandered back 
 to another room and table, equally elegant 
 in its cleanliness and tasty arrangement, 
 and created in him a homelike feeling 
 that he had missed since his mother's 
 death. While he was still comparing the 
 old home with the new, a middle-aged 
 lady entered the dining-room and invited 
 the men to be seated, since dinner had 
 been ready for some time. Her voice 
 sounded to Albert as a greeting from 
 a better world ; it was so clear and precise 
 
 [62] 
 
THE SOUL OF THE LOG HOUSE 
 
 and yet full of sympathy, and caused his 
 dream of home to continue. Albert's 
 dream was realized when John introduced 
 the lady, whom he called Mrs. Graham, 
 to his young friend, and she, with 
 unmistakable kindness in her voice, wel- 
 comed him as "the hero of the cabin" 
 and as the new member of her household. 
 
 John was seated at the head of the 
 table; the lady assigned Albert to the 
 opposite side, remarking that the placing 
 of the oldest and youngest at the outposts 
 of the company would insure success, 
 at least, at the table. The lady's humor 
 was contagious; Albert was astonished 
 at the many witty, good-natured hits 
 that were exchanged among his friends 
 during the meal. He was furthermore 
 exceedingly pleased at the absence of any 
 and all coarse language among them. 
 
 At the rapping on the table by the lady 
 of the house two girls, evidently her 
 daughters, brought in several dishes and 
 
 [63] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 placed them on the table; this gave 
 Fred Lambert, the late toastmaster at 
 the roadbed grading, an opportunity to 
 introduce Albert to the two blushing girls 
 whom he called Miss Mary with the 
 heavenly blue eyes, and Miss Lucy with 
 two of the night's sparkling stars, and 
 added that the newcomer was the only 
 young man who had ever asked that his 
 work should be harder without adding a 
 prayer that his pay might be larger. 
 Was it Fred Lambert's odd way of intro- 
 duction, or was it the girls' ladylike 
 behavior, that made Albert rise and 
 blush like a girl who listens to the first 
 declaration of love? Or was it the young 
 man's inborn esteem of womanhood, 
 irrespective of social condition, that made 
 him bow to these two modest girls as 
 he would have bowed had they been 
 queens? 
 
 The entire scene was so unique and 
 pleasing that for a few seconds the eating 
 
 [64] 
 
THE SOUL OF THE LOG HOUSE 
 
 was suspended in order to give the eye 
 and ear a chance to observe the further 
 developments. At this awkward pause, 
 John helped the young persons over their 
 embarrassment by asking Albert to sit 
 down, and telling all present that his 
 young friend had demanded but fair 
 play, that he had been mistreated on the 
 first day that he worked for their Irish 
 neighbors, by having his wheelbarrow 
 overloaded, whereas the present company 
 had gone to the other extreme. This 
 humorous explanation set everybody at 
 ease. Albert sat down laughingly, the 
 girls escaped to the kitchen, and the 
 dinner was finished during a lively con- 
 versation on divers topics. 
 
 On the way to work John gave Albert 
 a few facts relating to their housekeeper 
 and her family, which briefly were the 
 following: Mrs. Graham's husband was 
 a ship-builder who had been working in 
 a shipyard in the East from where, from 
 
 T~ [65] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 time to time, he had sent money for the 
 support of the family who resided in 
 the village adjoining the log house. 
 The amounts thus sent became less and 
 less until they were so small that Mrs. 
 Graham had to take her daughters out 
 of school for the want of suitable clothing 
 and partly for the doing of the housework 
 while she did needlework which she had 
 obtained from the distant city, in order 
 to earn enough to pay the rent and 
 other necessary expenses. Soon after 
 a letter was received from the East that 
 Mr. Graham had been sick and in debt 
 and would not be able to send the next 
 monthly allowance. The letter was 
 signed "Whiskey" and nothing more. A 
 subsequent letter directed to Mr. Graham 
 was returned to Mrs. Graham marked 
 "Not called for." Thereafter all further 
 inquiries, written and verbal, about his 
 residence, were unavailing. From that 
 time both girls were obliged to help their 
 
 [66] 
 
THE SOUL OF THE LOG HOUSE 
 
 mother with the needlework in order to 
 make a scanty living. 
 
 At that period the Log House Company 
 was formed by these young men who had 
 stranded in a neighboring city, and to 
 whom had been leased, during the time 
 they were working for the railroad com- 
 pany, the log house in which they were 
 then residing and after which their com- 
 pany was named. This log house had 
 for several years been used as a wayside 
 inn and had been recently sold to the 
 railroad company with all furniture. In 
 that condition it was taken possession of 
 by the new company. The village 
 landlord had called the young men's 
 attention to the Graham family, who, 
 after some hesitation, agreed to keep 
 house for them. After three months' 
 trial, the family and the new company 
 were so well satisfied with the arrange- 
 ment and so assured of the other's pure 
 intentions, that an agreement was en- 
 
 [67] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 tered into between them extending the 
 relations during the summer months. 
 The railroad company had subsequently 
 bought a section of timber adjoining the 
 village and had engaged the young men 
 to chop and pile five hundred cords of 
 wood which was to be done before the 
 opening of the next spring. 
 
 Albert thanked his friend for the 
 valuable and interesting statements per- 
 taining to the Graham family and their 
 own company. He appreciated to the 
 fullest extent, John's friendship and con- 
 fidence in him by these disclosures, and 
 resumed work even more joyfully than 
 before. 
 
 In the afternoon Albert noticed with 
 great interest the difference between the 
 work that is performed by a laborer who 
 is financially interested in the result and 
 between the work of one who is hired and 
 paid by the day only. The united 
 interest of his present companions made 
 
 [68 
 
THE SOUL OF THE LOG HOUSE 
 
 all work run smoothly and evenly, no 
 trivial pretext was used for an occasional 
 cessation of labor when the master's eye 
 was not on them, as he had frequently 
 observed the day before among the gang 
 whose greatest reward for the labor of 
 each individual was eighty -five cents a 
 day, no matter how fast or slow they 
 w T orked. He himself felt keenly the 
 invigorating influence of being master 
 instead of hireling; of being the architect 
 of his own fortune instead of being the 
 recipient of a predetermined morsel dealt 
 out through the employer's will or neces- 
 sity. 
 
 In further tracing this idea his memory 
 wandered back to the long winter evenings 
 at home in which his mother had pointed 
 out to him in history the downfall of all 
 governments that had tolerated slavery 
 and had been sustained by the labor of 
 slaves and hirelings. Reasoning further 
 in that line of thought his mind naturally 
 
 [69 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 and forcibly turned to his own country in 
 which slavery was as much tolerated and 
 protected as it had been in ancient 
 Egypt, Greece and Rome. The magni- 
 tude of this thought burst, for the first 
 time, so powerfully upon him, that, while 
 he was wheeling a heavy load from the 
 pit to the grade on a plank only a foot 
 wide, he lost his balance, precipitating 
 himself and his wheelbarrow a distance 
 of about ten feet, and nearly spraining 
 his ankle. The result was a broken 
 wheelbarrow, Albert's change of employ- 
 ment from a wheeler to a digger and the 
 proceedings in the evening, which will be 
 related hereafter. 
 
 While Albert, with all his might, was 
 loading the wheelbarrow as his predeces- 
 sor had done, he could not determine 
 which caused him the greater pain, the 
 sore ankle or the inability to solve his 
 country's predicament of harboring slave 
 labor. He had as yet not heard of the 
 
 70 
 
THE SOUL OF THE LOG HOUSE 
 
 preparations that were being made for 
 the final battle against slavery under the 
 direction of Abraham Lincoln, the untu- 
 tored cabin boy of Kentucky. The cares 
 of a household had hidden from Albert 
 the beginning of that gigantic struggle 
 which was destined to sweep over the new 
 world and drench its virgin soil with 
 blood and tears. 
 
 After supper on the same day, John 
 called the members of the company 
 together for a business meeting, espe- 
 cially for the purpose of acquainting the 
 new member with the company's unwrit- 
 ten law. All members were present when 
 John, the chairman, stated that the wilful 
 or careless breaking or destroying of any 
 property belonging to the company was 
 punishable by the payment into the treas- 
 ury of the value of the destroyed article, 
 and that in case a dispute should arise 
 whether the destruction had been careless 
 or accidental only, a committee of three 
 
 71 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 should be appointed to investigate the 
 matter. John stated further that Albert's 
 wheelbarrow had been almost totally- 
 destroyed and that the wishes of the com- 
 pany in that matter should be ascer- 
 tained. Albert arose immediately and 
 acknowledged that he had been careless 
 and that he would pay. This statement 
 was disputed by Lou Johnson, the Nor- 
 wegian, who had loaded the fated vehicle 
 and who claimed that the accident might 
 have been caused by uneven loading. 
 This version of the matter was seconded 
 by the two Americans, Ralph Bowdoin 
 and Paul Gerard, who insisted that a 
 vote should decide that question and 
 not Albert's confession of carelessness, 
 since he was still a minor, and not com- 
 petent to condemn himself. 
 
 The chairman was not of the same 
 opinion, claiming that Albert's confession 
 of guilt, since he was working for himself, 
 should be respected, although he was still 
 
 [72] 
 
THE SOUL OF THE LOG HOUSE 
 
 of non-age; and he should be permitted 
 to reimburse the company for the damage 
 suffered. The new point of law that was 
 raised by the chairman led to a further 
 discussion, whether, under any circum- 
 stances, a confession of guilt made by a 
 person who was in his right mind and 
 capable of understanding the situation, 
 should or could be disregarded. Albert 
 observed with pleasure that every speaker 
 had the required sense to quit talking 
 when he had nothing more to say, and 
 that about one half of the members had 
 studied the rudiments of law in the schools 
 and colleges of their respective countries. 
 The final result of the matter was that 
 Albert's confession of guilt was accepted 
 to the satisfaction of all the members. 
 
 This controversy, insignificant as the 
 points of issue might have been, taught 
 them in a practical way the analytical 
 power of discussion and the importance 
 and ease with which the blending of 
 
 [73] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 the opinions of the old world with those 
 of the new could be accomplished, if the 
 contesting parties were honest, able and 
 willing to put self below the common 
 good. 
 
 Encouraged by the recent success, 
 the members resolved to enjoy many 
 similar meetings and to change the name 
 of "Log House Company" to "The Log 
 House Club." The resolution was 
 carried. 
 
 During the evening's discussion the 
 ladies of the house had been busy in 
 cleaning the table, washing dishes, pre- 
 paring eatables for the next day and in 
 similar work. Albert was very desirous 
 to renew his acquaintance with them and, 
 if possible, appear more like himself in 
 their society. This opportunity was 
 granted him on the same evening in the 
 following manner: 
 
 After the club meeting had adjourned 
 and Mrs. Graham and her daughters had 
 
 74 
 
THE SOUL OF THE LOG HOUSE 
 
 completed their duties, they asked Albert's 
 advice and help in locating and putting 
 up a new bedstead that had been sent 
 by the village hotel keeper for his accom- 
 modation. The lady's agreeable voice 
 and her sensible direction won at once 
 Albert's esteem and confidence, and he 
 complied with her wishes with such 
 enthusiasm and understanding that Mrs. 
 Graham could not suppress the desire 
 of bestowing upon him some caressing 
 word of approval. 
 
 When all the arrangements for his 
 present welfare had been completed, the 
 lady asked him to get better acquainted 
 with her daughters, since both of them 
 felt very sorry on account of the disagree- 
 able situation in which he had been placed 
 at dinner by Fred Lambert's odd intro- 
 duction. This time the mother, with a 
 few complimentary words as to Albert's 
 readiness to help, introduced him and 
 expressed her pity for the afternoon's 
 
 [75] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 accident. Albert, noticing a well-known 
 arithmetic lying opened on the table at 
 which the girls had been seated when he 
 entered the room, asked, in order to 
 direct their attention from him to them- 
 selves, whether they were studying arith- 
 metic. Both girls admitted that they 
 were still endeavoring to keep up with 
 their classes, hoping to attend school 
 again the next year, and asked his advice 
 as to the solving of a difficult problem that 
 had been marked on the open page before 
 them. When he had acquainted himself 
 with what the author meant, he readily 
 explained to the delighted girls the true 
 method of solving the knotty problem, 
 after which, with a pleasant "good- 
 night," he took leave of his new friends. 
 Albert was now fully settled in his new 
 home; his bed and a small table occupied 
 a corner of a spacious room upstairs; 
 his roommates were Fred Lambert, Carl 
 Kron, Ralph Bowdoin and Paul Gerard, 
 
 76 
 
THE SOUL OF THE LOG HOUSE 
 
 who occupied two other beds. The room 
 was well ventilated and lighted. Al- 
 though the bare logs were visible in the 
 walls, the entire room invited Albert to 
 make it not alone a place for sleeping 
 but also a place for study. For that pur- 
 pose he put up a shelf near the window, 
 placed his school books upon it, and after 
 this was done laid down to sleep and to 
 dream of his late home in Buffalo. 
 
 [77 
 
Chapter VI 
 
 THE SOLUTION OF THE OLDEST QUESTION 
 OF MANKIND 
 
 THERE is no action so trivial but 
 that it may have in its wake 
 some unexpected results; for 
 instance, Mrs. Graham, having over- 
 heard Albert's ready way of explaining 
 the intricate example of the evening 
 before, called John's attention to Albert's 
 exact knowledge of arithmetic and recom- 
 mended him for the position of the com- 
 pany's secretary. To this position was 
 attached a substantial salary, as the work 
 required the utmost exactness and con- 
 siderable time after working hours. John 
 thanked her for the information, and 
 acting upon her suggestion, consulted 
 the other members during the day as to 
 their choice for secretary and Albert's 
 fitness for that position. All were in 
 
 [78] 
 
OLDEST QUESTION OF MANKIND 
 
 favor of their youngest comrade, even 
 Byron Burns, the present secretary. 
 
 It was agreed to inform Albert that 
 very evening of their choice, and in the 
 event of his acceptance, to celebrate his 
 appointment. After supper, when every- 
 body was in the dining-room, including 
 the ladies who shared the secret, but who 
 had never attended a business session, 
 John called the meeting to order. Turn- 
 ing to Albert he informed him that, by 
 the unanimous choice of the club, he 
 was herewith appointed its secretary, 
 with a salary of ten dollars a month in 
 addition to his share of the net profits. 
 Before Albert had time to recover from 
 his surprise, Byron Burns handed him 
 the books of the company with the 
 assurance that he would cheerfully aid 
 the newly installed secretary at any 
 time when called upon. 
 
 The presence of Mrs. Graham and her 
 daughters, and their peculiar smile and 
 
 [79] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 behavior, caused Albert to guess easily 
 the source of his appointment. Bowing 
 to the ladies and to the chairman, with a 
 pleasant smile, but with a look of stern 
 determination, he thanked his friends for 
 the honor bestowed upon him, which he 
 would accept under one condition only, 
 namely, that in the future deliberations 
 at their meetings the ladies of the house 
 should be urged to take an active part. 
 He assigned as his reasons that their work 
 was equally as hard as that of the other 
 members, that they worked as many 
 hours, if not more, as the men, and that 
 nature in her great wisdom compels 
 the union of the intellect of both sexes for 
 the attainment of perfect happiness and 
 success in life. 
 
 The impression of this speech upon his 
 hearers was peculiar. Mrs. Graham 
 blushed, her daughters nodded approval, 
 the chairman leaned back in his chair 
 and smiled, and the rest of the men got 
 
 [80] 
 
OLDEST QUESTION OF MANKIND 
 
 up and applauded their youngest member, 
 who so ably had woven his mother's 
 mature wisdom in his manly speech. 
 When order was restored, John arose and 
 favorably commented upon Albert's pro- 
 posal. He invited all present, especially 
 the ladies, to express themselves on the 
 question before the house, claiming that 
 a thorough discussion of the subject might 
 lead to untold blessings. 
 
 Mrs. Graham accepted the invitation 
 and without rising, thanked Albert for 
 his good opinion of women, but deplored 
 the necessity of their absence from the 
 meetings of the club for want of time, 
 illustrating her point by mentioning but 
 a partial list of duties which were waiting 
 to be performed by her and her daughters 
 that very evening, such as washing dishes, 
 preparing the next morning's breakfast, 
 mending garments and many other tasks 
 equally important. She asserted in con- 
 clusion that women, as the soul of the 
 
 [81 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 household, should not interfere with men's 
 work and that for these reasons mentioned 
 she and her daughters should be excused. 
 After this declaration a painful silence 
 followed; at last Albert took the floor 
 once more and thanked the lady for 
 her frank statement, acknowledging its 
 weight, but not its conclusiveness. He 
 referred to the schools of his native city 
 and to the efforts that had been made 
 for separate schools on the basis that the 
 girls should be taught, besides the com- 
 mon school branches, knitting and mend- 
 ing; that this controversy had led to 
 quite a division among the population, a 
 large portion insisting that the boys 
 would be equally benefited by being 
 taught housework and consequently they 
 strenuously opposed any separation of the 
 sexes in school work; that the matter 
 was finally dropped and that the sexes 
 were still vying with each other in the 
 mastery of the rudiments of ah education 
 
 [82] 
 
OLDEST QUESTION OF MANKIND 
 
 without including any branches of house- 
 work. 
 
 Fred Lambert stated that he was 
 brought up in Germany where the coedu- 
 cation of the sexes was not tolerated but 
 where the girls were taught some branches 
 of housework in school. He presented 
 himself as a true specimen of the result 
 of that unwise separate teaching and as 
 proof pointed to his coat, which for the 
 want of a few stitches was rapidly return- 
 ing to its original elements; to his vest, 
 which, for the want of a few buttons, was 
 held together by two wires, and to himself 
 as a warning not to keep boys from learn- 
 ing what the girls are taught; on the other 
 hand he referred to his sister in Germany 
 who could converse in four languages, but 
 who was unable to drive a nail to save her 
 soul, and whose attempt at sawing wood 
 or fitting a board were so dangerous to 
 her life and limb that his parents had 
 never permitted her to handle tools like 
 
 83 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 hammer and saw, claiming that they 
 should be used by men and boys only. 
 
 Lou Johnson smilingly remarked that 
 he, too, had a sister, who had not only 
 been taught by his parents to use hammer 
 and saw, but who could use the oars, 
 rudder and sails as well as he; that his 
 parents and his teachers had insisted on 
 giving the girls and boys the same 
 chances to make a living, and that he was 
 taught in school as well as at home to 
 knit socks and darn them, to mend his 
 clothes as well as to saw a board and to 
 mend his boat; as proof he pointed to the 
 right sleeve of his coat which he had 
 mended by a patch that only a tailor's 
 experienced eye could have detected. 
 Lou was heartily applauded, even Mrs. 
 Graham, to whom had been shown the 
 patched sleeve, could not resist her 
 approval. 
 
 Ralph Bowdoin illustrated to what 
 absurdity the principle of excluding 
 
 [84] 
 
OLDEST QUESTION OF MANKIND 
 
 women from men's work would lead, even 
 in the matter of worshipping the Creator, 
 by citing Christian denominations in 
 whose churches the male portion of the 
 congregation are compelled to be seated 
 on one side of the church and the women 
 on the other, apparently for fear that the 
 united worship of the sexes might dis- 
 please the Creator. 
 
 The chairman now called attention to 
 the fact that they had been, in their 
 pleasant exchange of ideas, wandering 
 far from the issue, which had been pre- 
 sented by Mrs. Graham's refusal to 
 become an active member of the club 
 chiefly for the want of time to attend their 
 meetings, intimating that the united 
 brains of Europe and America should 
 easily find a remedy for this evil and 
 secure for them the pleasure of the 
 ladies' presence at all future meetings. 
 
 The chairman's timely point of order 
 caused the allowance of a ten minutes' 
 
 [85] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 intermission for the purpose of formulat- 
 ing a resolution which would be accept- 
 able and obviate all difficulties to a future 
 full representation at their meetings. 
 The girls were enthusiastic for joint 
 meetings, while the mother refused to 
 express her opinion. At the expiration of 
 the ten minutes, the meeting was called 
 to order and Paul Gerard proposed the 
 following resolution: 
 
 "Resolved, that all members of the 
 club, irrespective of race, color, sex or 
 previous condition of servitude, shall 
 have the right and it shall be their duty 
 to attend all meetings of this club and to 
 have a voice in its deliberations ; and that 
 all its members, under the direction of 
 Mrs. Graham, shall be liable to perform, 
 to the best of their ability, any household 
 service which she might assign to any 
 member." 
 
 In support of his motion the young man 
 reviewed the speeches that had been 
 
 86 
 
OLDEST QUESTION OF MANKIND 
 
 made upon the subject by the other mem- 
 bers, and further claimed that it was the 
 duty of the state, as well as of every 
 citizen, to make every child as nearly 
 independent as possible in order to resist 
 the blows of fate that will come, sooner 
 or later, alike to man and woman. 
 
 Paul's speech was listened to with 
 the utmost attention; it had evidently 
 made a good impression upon Mrs. 
 Graham, as her features seemed to indi- 
 cate approval. 
 
 Albert, whose conditional acceptance 
 of the secretaryship had provoked this 
 discussion, seconded Paul's motion and 
 declared that the male portion of the 
 club were united in their wish to aid the 
 ladies in all household duties which they 
 could possibly perform during the ap- 
 proaching long evenings, and for that 
 purpose he had been authorized to ask 
 the lady whether she would accept such 
 a difficult task for the benefit of the club. 
 
 [87] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 As Albert withdrew, all eyes were 
 directed on Mrs. Graham, who, with a 
 visible effort, arose, addressed the chair- 
 man, and then turning to Albert and his 
 expectant friends, declared that under 
 such circumstances she would withdraw 
 her objections and accept the position; 
 that she had listened with great pleasure 
 and profit to the able arguments of her 
 associates, and that as the beginning of 
 her duties as instructor of domestic 
 science, she would ask that every member 
 carefully examine the meaning of the 
 words "constancy" and ," persistency" 
 and act in accordance therewith, she 
 pledging a like action on her part. 
 
 The lady's unexpected conversion and 
 her parting shot caused a pleasant 
 jollification and shaking of hands with 
 the brave woman, who, contrary to cus- 
 tom, had the courage to acknowledge her 
 defeat. 
 
 The resolution was then adopted, the 
 
 [88] 
 
OLDEST QUESTION OF MANKIND 
 
 appointment of the two officers, Albert 
 and Mrs. Graham, made and approved, 
 and the way cleared for a practical demon- 
 stration of woman's rights within the 
 narrow limits of the log house family. 
 
 True to her word, Mrs. Graham, on 
 the same evening, appointed as her 
 assistants for one week the following 
 persons : 
 
 Fred Lambert and Ralph Bowdoin as 
 potato peelers; Paul Gerard and Carl 
 Kron as furnishers of firewood and kin- 
 dling; Lou Johnson and Hugo Brenner 
 as menders of the men's [clothing; Byron 
 Burns and Paul Ivan as assistants on 
 washday and carpet cleaning; John as 
 the general provider and all-around assist- 
 ant, and Albert as her private secretary, 
 whose duty it was to keep a record of 
 the different appointments and their suc- 
 cessors in office. Every appointee was 
 further subject to any extra labor that 
 could not be classified in advance. 
 
 [89] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 The lady appeared like a queen among 
 her subjects; her cheeks were flushed 
 with the excitement of the strange pro- 
 ceedings; her eyes glowed with a fire that 
 an intellectual victory only can kindle, 
 and, as she bowed and took leave of her 
 friends, her girls rushed to her, and 
 embracing her, kissed her cheeks. 
 
 When the door had closed upon the 
 mother and daughters, John arose and 
 with his voice trembling somewhat, said: 
 " My young friends, may this scene never 
 be blotted from your memory, may that 
 mother's brave action be ever before you 
 and compel you to worship and protect 
 woman's virtue as you would protect 
 the virtue of your own mother and 
 sister!" 
 
 The chairman's words sank deep into 
 the hearts of these boys, whose own 
 mothers were far away or who slept the 
 last sleep. Even in the dense smoke of 
 battle, in the hour when the death-angel 
 
 90 
 
OLDEST QUESTION OF MANKIND 
 
 hovered over them, the deserted mother 
 and her daughters clinging to her, were 
 not forgotten by any one of them. 
 
 Before closing the meeting each mem- 
 ber, upon the president's suggestion, gave 
 a brief description of the method which 
 had been pursued by his mother in 
 conducting the household. Thus were 
 all made acquainted with the simplest 
 form of keeping a house as practiced by 
 the peasants of Europe to the most 
 refined in vogue among the aristocracy 
 of England, Germany and Hungary. 
 
 [91 
 
Chapter VII 
 
 THE DANGER OF SYSTEM APPLIED TO LOVE 
 
 THE new arrangement commenced 
 with the next day; after less 
 than a week all members were 
 astonished how much quicker the house- 
 hold work was accomplished, and how 
 much more enjoyable each evening was 
 spent, than before. All recognized that 
 Mrs. Graham, by virtue of her systematic 
 and kind government, was the mainspring 
 of the new life that benefited all members 
 and hurt no one, except the venders of 
 whiskey and tobacco in^the village. 
 
 Byron Burns was an expert in algebra, 
 which science the girls were obliged to 
 study in order to keep up with their 
 classes in the village school. Albert 
 knew nothing of that science, but being 
 desirous of aiding the girls, whom he 
 taught the advanced arithmetic, he acci- 
 
 [92 
 
THE DANGER OF SYSTEM 
 
 dentally ascertained Byron's proficiency 
 in algebra, and drafted him into service 
 for the benefit of his pupils. 
 
 At a special meeting of the club, which 
 was called upon Mrs. Graham's request, 
 she spoke of the necessity of a time-table 
 by which the different duties of the house- 
 hold should be governed; for instance, 
 such as the rising in the morning, the 
 time to eat, the time to go to bed, the 
 hours of study, recreations and of similar 
 duties. She requested the chairman to 
 appoint a committee of three to draft 
 such a time-table and to present it 
 at the next meeting. Her request was 
 accepted as a motion and seconded by 
 every member. The chairman appointed 
 Mrs. Graham, Paul Gerard and Carl 
 Kron and requested them to report 
 the next evening. 
 
 A reform in punctuality was needed. 
 Each had a different time to rise, and only 
 a few obeyed immediately the call for 
 
 [93] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 breakfast. Even the calls for dinner and 
 supper were not strictly obeyed, all of 
 which caused a great deal of trouble and 
 vexation to the women. 
 
 The time-table and the provisions for 
 its enforcement were duly presented at the 
 next meeting. The necessity of its 
 adoption was clearly and forcibly proved 
 by Mrs. Graham, who compared the 
 workings of a household to that of the 
 planetary system ; demonstrating that the 
 rising of the sun an hour later now and 
 then, the occasional straying from its 
 path by Jupiter or by any other planet, 
 and the frequent sky-larking of the 
 moon, would lead to similar disastrous 
 results in the management of the plane- 
 tary system as the irregularities of com- 
 mencing the day's work and the uncertain 
 hours of eating meals invariably cause 
 in the management of a household. 
 
 After the explosion of this bombshell 
 the few late risers and the indifferent 
 
 94 
 
THE DANGER OF SYSTEM 
 
 attendants at meals were discouraged to 
 move for any changes of time and 
 reduction of fines which were attached to 
 each violation. The law did pass and 
 was afterwards sensibly enforced by the 
 committee who had drafted it, and who 
 had been authorized for that purpose by 
 the club. 
 
 During these internal revolutions of this 
 cosmopolitan household, John and Albert 
 worked and lived harmoniously together. 
 Their decisions on disputable questions 
 generally prevailed among the members. 
 This relation between the boy of twenty 
 and the man of thirty -five was remark- 
 able; no lovers could have yearned for 
 each other's company more ardently than 
 they. 
 
 This close friendship aroused no envy 
 among the other members. On the con- 
 trary, it aided them in their discussions 
 and dealings among themselves to con- 
 quer selfishness and national prejudices, 
 
 [95 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 and to find the pleasant medium which 
 united so many persons of different 
 nationalities and characters into one large 
 and happy family. 
 
 It was Sunday afternoon; John and 
 Albert were, as usual, walking home 
 together from church. The sun shone 
 bright, no breeze was stirring and Nature 
 in her silent glory seemed to pray. 
 The two friends had listened to one of 
 Rev. Gilbert's masterly sermons on the 
 beauty of nature and on her soothing 
 influence upon the human heart and 
 human passions. In recalling the 
 speaker's eloquent thoughts, and perhaps 
 caused thereby, Albert asked John why 
 he had left his home in the sunny South. 
 John recognized the motive which 
 prompted Albert's personal question and 
 without hesitation complied with his 
 friend's request as follows: 
 
 "I am the youngest of three sons; I 
 was born and brought up to manhood on 
 
 [96 
 
THE DANGER OF SYSTEM 
 
 a small plantation in Louisiana; we kept 
 several slaves and treated them kindly, 
 but we remained poor. The few dollars 
 which we received for our surplus produce 
 were insufficient to support us. The 
 result was that my two older brothers left 
 home before I was sixteen years old; 
 after that my parents bestowed more 
 care upon my education. I stayed at 
 home until I was thirty. Our wealthy 
 neighbor had but one child, Elma, a 
 beautiful girl; she was attending school 
 and subsequently college in a distant 
 city, and was seldom at home for longer 
 than a month. 
 
 "We were perfect strangers until she 
 was graduated, and, tired of schooling, 
 remained at home. Her parents and 
 mine were equally desirous to keep us 
 with them; this mutual desire, unknown 
 to us, led to an understanding between 
 our parents that we should marry. Many 
 opportunities were devised by them to 
 
 [97] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 make us better acquainted with each 
 other. Although she was ten years 
 younger than I, her general education was 
 equal, if not superior, to mine. Our 
 conversation never lagged for the want 
 of topics for discussion. In short, her 
 beauty and attainments led to a declara- 
 tion of love and to a proposal of marriage 
 on my part. My proposal was accepted 
 and our engagement was celebrated by 
 the two families. Neither, however, had 
 mentioned when the marriage should 
 take place. Elated with the prospect of 
 soon calling the beautiful girl my own, I 
 spoke to our minister about solemnizing 
 our marriage at the bride's home as soon 
 as I could obtain her and her parents' 
 consent to the exact time. 
 
 "With all the impetuosity of youth and 
 love, I hastened to Elma for approval. I 
 shall never forget her look of surprise 
 and her ringing laughter at the idea that 
 she should be married at her home and 
 
 [98 
 
THE DANGER OF SYSTEM 
 
 not in church. When she had recovered 
 from her surprise and I was in the act of 
 leaving her, she told me for the first time 
 that our parents had agreed that not 
 only our marriage should be solemnized 
 in church, but that all the relatives of 
 both families and the public generally 
 should be invited to the ceremony. She 
 and my parents well knew of my abhor- 
 rence of such public demonstrations; she 
 was astonished that I had not been 
 consulted on that matter. I was angry 
 with my parents and with my betrothed 
 for not having informed me of that com- 
 pact. I told her so and she grew as angry 
 as I was. She insisted that I knew, or 
 should have known, of that agreement 
 ever since our engagement. Thereupon 
 we exchanged rings and with a polite 
 bow I left her. 
 
 " My parents, as a reason for withhold- 
 ing from me so important a step, alleged 
 that they had intended to tell me as 
 
 [991 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 soon as I, in their estimation, had fallen 
 so deeply in love with the girl that I 
 would not have minded the change. I 
 could not help laughing at the ingenuity 
 with which the love of parents for their 
 child had conducted the campaign, which, 
 as my mother assured me, would have 
 been successful if I had not been in such 
 a hurry for the wedding day. 
 
 "I kissed my mother for her loving care, 
 shook hands with my old father, and 
 bidding them good-bye, I left for the 
 North. 
 
 "A photograph, which was accidentally 
 found in one of my books by some mem- 
 ber of our present household, was Elma's 
 likeness. I returned it to her without a 
 word of explanation. This, Albert, has 
 been my first love, and it will be my last." 
 
 Albert pressed his friend's hand, and 
 the two walked silently home as if they 
 had been mourners at the funeral of 
 that love. 
 
 [100 
 
Chapter VIII 
 
 THE CLUB'S MAIDEN EFFORT 
 
 WHILE this world in miniature 
 was slowly and understand- 
 ingly becoming a pattern of 
 peace and harmony, the other, larger 
 world, "the home of the free," was 
 trembling with the upheaval of the ques- 
 tion of slavery. Abraham Lincoln, 
 Nature's great son, whom she had taught 
 in the pure atmosphere of her woods 
 and rivulets the grandeur of herself, and 
 who was inspired by the wisdom and love 
 of his tutor to heal wounds, was 
 nominated by the infant Republican 
 party as its leader — Lucifer shuddered 
 in his stronghold and Liberty com- 
 menced weaving the victor's wreath. 
 
 The billows of that struggle between 
 slavery and liberty reached even as far 
 as our friends' romantically located log 
 
 [101] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 house. The words "state rights" and 
 "secession" were sometimes mentioned 
 during John and Albert's conversations, 
 while returning from work, but neither 
 anticipated any serious complications. 
 Their intercourse was not marred in the 
 least because John was an enthusiast for 
 state rights and slavery while Albert 
 favored a strong Union and the abolition 
 of all serfdom. The care for their own 
 existence and their deep-seated friendship 
 suppressed any passionate outburst of 
 feeling. 
 
 Albert was exceedingly busy after work- 
 ing hours in keeping the company's books 
 and showing therein the account of each 
 member. About that time the village 
 school board was contemplating the erec- 
 tion of a new substantial brick school- 
 house in the spring, and for that purpose 
 had received bids. The board was 
 authorized to offer three prizes of fifteen, 
 ten and five dollars each to the three 
 
 [102] 
 
THE CLUB'S MAIDEN EFFORT 
 
 persons of school age, living within the 
 school district, who should, within a 
 certain time, deposit with the secretary 
 of the school board the most accurately 
 written itemized estimate of the number 
 of bricks it would require to build the new 
 structure in accordance with the specifi- 
 cations, of which copies would be handed 
 free of charge to any contestant. 
 
 Mr. Henry, the landlord, and his 
 daughter, Agnes, called one evening on 
 Mrs. Graham and her daughters, request- 
 ing them to urge Albert to compete for 
 one of the prizes. Mr. Henry, being a 
 member of the school board, had heard of 
 Albert's ability as a reliable arithmetician, 
 and being acquainted with his financial 
 condition, considered this step an ad- 
 vantageous one for Albert and the school 
 board. 
 
 In the meantime the work of grading 
 was pushed with great vigor and better 
 results. The pleasant mental employ- 
 
 [103 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 ment after working hours strengthened 
 them for the manual labor on the next 
 day. Two rainy days gave Albert an 
 opportunity to post his books to date and 
 to calculate the required number of bricks 
 for the building of the new schoolhouse. 
 He had asked the girls to compete for 
 the prizes, offering his help, but they had 
 emphatically declined. 
 
 Having been brought up in a city that 
 had been chiefly built of brick, Albert 
 had learned in school the methods pur- 
 sued in ascertaining the amount of brick 
 contained in various buildings, some of 
 which had been larger and more compli- 
 cated than the proposed schoolhouse in 
 question; therefore the present computa- 
 tion was an easy task for him and took 
 very little of his time. 
 
 The enforcement of the fines in con- 
 nection with the recently established 
 time-tables experienced but one serious 
 difficulty when Fred Lambert, who had 
 
 [104] 
 
THE CLUB'S MAIDEN EFFORT 
 
 been guilty of wilful tardiness at the 
 breakfast table, demanded a jury trial 
 in order to determine his guilt or inno- 
 cence. All members agreed to try this 
 new method of entertainment and re- 
 solved to follow, as near as possible, the 
 methods prescribed by law. 
 
 On the evening of the trial every one 
 seemed excited and even the dignified 
 John, as the presiding judge, showed signs 
 of uneasiness. Carl Kron, who had been 
 appointed sheriff, nervously looked over 
 the papers that had been handed him by 
 the two attorneys, Paul Gerard for the 
 defendant and Ralph Bowdoin for the 
 state. At eight o'clock the court was 
 opened by the sheriff. John, as the 
 judge, occupied a chair which, together 
 with a large dry goods box, served as the 
 judge's stand. 
 
 Upon the case of the state against 
 Lambert being called for trial the sheriff 
 presented the prisoner to the judge, who 
 
 105] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 asked the prisoner whether he was rightly 
 named and whether he wished an attorney 
 to defend him; he answered both ques- 
 tions in the affirmative. The court then 
 announced that the defendant had 
 pleaded not guilty to a certain charge 
 and demanded a jury trial. Whereupon 
 the court ordered the sheriff to call a 
 jury. In compliance therewith Sheriff 
 Kron drew from his pocket a paper and 
 read the names of Mrs. Graham, Albert 
 Burdett, Mary Graham, Lou Johnson, 
 Lucy Graham and Byron Burns. These 
 persons named were sworn and seated, 
 after which the trial commenced. 
 
 The first witness for the state was 
 Carl Kron, who testified that the defend- 
 ant and he were and had been for 
 months, bedfellows; that on the day 
 when the crime was committed he heard 
 the morning bell for rising; that he arose 
 and dressed and insisted that the prisoner 
 should do likewise. Further proceedings 
 
 [106 
 
THE CLUB S MAIDEN EFFORT 
 
 were interrupted by Paul Gerard an- 
 nouncing to the court that his client 
 confessed having been late that morning 
 owing to the fact that he had been kept 
 awake during the greater part of the 
 night by the witness's snoring. At this 
 unexpected turn of the case great conster- 
 nation prevailed in the court room; 
 the facts were admitted, since all knew 
 of Carl's accomplishment, which, on one 
 night, had alarmed the entire household 
 in the belief that the Indians had sur- 
 rounded the house and were giving their 
 war-cry before an attack. 
 
 The presiding officer, at length, decided 
 that evidence should be taken as to the 
 degree of noise caused by the witness's 
 snoring, after which the attorneys should 
 address the jury on the question whether 
 the prisoner's excuse under the evidence 
 was strong enough to override a clearly 
 established violation of the law. Peter 
 Ivan and Hugo Brenner were called as 
 
 [107] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 witnesses, one for each side, whose testi- 
 mony as to the loudness of that snoring 
 and its effect, was very conflicting. 
 
 The witty and able speeches to the 
 jury frequently convulsed the hearers 
 with laughter; Ralph cited instances of 
 soldiers having been shot as punishment 
 for falling asleep while on picket duty, 
 and that the crime of permitting disorder 
 to creep into a household was just as 
 dangerous and should be punished to the 
 fullest extent of the law. 
 
 Paul Gerard, on the other hand, proved 
 by many illustrations that the snoring 
 of a bedfellow like Carl was worse than 
 trying to sleep in the midst of a firing 
 battery, and that his client's falling asleep 
 again after he had risen, was clearly an 
 act of God and therefore not punishable 
 by man. After completion of the argu- 
 ments the judge instructed the jury, 
 cautioning them not to be swayed by 
 the eloquence of the attorneys, but to 
 
 [108] 
 
THE CLUB'S MAIDEN EFFORT 
 
 decide the case from the evidence alone. 
 The jury then retired under the guidance 
 of the sheriff, who had been instructed 
 to lock them up in a safe place and keep 
 them there on bread and water until they 
 had agreed upon a verdict. When the 
 sheriff left the court room with the jury 
 he felt as if he were the prisoner, and Fred 
 the innocent victim. 
 
 The jury returned in a very short time; 
 upon the judge's question whether they 
 had agreed upon a verdict, Mrs. Graham, 
 as the jury's foreman, announced that 
 the jury, by an unanimous vote, found 
 the defendant guilty, but that his fine 
 should be paid by the sheriff. This 
 verdict capped the climax of the evening's 
 sport. Before Paul had a chance to ask 
 for an acquittal of the prisoner by virtue 
 of this decision, the judge ordered the 
 jury to reconsider the case and bring in 
 a verdict of either guilty or not guilty, 
 although he admitted that their verdict 
 
 [109] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 was not worse than many verdicts that 
 had been rendered by twelve men under 
 the instructions of a real judge. As 
 the jury were in the act of leaving, Carl 
 Kron stepped up and paid the fine and 
 assumed all guilt. Thereupon Fred pro- 
 posed to give three cheers for the model 
 sheriff of the Log House Club, which 
 were readily given and peace was restored 
 upon the solid foundation of friendship 
 and good will. 
 
 [110 
 
Chapter IX 
 
 THE TEST OF THE GOLDEN RULE 
 
 THE novelty of the entertainment 
 and the peculiar charm of debate 
 and exchange of ideas among 
 educated persons, led to a united desire 
 to present debatable questions of principle 
 or fact to disinterested judges, and con- 
 sequently to a repetition of the evening's 
 exercises. 
 
 The experience of these young men in 
 forming a household among themselves 
 led to many strange revelations. They 
 were all imbued with an honest desire for 
 a peaceful and harmonious way of living 
 together. Being educated, they had 
 naturally, among themselves, many con- 
 versations and debates on that topic, 
 recognizing the extreme difficulty of har- 
 monizing the habits of each with the 
 habits of the others. The one was orderly 
 
 [mi 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 and the other disorderly; the one desired 
 to go "early to bed and early to rise" 
 and the other had the habit of keeping late 
 hours of day and night; the one liked 
 to smoke, the other hated the sight of it; 
 the one chewed tobacco, the other sick- 
 ened at the sight; the one kept himself 
 scrupulously clean, the other was careless 
 in that respect. In [fact, they expe- 
 rienced the same difficulties that some 
 lovers do after marriage. Before the 
 final knot was tied they would willingly 
 have died for each other, but afterwards, 
 when all these little habits cropped out 
 and demanded curtailing, if not extermi- 
 nation, these same lovers were sometimes 
 sorry that their partner's ante-nuptial 
 desire of dying had not been carried out. 
 This condition of affairs led to a deter- 
 mination on the part of the members to 
 discuss at the next meeting some topic 
 which might throw light on this difficult 
 question of home life. Consequently, 
 
 [112] 
 
THE TEST OF THE GOLDEN RULE 
 
 Albert the American, Byron the English- 
 man, and Fred the German, were ap- 
 pointed to draft a resolution on that 
 question and have it presented at the 
 next meeting. They produced the fol- 
 lowing: 
 
 "Resolved, that no member of a house- 
 hold shall exercise a habit within the 
 jurisdiction of the family that he would 
 disapprove if all the other members 
 should exercise the same habit." 
 
 At supper the resolution was enthusias- 
 tically accepted. Upon John's suggestion 
 three judges were appointed, Rev. Gilbert, 
 a superannuated minister residing in the 
 village; Mr. Henry, the landlord; and 
 Mr. Carney, a young teacher from the city. 
 
 Great preparations were made for the 
 meeting, which was to be held on the next 
 Thursday evening. The speeches were 
 not to exceed ten minutes each, and 
 every member was compelled to con- 
 tribute. 
 
 ■ 
 
 8 [H3] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 On the appointed evening the boys 
 stopped work one hour sooner than usual. 
 After supper the dining-room was put in 
 perfect order. The judges arrived at 
 seven thirty o'clock; John called the 
 meeting to order and introduced the 
 resolution with a few remarks in which he 
 emphasized its importance and declared 
 that, if the resolution could be carried 
 out, it would revolutionize every house- 
 hold in the land. The authors of the 
 resolution were then asked to take the 
 affirmative, to which they readily agreed. 
 They ably argued the necessity of a 
 reform in the conduct of a household, 
 illustrating their points by many facts 
 which could not be disputed, whereas 
 the other male members, while approving 
 a great deal of what was said, pronounced 
 the enforcement of the resolution an 
 impossible task, as equally impossible 
 to enforce as the "Golden Rule," its 
 twin sister, enacted about two thousand 
 
 [114 
 
THE TEST OF THE GOLDEN RULE 
 
 years ago, taught by innumerable teach- 
 ers, churchmen and laymen, and which 
 is still almost a dead letter to-day. 
 
 Every one felt that the decision was 
 trembling in the balance and the interest 
 in the final outcome grew stronger with 
 every argument. 
 
 Mrs. Graham and her daughters were 
 now called. Lucy and Mary, in a few 
 words, informed the chairman that they 
 had appointed their mother to speak 
 for them, and that they would stand by 
 their mother's opinion. The girls were 
 applauded and the call for Mrs. Graham 
 was repeated, She obeyed, and as she 
 approached the judges, her face was a 
 shade paler than usual and her voice 
 slightly faltering in the beginning; but 
 as soon as she had touched the first 
 principle underlying the resolution, she 
 grew enthusiastic and entirely forgot 
 self in the great subject which she was 
 about to dissect for the purpose of proving 
 
 115 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 its merits. She was emphatically in favor 
 of the resolution. In support of her views 
 she gave a brief history of the condition 
 of her household as it existed prior to 
 her appointment as a committee for 
 directing a division of labor, and of the 
 gratifying results of its observance. She 
 stated that during the brief trial of carry- 
 ing out the former resolution the boys 
 and girls had become more orderly; 
 that no time had been lost in looking for 
 misplaced articles; that greater care 
 had been taken in leaving the mud 
 outside where it belonged; in hiding 
 the revolting habit of chewing gum or 
 tobacco, or abstaining from those habits 
 altogether; of keeping the smoke of 
 tobacco from the living-room; of enjoying 
 more time for recreation and study, and 
 of doing many other kind acts, which had 
 the tendency of lessening labor and 
 increasing happiness in the family circle. 
 Mrs. Graham admitted that the resolu- 
 
 [116 
 
THE TEST OF THE GOLDEN RULE 
 
 tion was a subdivision of the Golden 
 Rule; she claimed, however, that the 
 former was far easier obeyed than the 
 latter for the reason that the resolution 
 applied to the members of a family only, 
 whereas the Golden Rule applied to all 
 mankind. In conclusion she asserted that 
 the Golden Rule had been in their house- 
 hold a living power from which had flown 
 so much happiness and faith in the nobil- 
 ity of mankind, that she dreaded to think 
 of the future when the source of all that 
 happiness would cease, and the ties that 
 bind them now would be severed. 
 
 At this instant she paused a moment. 
 The stillness of the grave prevailed, while 
 the blowing of the wind without sounded 
 like the nation's wail over an approaching 
 calamity. 
 
 "Honorable Judges," she continued 
 with a visible effort to control her voice, 
 "should this resolution pass and be acted 
 upon in every family it would not do 
 
 [117] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 away with all misery; there would still 
 be many families in which drinking, smok- 
 ing, scolding, swearing and kindred vices 
 would be practiced, but the discussion 
 in each family on the resolution would 
 cause untold good and prove a blessing." 
 
 The speaker retired amidst applause in 
 which the judges joined. In rendering 
 their decision in favor of the affirmative, 
 Rev. Gilbert approved the judges' ap- 
 plauding, by confessing that the spirit 
 of union had been so vividly impressed 
 upon them by Mrs. Graham that they 
 were compelled to apply it to their 
 decision as a board, although it had been 
 expected that at least one dissenting vote 
 would be cast. 
 
 Thereupon the landlord arose and com- 
 plimented the minister for having men- 
 tioned the one "expected dissenting 
 vote." He further acknowledged that he 
 loved to smoke and drink, and, but for 
 Mrs. Graham's reference to facts which 
 
 [118 
 
THE TEST OF THE GOLDEN RULE 
 
 had occurred within the log house family, 
 he should have cast a dissenting vote. 
 He insisted that his habits of smoking 
 and drinking did not hinder him from 
 presenting the resolution to his family 
 and if they were as willing as he was to 
 surrender some of their distasteful habits 
 for the common good, he might, even at 
 his advanced age, stop smoking and 
 drinking. The jovial landlord also re- 
 ceived a hearty applause from the audi- 
 ence and a good hand-shaking from the 
 minister. 
 
 Mr. Carney, the teacher, recommended 
 passing a law compelling every minister 
 to preach at least fifty sermons each year 
 on the topic under discussion, citing facts 
 and illustrations to be taken from life's 
 inexhaustible supply, as Mrs. Graham 
 had done, and letting the idealistic 
 heaven, with its hair-splitting issues, 
 which are, as a rule, based upon mere 
 trifles, take care of itself, while endeavor- 
 
 [119] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 ing to build a heaven in each family here 
 below. 
 
 The social time following the close of 
 the exercises was the reflection of the 
 heaven that each had resolved to build 
 within the temple of his future home. 
 When through the remarkable stillness 
 of the hour the guests heard the tolling 
 of the midnight bell in the distant city, 
 they at once made preparations to leave 
 and instinctively turned to Rev. Gilbert 
 for a benediction. 
 
 "No, my friends," exclaimed the rev- 
 erend gentleman, "the utterances of 
 thanks from human lips, after such a 
 feast of reason and in such a majestic 
 splendor of the night, would sound like 
 mockery." 
 
 The myriads of worlds in the milky- 
 way accepted the tribute with becoming 
 modesty. 
 
 [120 
 
Chapter X 
 
 THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES 
 
 PRIOR to the events stated in the 
 last chapter, a few of the members 
 had habitually gone to the village 
 bar-room after supper to kill time and 
 enjoy a smoke, although the log house 
 contained a special room for smoking. 
 The recent agitation of woman's rights 
 and the sensible action of the women of 
 joining in the deliberation of that im- 
 portant question, led to the sudden change 
 of keeping all members at home that 
 they might participate in the evening's 
 pastimes, instead of inhaling the smoke- 
 laden atmosphere of the village bar-room 
 and listening to the coarse jokes of still 
 coarser men. Elated with the exercises 
 at home and ashamed to steal away 
 from them for the sake of yielding to 
 injurious habits, they were soon convinced 
 
 [121] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 that the easiest way to rid themselves of 
 all trouble caused by the interruption of 
 habits which they themselves denounced 
 as undesirable, was to drop them entirely. 
 
 Especially invited by Rev. Gilbert, who 
 preached on every other Sunday morning 
 in the village schoolhouse, the club 
 decided to attend church in a body on the 
 next Sunday. 
 
 The aged minister had heard of the 
 remarkable effects of the workings of the 
 club upon the young persons. Fully 
 recognizing the power of such educating 
 forces without harboring the egotistical 
 dogmas of some of his brethren, he had 
 invited the club, as his co-laborers in the 
 spiritual world, to attend his church. 
 In conversation with John and Albert, he 
 maintained that such intellectual pleas- 
 ures as they practiced were indispensable 
 to a full enjoyment of life, and were a 
 sure preventive on the part of the 
 young from acquiring the "bad habits" 
 
 [122] 
 
THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES 
 
 of life, which, he insisted, were in reality 
 sins that undermine health, waste time, 
 weaken manhood, cause poverty and lead 
 to premature old age and death. Such 
 was also the tenor of his sermon which he 
 delivered on the next Sabbath after the 
 little cracked school bell had rung the 
 third time and the choir had sung two 
 hymns, the melodies of which proved that 
 a master mind had composed the music 
 and that a master mind had selected 
 them to be sung on that occasion. The 
 congregation was large, a great many 
 farmers attended, and the room was 
 filled when our friends entered. 
 
 The speaker's venerable appearance, 
 his gray hair and bright eyes, formed a 
 strange but pleasing contrast; his voice 
 was weak yet clear and could be heard 
 and understood in the farthest part of 
 the room; he shunned all hackneyed 
 phrases behind which mediocrity in the 
 pulpit generally hides itself, and he 
 
 [1£3] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 repeatedly cited apt illustrations as his 
 predecessor in Judea had done about two 
 thousand years before, until bigotry, 
 mixed with hatred and stupidity, had 
 nailed Him to the cross. Among other 
 illustrations he skillfully pictured the 
 mental revolutions within the Log House 
 Club without naming it, the rapid prog- 
 ress of its members and their enhanced 
 pleasures of life by virtue thereof. 
 
 Pleased with this public recognition 
 by the esteemed pastor, each member 
 strove harder to merit the praise. Mary 
 and Lucy Graham, under their mother's 
 guidance and under the tutorship of 
 Albert and Byron, were constantly ad- 
 vancing in the art of housekeeping and 
 mathematics, much to the delight of 
 Albert and Byron, who in addition found 
 time to instruct the girls in all the other 
 common branches which were required to 
 be taught in the common schools. 
 
 Albert had submitted his estimate of 
 
 [124 
 
THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES 
 
 the material for the new schoolhouse and 
 was notified that at the next meeting of 
 the school board the contest would be 
 decided and that the presence of all the 
 contestants was desired. This news 
 caused quite an excitement among 
 Albert's friends, who esteemed the young 
 man's uncompromising honesty and his 
 ever cheerful temper and helping hand. 
 
 On the evening of the meeting the entire 
 club attended. Albert's natural modesty 
 and his dread of appearing to parade his 
 attainments caused him at first to decide 
 to stay at home; but this was not per- 
 mitted. His friends knew that a public 
 recognition of his work in his presence 
 would be to him more in the nature of a 
 punishment than a reward. "Duty calls 
 you," said John. " Take courage, Albert !" 
 added Mrs. Graham, whose kind voice 
 convinced him that his motives in refusing 
 to go had been fully understood. 
 
 The president of the school board 
 
 [125] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 opened the meeting by the introduction 
 of Mr. H., a celebrated architect from 
 the city, who expressed his pleasure at 
 observing the interest taken by the 
 village in the new schoolhouse, and stated 
 that he had been called to examine the 
 estimates which had been submitted, and 
 that, with the aid of the school board 
 and the two teachers of the village school, 
 he had carefully examined each estimate 
 and that the following named persons 
 were entitled to the prizes in the order 
 named: 
 
 "Albert Burdett, Hugh Perrin and 
 Grace Simms." He further remarked 
 that Albert's computation was even more 
 precise than the one made by the former 
 architect. 
 
 The president thereupon distributed 
 the prizes and the audience cheered. 
 Order being restored, Albert arose and 
 thanked the school board and the archi- 
 tect for the decision and added that he, 
 
 [126 
 
THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES 
 
 as a friend of the public schools which 
 had taught him to solve the computation 
 so readily, would donate the prize just 
 received toward a fund for the betterment 
 of teachers' salaries within the district. 
 
 This unexpected donation, uttered with 
 a firmness of voice and action that 
 disarmed any remonstrance, made Albert 
 with one accord, besides the "Hero of 
 the Cabin" the "Hero of the School." 
 The public recognition that Albert had 
 dreaded was bestowed on him so spon- 
 taneously and heartily, and in such 
 quantities, that Mrs. Graham half con- 
 solingly and half mischievously pressed 
 his hand, and her daughter, Mary, 
 exclaimed, "Poor Albert." 
 
 What signified Mary's sympathetic 
 voice and the flames darting from her 
 deep blue eyes as she gazed on Albert's 
 radiant face? What made him involun- 
 tarily shrink from her as he would from 
 a person with an infectious disease, 
 
 [127] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 when she pressed his hand as her mother 
 had done? The orphaned boy, reared 
 in the school of care, whose young 
 shoulders had borne the brunt of battle 
 for the existence of a family, knew 
 nothing of the love which, with the 
 rapidity of lightning and with the force 
 of an avalanche, captures its victim for 
 good or for evil, for a heaven on earth 
 or for a grave in its bosom. 
 
 On the next morning at breakfast, 
 John related that news had been received 
 the evening before that, at the fight which 
 had taken place in the cabin on the 
 evening that Albert had left it, one of 
 the combatants had received a wound 
 of which he had died, and that the 
 murderer had been arrested. 
 
 Mrs. Graham's remark that "the wages 
 of sin is death" was probably never more 
 forcibly illustrated before these young 
 men than it was on that morning when 
 they were still rejoicing at Albert's 
 
 [128] 
 
THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES 
 
 self-denial of the previous evening, and 
 at the same time heard, as a striking 
 contrast, of the murderer's arrest as a 
 part payment of his sin meted out by the 
 unfailing Nemesis. 
 
 One of Albert's duties as secretary 
 was to take a preliminary survey of the 
 work of grading that had been done 
 since he arrived. This survey showed 
 a considerable proportional gain over 
 that done during any of the preceding 
 periods; nor was Albert's measurement 
 of the work questioned by the railroad 
 company, whose president and secretary, 
 after being informed of the strange 
 movement of reform among the members 
 of the club, attributed the large increase 
 of completed work to the increased 
 strength of each individual as a natural 
 consequence of that reform, and notified 
 the club of this conclusion in a neat 
 note when the contract price was paid. 
 
 When pay day came John and Albert, 
 
 9 [180] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 furthermore, made the division of the 
 money among the members, with the 
 help of the completed books, within an 
 exceedingly short time to the satisfaction 
 of all concerned. 
 
 Discussing this agreeable change on 
 pay day, Byron Burns, the ex-secretary, 
 remarked that if death is the wages of 
 sin, then more money is the wages of a 
 better system of bookkeeping. For this 
 indirect acknowledgment of his own fail- 
 ing as the former secretary, he received 
 his comrades' warm congratulations, 
 although they well knew that the in- 
 creased pay had come from increased 
 work only. 
 
 130 
 
Chapter XI 
 
 SECESSION AND UNION 
 
 THE political agitation at that time 
 became more and more acute in 
 the same ratio as the intention 
 of the South to secede from the North 
 became more and more apparent. The 
 effect upon the club was also marked, and 
 the discussions on that subject were 
 slightly tinged with the acrimony of the 
 slaveholders and their friends. 
 
 Under these conditions the club decided 
 to submit the question of state rights and 
 the right of secession to the unprejudiced 
 members, who were Mrs. Graham and 
 her daughters, Carl Kron, Hugo Brenner 
 and Lou Johnson, none having expressed 
 an opinion on that point, nor had they 
 taken any part in its discussion. 
 
 On the evening set for the debate the 
 club was still evenly divided, the unpreju- 
 
 [131] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 diced members had not given the matter 
 any consideration at all, while the other 
 six had carefully prepared for the defense 
 of their sides on this all-absorbing ques- 
 tion. 
 
 It was now October, 1860; three 
 candidates for President were in the 
 field, and John Brown's spirit was moving 
 onward and demanded abolition of slaves. 
 Abraham Lincoln's convincing arguments 
 through which shone his unbiased patriot- 
 ism and love of man, made converts 
 every day for the ideal of liberty; while 
 in the background stood the grinning 
 skeleton "War," fanning the passion of 
 man into a whirlwind of hatred; making 
 brother curse brother and severing ties 
 between father and son, and between 
 mother and child. 
 
 Over the young nation hung a shroud 
 ready to smother the aspirations of 
 equal rights, and bury the republic as 
 other republics had been buried before. 
 
 [132] 
 
SECESSION AND UNION 
 
 Several citizens from the village had 
 asked permission to attend the debate, 
 which had been readily granted. Albert's 
 strange but noble action of presenting the 
 prize money to the teachers' fund had 
 caused several of its citizens to subscribe 
 also, and on the preceding evening the 
 school board had accepted the entire sum 
 and safely invested it at a good rate of 
 interest. 
 
 At eight o'clock in the evening Rev. 
 Gilbert, who was the presiding officer at 
 the meeting, opened the exercises with a 
 few fitting remarks and stated the pend- 
 ing resolution, namely: "Resolved, that 
 the constitution of the United States 
 prohibits the seceding of any of its states." 
 
 The arguments were brief, therefore 
 to the point and interesting, and were 
 listened to with close attention. Each 
 side tried to bend the written word of 
 the constitution in order to prove that 
 his version of it was the right one. 
 
 [133] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 Albert's closing speech carried the day 
 when he pointed to Europe, a country 
 about the size of the United States, with 
 its many independent governments and 
 its many wars which necessitated the 
 creation of large standing armies at a 
 fearful expense and loss of labor. He 
 especially pointed to Germany's condition 
 before and during the "Thirty Years' 
 War;" to her fifty or more independent 
 states at that time and to the consequent 
 warfare among themselves, which in the 
 seventeenth century led almost to her 
 entire destruction. 
 
 The speaker then pictured what the 
 probable results would be if each state 
 were permitted to secede; the many 
 controversies among states which might 
 easily lead to war, such as the restricting 
 of commerce between the states; of 
 border line disputes; of slavery; of 
 criminals committing crimes in one state 
 and escaping into the other; of the coin- 
 
 [134] 
 
SECESSION AND UNION 
 
 age of money; of the tariff and of many 
 other causes that would be sowing the 
 seeds of the horrors of future battle-fields, 
 as Europe has been doing since it was 
 entered by the white race. 
 
 The decision was unanimously in favor 
 of the affirmative; even John, the lover 
 of the South and its institutions, admit- 
 ted to Rev. Gilbert that a multiplicity 
 of governments within the limits of the 
 United States might easily lead to the 
 results described by Albert. 
 
 [135 
 
Chapter XII 
 
 CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS AND THE 
 LULL BEFORE THE STORM 
 
 IN November, I860, Lincoln was 
 elected President of the United 
 States. The want of unity in the 
 Democratic ranks which led to the placing 
 of two Democratic candidates for the 
 presidency in the field, had caused that 
 party's defeat. John accepted the situa- 
 tion with a dignified reserve and compli- 
 mented Albert upon the acquisition of 
 another illustration proving the fatal 
 results of disunion, while Albert, grieved 
 his friend's defeat, pressed his hand. 
 
 Winter was approaching rapidly. On 
 several mornings his outpost, King Frost, 
 had taken possession of the grading and 
 kept the members of the club from 
 working and made them fear of losing 
 the ten per cent, of the earnings which 
 
 [ 136 ] 
 
CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS 
 
 had been kept back by the railroad 
 company. 
 
 In order to keep all hands employed 
 during the cold spell they made prepara- 
 tions to chop the five hundred cords of 
 wood for which the railroad company 
 had agreed to make monthly payments. 
 Axes were purchased 3 an old grindstone, 
 which had been left by the former owner 
 of the house, was placed upon a frame, 
 several young hickory trees were chopped 
 down and made into axe handles. In 
 fact, everything was prepared to meet 
 King Frost and still live comfortably. 
 
 iUbert's financial condition was con- 
 siderably improved by his additional 
 monthly salary of ten dollars. Still he, 
 with the rest of the club, needed the ten 
 per cent., hence they hailed with delight 
 a change of weather that enabled them 
 to complete their contract on the day 
 before a terrific snow storm put an end 
 to all further grading during that winter. 
 
 [137] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 Grateful for their good luck, although 
 only hard work had forced success, they 
 decided to celebrate the approaching 
 Christmas in royal style. Their winter's 
 work secured, their evening's entertain- 
 ments and their Sundays became more 
 interesting as the members became more 
 proficient in their English and more 
 patient in their respective defeats during 
 the many mental tournaments through 
 which they passed. The foreigners 
 among them seized every opportunity of 
 learning English and the Americans were 
 equally eager to learn European condi- 
 tions and languages. 
 
 There was a lull in the affairs of the 
 Union and patriots were hopeful, if not 
 confident, that the genial, warm-hearted 
 and wise Lincoln would find ways and 
 means of keeping the Union together. 
 No one in the North anticipated that the 
 final removal of slavery was so close at 
 hand, nor that its removal would require 
 
 [138 
 
CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS 
 
 the sword; and no member of the club 
 had the least reason for calling this 
 profound ebb of political excitement the 
 lull before the storm. 
 
 At a meeting of the club the matter of 
 celebrating Christmas was thoroughly 
 discussed. Opinions differed widely; but 
 after Fred's vivid description of the 
 German way, that method was chosen, 
 and a committee of three was appointed, 
 of which Fred was chairman, to attend 
 to the preparation of a Christmas tree. 
 The adjoining woods furnished a tree and 
 the distant city furnished the candles, 
 trimmings and presents necessary to carry 
 out the plan. During the week before 
 Christmas every member acted myste- 
 riously, while endeavoring to hide the 
 presents that were to be a surprise on 
 Christmas. The girls were busy with 
 needlework and seemed to work day and 
 night; even Mrs. Graham, usually ex- 
 tremely sedate, entered into the spirit of 
 
 [139] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 joyful expectancy and had cheering words 
 for all. 
 
 This spirit of cheer and good will was 
 even noticed by Carlo, the girls' faithful 
 dog, their protector on errands to the 
 village and in rambles through the woods. 
 He had hitherto kept a respectful distance 
 from Mrs. Graham and the men, but, 
 attracted by their changed looks and 
 kinder voices, he dropped the memory of 
 former unpleasantness, and became a 
 member of the cheerful circle. 
 
 On Christmas eve the committee com- 
 pleted the beautifying of the tree that 
 had been placed upon a small table in 
 the corner of the dining-room. A hundred 
 candles were fastened to its branches; 
 gold and silver trimmings shone through 
 its dark green foliage, while from every 
 part of the tree rosy -cheeked apples and 
 gilded nuts promised future reward. 
 
 It was almost midnight; the members 
 had long since returned from the festivi- 
 
 140 
 
CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS 
 
 ties in the village, when Fred cast a last 
 searching glance over the result of his 
 memory and his artistic skill. A spark of 
 the bliss which the Creator must have 
 felt at beholding His own handiwork, this 
 beautiful world, swept over Fred and per- 
 chance consoled also a longing mother 
 in the old world. 
 
 It had been agreed to celebrate the 
 home festivities on the evening of Christ- 
 mas day. Such an arrangement enabled 
 the club to attend the exercises in the 
 village on Christmas eve and on the 
 following morning listen to Rev. Gilbert's 
 sermon. After a late dinner on Christ- 
 mas, while twilight was setting in and 
 Rev. Gilbert and his grandchild, Agnes, 
 were visiting with Mrs. Graham and her 
 daughters, the committee lighted the 
 candles, removed the concealing curtains 
 and extinguished all other lights. In 
 the glare of the candles, the three girls, 
 Agnes, Mary and Lucy, sang a beautiful 
 
 [141] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 Christmas anthem; then John announced 
 that Santa Claus had left the presents 
 around the tree as he had done in other 
 homes for more than two thousand years. 
 John and Lucy then distributed these 
 tokens of love and friendship. The 
 thanks which were uttered to the 
 unknown givers sounded like another 
 anthem to the spirit of joy and love. The 
 crowning event was the presentation by 
 John of a securely wrapped choice piece 
 of meat to his new friend, Carlo. The 
 dog was now a favorite of all; he had 
 wonderingly observed the excitement of 
 his friends, evidently failing to com- 
 prehend the cause of their strange 
 behavior, but as soon as John handed 
 him the package, he removed the paper 
 with one stroke of his sharp teeth, put 
 one paw upon the meat and with uplifted 
 head gave such a bark of joy and satis- 
 faction that every one broke into a 
 spontaneous outburst of merriment and 
 
 [142 
 
CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS 
 
 wonder, which afforded Carlo sufficient 
 time to swallow his present and then join 
 the company's mirth. 
 
 Rev. Gilbert's parting words at the 
 close of the festival were as beautiful 
 as they were true. Thanking his friends 
 for the appropriate gift which he had 
 received from them, a long wished for 
 book, he asserted that a universal cele- 
 bration of Christmas in the spirit and 
 manner in which it had been celebrated 
 by them, would make wars impossible. 
 That such messages of peace and love 
 would disarm hatred, envy and greed, 
 and tend to establish in both giver and 
 recipient, a habit of expressing more 
 often in words and deeds the love and 
 kindness we harbor for each other, and 
 thus pave the way for charity to aid us 
 in molding our judgments and for love to 
 make us forget and forgive. 
 
 The work of chopping wood continued 
 with renewed vigor after the holidays. 
 
 [143] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 Every member of this little ideal republic 
 felt the steady growth of hand and brain. 
 They were expecting to enter new lines 
 of employment in the spring. Mary 
 intended to teach, Lucy to attend school ; 
 Albert had accepted an offer from the 
 village school board as assistant teacher; 
 Fred was to teach French and German 
 in a southern college; Carl Kron, Hugo 
 Brenner and Lou Johnson were to go 
 further west and pre-empt large tracts 
 of land within a short distance of a thriv- 
 ing village; Byron Burns expected a 
 professorship in algebra as soon as the 
 political excitement abated; Ralph Bow- 
 doin and Paul Gerard were determined 
 to continue their law studies and enter 
 an office for that purpose; John desired 
 to return to his parents in Louisiana, and 
 Paul Ivan, an expert on the violin, 
 intended to go to California, and there 
 practice his art at better pay. 
 
 [144] 
 
Chapter XIII 
 
 THE MURDER TRIAL 
 
 ON Monday of the second week of 
 the new year Albert was sub- 
 poenaed to attend the district 
 court on the next day and testify as a 
 witness for the state in a criminal proceed- 
 ing against Riley who had been indicted 
 for murder and whose trial would be had 
 on that day. This event came as unex- 
 pected as a stroke of lightning on a 
 cloudless day, and caused a considerable 
 agitation among our friends. At the 
 meeting which was held that evening and 
 which Carlo found a way to attend in 
 the hope of a repetition of his surprise 
 on Christmas, it was decided that all 
 members, excepting Mrs. Graham and 
 Carlo, should attend the trial, and that 
 a conveyance should be engaged at the 
 expense of the club. 
 
 10 
 
 145 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 On Tuesday morning, long before day- 
 light, the eleven members, comfortably 
 seated in a sleigh partly filled with hay, 
 left their home. Mrs. Graham shouted a 
 good-bye and Carlo, securely fastened in 
 the wood-house, howled so dismally that 
 both girls begged that the dog might be 
 allowed to go with them. Their wish 
 would have been granted had the distance 
 not been so great and Mrs. Graham had 
 not been left alone. 
 
 Arrived at the county seat Albert 
 reported at once to the prosecuting attor- 
 ney who questioned him about the affair 
 in the Irish cabin on the evening he had 
 left it so suddenly. During this examina- 
 tion Albert learned to his sorrow that the 
 murdered man had been the Irish boss 
 who had come to his rescue. At ten 
 o'clock in the forenoon a jury was called. 
 The court room was by this time com- 
 pletely filled since the case had attracted 
 a good deal of attention. The presence 
 
 [146] 
 
THE MURDER TRIAL 
 
 of the "Log House Club," which the local 
 press at the county seat had frequently 
 mentioned and of which Albert was known 
 to be a member and the main witness in 
 the present case, had aroused a great 
 deal of interest among the population. 
 Albert's unselfish deed of returning to 
 the school board the well earned prize 
 had also been published and commented 
 upon by the same paper and had created 
 among its readers a desire to see and hear 
 the boy who, in their opinion, was either 
 a crank or else the possessor of material 
 from which heroes are made. 
 
 The selection, examination and final 
 acceptance of the jury occupied the entire 
 forenoon. The defendant's attorney, a 
 slim, keen-witted, middle-aged man, suc- 
 ceeded several times in having jurors 
 rejected whose answers to the questions 
 propounded by the state's attorney as 
 to their qualifications, seemed to indicate 
 a prejudice against the accused. The 
 
 [147 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 proceedings during the entire forenoon 
 proved of great interest to Albert and 
 his friends, nearly all of whom had been 
 acting as jurors during the different 
 trials by the club. Their conversation 
 at dinner was very animated and in the 
 nature of a trial of the two opposing 
 attorneys, pronouncing the state's attor- 
 ney to be a gentleman and denouncing 
 the defendant's attorney as a member of 
 the opposite class. 
 
 The afternoon session commenced with 
 a brief address to the jury by the state's 
 attorney, in which he stated the cir- 
 cumstances that led to the murder; 
 the defendant's attorney followed, ad- 
 dressing the jury by stating facts, which, 
 if proved, would establish the plea of 
 self-defense and liberate the defendant. 
 
 Albert was the first witness on behalf 
 of the state; the presiding judge, an 
 elderly gentleman whose wrinkled face 
 resembled a battle-field, administered the 
 
 148 
 
THE MURDER TRIAL 
 
 oath, and the taking of the testimony 
 began. 
 
 An almost oppressive silence prevailed 
 in the court room when Albert testified; 
 one could with ease have heard the pro- 
 verbial pin drop. His testimony, which 
 no earthly power could have changed, 
 related to what we already know, ending 
 with the description of defendant's atti- 
 tude as he, with the uplifted jug, struck 
 at the witness's head, but failed of its 
 mark. 
 
 The defendant's attorney now began 
 the cross-examination. Albert was com- 
 pelled to give almost a complete biog- 
 raphy of himself, the reasons for his 
 coming West, for seeking an employment 
 to which he was not accustomed, for 
 engaging himself with a company of rail- 
 road men whose universal custom was 
 and had been, as he and every one else 
 knew, to use liquor habitually. Albert's 
 answers to all the cross-questions were 
 
 [149] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 promptly and unhesitatingly given. His 
 friends rejoiced at his able way of grasp- 
 ing and counteracting the many questions 
 that had been asked for the very purpose 
 of misleading the witness. 
 
 At last, the defendant's attorney, in his 
 most friendly tone, resembling a cat's 
 purring before she swallows the captured 
 mouse, asked the following question: 
 
 "You have admitted that the defend- 
 ant on that evening had been drinking 
 heavily; that he had been acting like a 
 drunken man; that he had been asking 
 you to drink with him and upon your 
 refusal to drink asked you to tell him the 
 reason for your refusal, and that you had 
 been sleepy and insisted upon going to 
 bed. Now, explain to the court and jury 
 why you did not either comply with his 
 request to drink, no matter how much or 
 how little, or else tell him the reason for 
 your strange actions and thus end the 
 unpleasant situation." 
 
 150] 
 
THE MURDER TRIAL 
 
 Albert hesitated as he had done on that 
 fatal evening; the defense was jubilant; 
 the state's attorney objected to the ques- 
 tion for several reasons, all of which were 
 attacked by the defense and branded as 
 a shield for perjury. The judge, after 
 reflection, decided that, under the peculiar 
 circumstances, the witness must answer, 
 and overruled the state's objections to 
 the question. The defendant's attorney 
 could not suppress a broad smile of satis- 
 faction while the prosecutor was cor- 
 respondingly depressed. Albert looked 
 imploringly at the judge and asked, 
 "Must I answer that question?" 
 "You must," replied the judge in a 
 wavering voice, while the wrinkles in 
 his intellectual face seemed to fight 
 another battle. Albert turned his eyes 
 from the judge and with a visible effort 
 faced the jury. The painful silence in 
 the court room seemed to be the fore- 
 boding of some approaching evil and 
 
 151 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 everyone felt that the life or death of one 
 human being depended upon the coming 
 answer, since none but Albert could give 
 testimony to defeat the plea of self- 
 defense. 
 
 Slowly and distinctly Albert answered; 
 he told of his father's unbridled passion 
 for strong drink; how his mother had 
 suffered as a result, as long as he could 
 remember; of his father's death; of his 
 mother's poverty; of her broken health 
 and of her death; that she, during her 
 last moments, made him promise that 
 he would never taste a drop of liquor 
 knowingly, whereupon she had kissed him 
 and then dropped dead in his arms. The 
 memory of that scene brought tears to 
 his eyes and he paused a moment. 
 Mothers in the audience wept like chil- 
 dren. The simplicity with which the 
 tragedy was told convinced every hearer 
 of its truthfulness. Albert further told 
 the jury that on the night in the cabin 
 
 [152] 
 
THE MURDER TRIAL 
 
 a higher power seemed to have prevented 
 him from mentioning in such company 
 the promise he had made to his dying 
 mother, and that he had preferred to act 
 the coward's part and flee rather than 
 to soil her memory. 
 
 The defendant's attorney moved to 
 strike the answer from the records. 
 This motion gave rise to a lengthy legal 
 battle in which the defendant's counsel 
 made several hidden thrusts involving 
 Albert's veracity and calling the excuse 
 in his testimony a cute invention of a 
 biased witness. Then the unexpected, 
 but yet the simplest solution of the 
 pending question, occurred. The prisoner 
 had been the most attentive listener of 
 the proceedings. During Albert's ex- 
 planation a wonderful change came over 
 him; his stolid face gradually changed 
 and brightened, he felt that every word 
 that Albert had spoken was true; he 
 thought of his own wife in old Ireland 
 
 [153] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 and of the baby boy whom he had never 
 seen, and a mysterious longing welled up 
 in him to have his own boy as good and 
 brave as was the boy in the witness chair. 
 He heard the attorneys debate about 
 something the boy had said and what the 
 law should say, but their talk was no 
 more understood by him than if it had 
 been Greek. He looked at the judge, at 
 his scarred face molded in just such 
 trials as this, he looked at the jury, at 
 men like himself, he looked at the abused 
 witness with a father's love, and the genius 
 of the hour made him arise, address the 
 court and then turn to the jury and say: 
 
 "That boy," pointing to Albert, "spoke 
 the truth. I meant to hit him, but hit 
 Mike instead, who came to help the boy. 
 Do with me what you like, but stop my 
 lawyer abusing that boy." 
 
 The words, uttered with a loud and 
 firm voice and with an Irish accent, acted 
 upon the judge, jury and audience with 
 
 [154] 
 
THE MURDER TRIAL 
 
 the force of a thunderbolt. The audience 
 arose and applauded, the jury shook 
 hands with the defendant, while the 
 judge, lawyers and other officers of the 
 court acted as if they had been paralyzed. 
 After the judge had admonished the 
 audience not to disturb the further pro- 
 ceedings of the court the defendant's 
 attorney asked to be excused from the 
 further attendance in the case. The 
 request was cheerfully granted. The 
 defendant's admission of guilt in open 
 court was duly docketed, after which the 
 court adjourned for the day. 
 
 On leaving the court house the members 
 of the Log House Club attracted a great 
 deal of attention, and none more than 
 Albert, who, with Mary and Lucy, was 
 the first one to reach the street, which 
 was packed with people discussing the 
 recent events. 
 
 Suddenly a large dog made its way 
 through the crowd toward the court- 
 
 [155 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 house steps, where the two girls were 
 waiting for the other members. Seeing 
 them, the dog, frantically yelping, jumped 
 at and around them as if he were mad. 
 A bystander had drawn his revolver and 
 would have shot the apparently mad dog 
 if there had been no danger of shooting 
 the girls. When the girls cried out, 
 "Carlo," and hugged and petted the dog, 
 making it difficult to decide who was 
 mad, the would-be savior put up his 
 weapon in disgust. 
 
 It was Carlo; a piece of the rope with 
 which he had been tied was still around 
 his neck. The dog, as Mrs. Graham said 
 later, was in a desperate mood after the 
 girls had left; he would not touch food 
 of any kind nor was he susceptible to 
 any caresses, but would lie in a corner 
 with half -closed eyes as if he were con- 
 templating death by starvation. The 
 next time Mrs. Graham had occasion to 
 look after the dog he was gone; the rope 
 
 [ 156 ] 
 
THE MURDER TRIAL 
 
 with which he had been tied was chewed 
 in two and a broken window indicated 
 how he had made his escape. 
 
 Arriving at the hotel, supper was 
 ordered by John for the entire company of 
 which Carlo had now become the most 
 famed member. When they were seated 
 around the table with Carlo placed 
 between Lucy and Mary, he having a 
 foot-stool for a table, the judge entered 
 the dining-room, saluted the members and 
 asked to be their guest. The request was 
 cheerfully granted by all but Carlo, whose 
 objections were stopped by Lucy assuring 
 him that the judge had not been the 
 guilty party. During the meal the wit, 
 humor and penetrating thoughts made the 
 supper a feast. Every one was at his best; 
 the quick ending of a suit that might have 
 lasted weeks, the prisoner's courage and 
 noble manhood, and Carlo's attachment 
 for his proteges were incentives that 
 produced a flood of intellectual light, 
 
 [157 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 which is still remembered by the sur- 
 vivors. 
 
 At the parting, after he had shaken 
 hands with every member, even with 
 Carlo whose reluctant f orepaw was guided 
 by Lucy, the judge, in the act of opening 
 the door, turned to his new friends and 
 thanked them for the evening's enter- 
 tainment which, as he assured them, had 
 brought back to him the memory of 
 his youth with all its glittering ideals, 
 its hard fought triumphs and its stern 
 defeats, and that he would always keep 
 alive that memory until the great artist of 
 the universe saw fit to will otherwise. 
 
 Did the Great Spirit waft his "Amen" 
 to these red-cheeked boys and girls and 
 make them speechless? Or did the 
 eloquence of old age penetrate their future 
 and show them the mounds on hillside 
 and dale under which would soon sleep 
 the bravest of their generation? Who 
 dare answer and withdraw the curtain 
 
 [158] 
 
THE MURDER TRIAL 
 
 which mercifully covers our future weal 
 and woe? 
 
 The joyous company at the table was 
 suddenly changed to the sober, matter-of- 
 fact one of parting. John requested the 
 bill, but was told that everything had been 
 paid and that the horses had just been 
 hitched up ready for their homeward 
 journey. John insisted upon knowing 
 who had paid their bill, but the landlord 
 claimed ignorance, assuring him that 
 everything was all right and that the 
 party who had sent the money had 
 refused to give his name. 
 
 Riley was sentenced to one year's 
 imprisonment for manslaughter; the sen- 
 tence was so light on account of the 
 mitigating circumstances and his volun- 
 tary confession of guilt. After six months 
 he was pardoned, enlisted in the Union 
 Army and served during the entire war; 
 was twice wounded, honorably dis- 
 charged, and is now drawing a good- 
 
 [159 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 sized pension. His oldest son became 
 one of the best criminal lawyers of his 
 state, and in citing his father's experience 
 he has stopped many culprits on their 
 way to the gallows. 
 
 [160] 
 
Chapter XIV 
 
 THE CREATION OF HOME GUARDS AND 
 
 THE ECHO OF THE FIRING ON 
 
 FORT SUMTER 
 
 ON December 20, 1860, South Caro- 
 lina declared her secession. The 
 leaders had determined to secede 
 ever since John Brown's daring attack on 
 slavery had been made and the marked 
 sympathy with him and his aim had been 
 noticed by the friends of slavery. The 
 trouble in Kansas in 1859 had also served 
 as a prelude to the war of secession and 
 had logically paved the way to the final 
 solution of the question of slavery in the 
 United States. South Carolina's example 
 of proclaiming her independence was 
 followed in quick succession by the other 
 Southern states, while the government lay 
 in a trance, and the North still believed 
 in a peaceful solution of the trouble. 
 
 ii 
 
 [161 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 Our friends, notwithstanding the many 
 ominous reports that the South was 
 preparing for war, shared the same 
 confidence; and even John had been of 
 that opinion until his own state had 
 seceded and he had received a letter from 
 home. On the evening of the following 
 day, while still at supper, John announced 
 his determination to go South, giving as 
 his reasons that serious complications 
 among his relatives compelled his presence. 
 
 This news was received with genuine 
 sorrow and consternation. John had 
 been the backbone of the pleasant union 
 of so many men of different nationalities 
 and characters, and fears were entertained 
 that his withdrawal might mean the end 
 of the association. Albert seemed to 
 suffer the most; to him, John had been 
 brother, father, and the unselfish kind 
 friend who, from the evening at the hotel 
 to the present, had been his constant 
 adviser. 
 
 [162] 
 
CREATION OF HOME GUARDS 
 
 The approaching parting cast a gloom 
 over the entire household; Mrs. Graham's 
 steps were less elastic; no girl's laughter 
 cheered the men at meal-time; and even 
 Fred, the ever cheerful and ready spokes- 
 man, found no words in English to 
 express his feelings, and half angrily- 
 said at the table, when reaching for his 
 last cup of coffee, "Yes, Scheiden thut 
 weh!" 
 
 On the morning of John's departure 
 he, in company with Albert, called on 
 Rev. Gilbert to bid him good-bye. The 
 old gentleman, holding John's hand, 
 replied in a prophetic tone of voice, " Not 
 good-bye, my friend, but farewell! May 
 your blood not swell the tide which must 
 flow before the light will dawn." 
 
 "Farewell then," said John, strangely 
 agitated, and both friends left the patri- 
 arch in gloomy silence. 
 
 It was now ten o'clock in the morning 
 of an ideal winter's day; the sun shone 
 
 [163] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 bright, the sleighing was good, and the 
 Mississippi, which they had to cross in 
 order to get to the railroad station, was 
 safely frozen. The same conveyance that 
 had brought them to the Riley trial had 
 been engaged again. All went, including 
 Mrs. Graham and Carlo. The dog's 
 capers, when he learned that he had been 
 included, knew no bounds, and dispelled 
 in part the melancholy which such a 
 parting creates. The return from the 
 city resembled a funeral rather than the 
 return of a group of healthy young 
 men and women to their pleasant home; 
 even Carlo cut no more capers, but now 
 and then looked inquiringly up to Albert. 
 
 John had paid in full for the use of the 
 conveyance and thus had prevented his 
 friends from the consolation of having 
 brought the last little sacrifice in behalf 
 of their leader and ever unselfish friend. 
 
 Mary and Lucy endeavored to console 
 Albert, who remained silent and who 
 
 [164] 
 
CREATION OF HOME GUARDS 
 
 could not suppress the feeling as if he 
 had been attending John's funeral. He 
 could not forget Rev. Gilbert's parting 
 words, so full of mystery and woe; nor 
 could he forget Mrs. Graham's utterance 
 of the foreboding words that death is the 
 wages of sin; and now that his friend had 
 gone to a land in which slavery, the 
 blackest crime of a liberty-loving nation, 
 was still practised, he felt that the tide 
 of blood to which Rev. Gilbert had 
 referred, would be required to wipe out 
 that crime, and that the blood of his 
 dearest friend on earth would be a part. 
 Arriving home, Albert soon found an 
 antidote for that oppressive feeling, 
 namely, work! Work with hand and 
 brain! He remembered that on a sultry 
 day in June a cloud, which seemed to 
 wrap the universe in gloom and darkness, 
 had suddenly opened and disclosed a 
 magnificent spectacle of light fighting 
 darkness for supremacy. The contest 
 
 [165] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 was brief but decisive; light triumphed! 
 The dark cloud was transferred into the 
 blissful rain, and soon the sun, in renewed 
 glory, shone again. 
 
 What a wonderful mechanism is the 
 human brain to be able to draw from its 
 myriads of impressions just those which 
 serve to heal the wounded heart! 
 
 Albert occupied in the Graham family 
 the place of a brother and son. Mrs. 
 Graham ordered him about in such a 
 natural way that Albert obeyed orders 
 with the same readiness with which he 
 had obeyed his mother; Mary and 
 Lucy came to him not only with their 
 difficult questions in grammar, arithmetic 
 and other branches, but also with those 
 little troubles and achievements that are 
 of interest only to the members of a 
 family. 
 
 Mary's conduct towards him was 
 markedly changed in one respect since the 
 evening of the school-directors' meeting 
 
 [166 
 
CREATION OF HOME GUARDS 
 
 and the award of prizes. She had never 
 before been intimately acquainted with 
 any young man; she recognized in Albert 
 the ideal of all manly virtues, her own 
 personality was powerfully attracted by 
 that of Albert's; she often forced herself 
 from pondering over the language of his 
 eyes, which language she longed to be 
 in her favor. When on that eventful 
 evening at the school-directors' meeting, 
 she met him and touched his hand, the 
 omnipotent power of her own love broke 
 all fetters and she concentrated in one 
 look the love she felt for him, and 
 searched in his eyes for a response, but 
 found therein only a frightened surprise 
 and a brother's love. Thereafter she 
 fought the outbursts of her passionate 
 love with all the strength of a stern con- 
 viction, and in so doing sometimes 
 wounded Albert's friendly and brotherly 
 approaches. 
 
 Mary was not beautiful; her features 
 
 [167] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 were irregular, and in repose might be 
 classed with the commonplace faces that 
 we see every day; but when aroused by 
 anger, pity or love, a wonderful change 
 came over them; her eyes would dilate 
 and glow and every lineament of her 
 face would express the power of her feeling 
 within. Thus it happened that she 
 looked at times like a Medusa and some- 
 times like an Aphrodite; between these 
 two extremes she appeared what she 
 really was, a sensible, obedient daughter, 
 a calm reasoner and a faithful friend. 
 
 In February, 1861, the states which 
 had seceded, united and declared an 
 Independent Southern Republic, with 
 Jefferson Davis as their president. The 
 effect upon the North was powerful and 
 the belief in a settlement of the difficulties 
 without bloodshed became more and more 
 hopeless. Patriotic men of all political 
 parties prepared for the worst. It became 
 known that during the late Democratic 
 
 [168] 
 
CREATION OF HOME GUARDS 
 
 rule many weapons and other material 
 of war had been distributed over the 
 South, whereas the North had been left 
 void of such weapons and material. 
 
 Since John's return to the South, the 
 political movements were followed more 
 closely than before by the people in the 
 village and by the members of the club. 
 Rumors of depredations committed by 
 Indians, or men dressed as Indians, 
 reached those scattered communities on 
 the outskirts of civilization, of which this 
 was one, and created a considerable stir 
 among them, especially since it was 
 reported and believed that these depreda- 
 tions were originated and supported by 
 the southern slaveholders for the purpose 
 of preventing the North from interfering 
 with their movement of secession. 
 
 At a public meeting held in the village, 
 it was determined to form a company of 
 home guards for the protection of the 
 inhabitants against such marauding 
 
 [169] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 tribes; and to have its members provided 
 with arms and ammunition at the expense 
 of the village. Seventeen young men 
 offered themselves on that very evening 
 to become members of such a company 
 and were accepted. 
 
 All the men of the club had joined. 
 Hugo, the ex-Prussian soldier, the only 
 person in the village who knew anything 
 about military matters, was chosen cap- 
 tain. During the week the company 
 increased to twenty-five members, after 
 which the drilling commenced. Every 
 available rifle in the village and the 
 vicinity was surrendered to the company, 
 and target shooting became the order of 
 the day whenever a sufficient amount of 
 powder and lead could be obtained. 
 Signals, by firing guns, were agreed upon 
 in case of a sudden attack, and the 
 government was petitioned for proper 
 arms and ammunition. 
 
 One evening in April, 1861, the signals 
 
 170] 
 
CREATION OF HOME GUARDS 
 
 agreed upon were fired in rapid succession, 
 and every member of the Home Guards 
 grasped his rifle and what ammunition he 
 could find and hastened to the village 
 schoolhouse. No enemy was in sight, 
 no other commotion was visible except 
 the excitement caused by the shooting. 
 As soon as the company was assembled 
 Rev. Gilbert stepped forward and, as the 
 reason for the alarm, stated that the 
 postmaster had received a dispatch, the 
 contents of which he deemed of such 
 importance that it should be immediately 
 made known to the members in order 
 that they might prepare for the emer- 
 gency. With trembling hands he then 
 unfolded a piece of paper and read: 
 "Fort Sumter has been fired upon by 
 the Secessionists." Turning to the ex- 
 cited audience he said that the firing of 
 those cannons meant war; that murder 
 was now legalized by this overt act of 
 the South; that Mr. Lincoln, with all 
 
 [171] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 his love for humanity and his faith in a 
 final adjustment of the difficulties without 
 bloodshed, would now be compelled to 
 ask the patriots of the Nation to save the 
 Union. That he would and must ask 
 them to offer their lives upon the altar of 
 their homes and country. 
 
 Silence followed this stunning news; 
 the unexpected message and Rev. Gil- 
 bert's unfaltering certainty of an impend- 
 ing war seemed to have paralyzed those 
 present. Finally, the captain was called 
 upon to give his views as to what steps 
 should be taken under such conditions, 
 whether the company would be in duty 
 bound to go if called upon, and kindred 
 questions. Hugo's answer was brief but 
 to the point: 
 
 "We shall continue to learn keeping 
 step and shooting straight, and if we are 
 called upon to shoot slaveholders instead 
 of marauding Indians, what is the dif- 
 ference?" 
 
 [172 
 
CREATION OF HOME GUARDS 
 
 i Applause followed his words; other 
 members of the company expressed them- 
 selves in the same tenor. It was finally 
 resolved to continue to perfect themselves 
 as a military organization and to request 
 immediate aid from the state. 
 
 [173 
 
Chapter XV 
 
 THE DEMON OF WAR LET LOOSE 
 
 THE firing of those cannons caused 
 a general depression of business 
 and almost an entire cessation of 
 improvements and activity in educational 
 matters. The war-cloud overshadowed 
 every enterprise that was not directly 
 connected with the resistance and sup- 
 pression of the rebellious element; con- 
 sequently our friends' expectations of 
 entering new and more congenial fields 
 of labor in the spring were doomed to die. 
 A few days after, the news of Presi- 
 dent Lincoln's call for seventy-five thou- 
 sand volunteers for the suppression of the 
 Rebellion reached them. It was criti- 
 cized by some as a call for too many 
 troops and by others as a call for not 
 enough. During May, 1861, the Union 
 forces achieved a few victories in the 
 
 [ 174 ] 
 
THE DEMON OF WAR LET LOOSE 
 
 East and West, causing the North to 
 expect a rapid termination of the war 
 and a complete subjugation of the seceded 
 states. 
 
 The club shared in this expectation. 
 The new schoolhouse was to be built 
 during the summer and opened in Sep- 
 tember, 1861. The members of the 
 club had closed their wood contract 
 and had engaged in another of grading; 
 Mrs. Graham had secured from the rail- 
 road company, on easy terms, the log 
 house and the acre of land on which it 
 was located; Mary had passed her 
 teacher's examination and intended to 
 teach the next fall term in the village. 
 
 Everything about them looked hopeful 
 excepting the condition of Rev. Gilbert's 
 health. He had been obliged to give 
 up preaching on account of lung trouble, 
 and was gradually growing weaker. In a 
 conversation with Mrs. Graham he ex- 
 pressed the wish to live until the Union 
 
 [175] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 was saved and that a just God would 
 grant his prayer. 
 
 A Federal victory in July, 1861, in 
 Missouri, had apparently saved that 
 state for the Union, and General Scott 
 with a powerful army was marching 
 toward Richmond in order to strike the 
 final blow that was to crush the Con- 
 federacy. 
 
 : The Home Guards had received their 
 weapons and caps from the state but no 
 ammunition of any kind. The general 
 expectation of a speedy ending of the 
 war by the capture of the leaders of the 
 Confederacy made officials very careless 
 in providing the necessary accoutrements. 
 President Lincoln's abhorrence of war and 
 his confidence in the restoration of peace 
 after a decisive Union victory, were also 
 known and shared by the masses in the 
 North; all of which caused considerable 
 delay in the formation of such armies as 
 a less humane president, who was better 
 
 [176] 
 
THE DEMON OF WAR LET LOOSE 
 
 informed of the vindictive spirit and 
 powerful resources of the South, would 
 have created with the utmost speed. 
 
 Who can describe the agony and 
 despair of the patriots in the North 
 when the crushing defeat of the Union 
 army at Bull Run, in July, 1861, became 
 known ! Plunged from the highest expec- 
 tations of victory into the deepest gloom 
 of such a defeat paralyzed the North 
 while in the South the victory was oil 
 poured on the flames of secession. The 
 immediate consequences of that defeat 
 in the community of which the log house 
 formed a part were decisive and in one 
 instance tragical. 
 
 One evening as the young men were 
 returning from a hard day's work of 
 grading and were elated at the prospect 
 of completing the contract with the rail- 
 road company on the next day and of 
 securing work in the harvest fields, the 
 postmaster entered and told them the 
 
 12 
 
 [177] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 unexpected news. The sudden explosion 
 of a bomb could have had no greater 
 effect than had the postmaster's simple 
 statement. The magnitude of the strug- 
 gle stood now clearly before them, and 
 no one doubted but that the war would 
 continue until the one side or the other 
 would be annihilated. 
 
 From now on a strange uneasiness 
 seized them. Each one had received 
 assurances that with the disappearance 
 of the war-cloud a desired position would 
 be ready for him; and now the cloud had 
 grown blacker and larger than ever. 
 The sympathizers with the South, of 
 whom even the little village had its 
 quota, deprecated the idea of resistance, 
 and privately advised to let the South go, 
 giving as reasons that the struggle to 
 keep them within the Union was hopeless; 
 that the Southerners were born soldiers 
 and the Northerners born farmers; that 
 the North had no materials of war and 
 
 [178] 
 
THE DEMON OF WAR LET LOOSE 
 
 no leaders, and that the South had an 
 abundance of both. It was the siren's 
 song of treachery and cowardice and 
 found many willing hearts and ears; 
 it sang its bewitching air among the 
 members of the club and made some 
 converts, and threw among them the 
 poison of distrust and the germ of dis- 
 union and secession. 
 
 Another report, however, came soon. It 
 resembled the blast of Gabriel's trumpet 
 on the day of resurrection: Congress 
 had convened and granted to President 
 Lincoln not only the limited amount of 
 money and men for which he had asked, 
 but it had also unanimously given him 
 the power to use the entire strength, 
 wealth and credit of the nation for the 
 purpose of saving the Union. This mes- 
 sage had a wonderful effect. It resembled 
 a refreshing rain after the long drought 
 that had withered patriotism; it was the 
 star of Bethlehem that led to the cradle 
 
 [179] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 of liberty and raised vast armies among 
 the peace-loving people of the North 
 and took from death on the field of battle 
 the agonizing fear of failure and placed 
 in its stead the wreath of immortality. 
 
 The effect upon the members of the 
 Log House Club was also decisive; Hugo 
 Brenner, by virtue of his leadership of 
 the Home Guards and his faculty of 
 organizing, had been chosen in John's 
 place chairman of the club; its members 
 felt keenly that the time had come for 
 its dissolution, and that the god of 
 patriotism suffered no other god beside 
 him. The few members who had lately 
 lent their ear to the bewitching song 
 "Let the South depart in peace" had 
 returned to the patriotic fold upon the 
 wave of enthusiasm which had its origin 
 in the act of Congress turning its power 
 over to the cabin boy, in the effort to 
 save the Union. 
 
 Albert and Fred had taught the girls 
 
 [180] 
 
THE DEMON OF WAR LET LOOSE 
 
 the last lesson, although nothing had 
 been said about its being the last; but 
 they knew that the many settlements 
 among the members meant a severance 
 of associates. The science of the teacher 
 must yield to the science of the soldier, 
 the human heart was not capable of serv- 
 ing two such masters. When Albert had 
 explained the last problem to Mary 
 and had closed the book and handed it to 
 her with an expression as if his mind 
 were upon the battle-field instead, she 
 burst out crying and left the room. Mrs. 
 Graham and Lucy were also visibly 
 moved and thanked Albert for the many 
 acts of kindness he had bestowed upon 
 the family. 
 
 A meeting of the club was called for 
 the next evening; all members well knew 
 that it was to be the last one. The chair- 
 man, in an opening speech, praised the 
 precision with which every act of the 
 household had been done by all the mem- 
 
 [181] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 bers, and further touched upon the in- 
 creased happiness and knowledge which 
 had been the result. He then stated 
 that the object of the meeting was to 
 discuss the question whether the unity of 
 the club should be preserved during the 
 approaching war. 
 
 The opinions on that question differed 
 considerably; several members advocated 
 enlistment with the regular army, claim- 
 ing that such an action would do away 
 with the slow process of drilling for 
 months before the active life of a soldier 
 could begin, and that the members of 
 the club, by virtue of having received 
 private lessons by the chairman, were 
 fully qualified to enter at once as members 
 of the regular army. Other members 
 feared that such an enlistment would 
 bring about a complete dissolution of the 
 club, as they would in all probability 
 be scattered among different companies 
 of experienced soldiers ; while as members 
 
 [182 
 
THE DEMON OF WAR LET LOOSE 
 
 of the Home Guards they would form 
 the nucleus of a new company, and on 
 account of their former training would be 
 of greater service to the cause than they 
 could be by the immediate enlisting with 
 the regular army. At the final balloting, 
 Mrs. Graham and her daughters refusing 
 to vote, the vote stood three in favor of 
 enlisting and five against. The chairman 
 in announcing the result remarked that 
 in accordance with the principle of self- 
 government the majority rules and that 
 the club was to remain with the Home 
 Guards. Fred Lambert objected to this 
 ruling, insisting that in time of war the 
 usual parliamentary rules and general 
 principles do not govern; that the Presi- 
 dent of the United States had ordered, 
 besides the enlistment of raw recruits, 
 at least twenty-five thousand trained 
 soldiers to increase and strengthen the 
 regular army, and that, since the North 
 had but few trained soldiers, it would 
 
 [183] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 be the duty of every one trained in 
 military tactics to respond to the call at 
 once and perhaps aid to quell in infancy, 
 with the loss of a few men only, secession 
 in some states, which if left alone for a 
 considerable time, would require armies 
 and thousands of lives and millions 
 of dollars to suppress. Albert was of 
 the same opinion. He pointed to Mis- 
 souri and Kentucky, the two border 
 states, which might be saved if the 
 Unionists therein were, without delay, 
 backed by an army of trained soldiers, 
 sufficient to cope with the enemy, since 
 the raw, untrained levies had proved 
 their weakness at Bull Run and their 
 unfitness to cope with the trained men of 
 the South. 
 
 Paul Gerard, being convinced of the 
 soundness of Albert's and Fred's argu- 
 ments, made a motion to rescind the 
 former vote and to leave the question of 
 further united action undecided. This 
 
 i 
 
 184] 
 
THE DEMON OF WAR LET LOOSE 
 
 motion was carried without a dissenting 
 vote. 
 
 Mrs. Graham was now asked to express 
 her opinion. She obeyed, but had great 
 difficulty to govern her voice while she 
 spoke as follows: 
 
 "Being denied to be a mother of boys, 
 I have adopted you, and my daughters 
 have received you as brothers; you have 
 fostered virtue and shunned vice; you 
 have succeeded in establishing a union, 
 composed of members from every domi- 
 nant nation in the world, that has 
 astonished every one who has heard of 
 this club. We shall soon part, but be 
 assured that wherever you may hereafter 
 cast your lot, whether before the enemy 
 or before the drillmaster, our prayers will 
 be with you; and should you fall while 
 striving to serve that larger Union, our 
 tears will flow as they do now." 
 
 The noble woman and her peerless 
 daughters sobbingly left the room, while 
 
 [185] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 the men arose in homage to exalted 
 womanhood. 
 
 At this moment the gravity of the 
 situation weighed most heavily upon the 
 shoulders of the young men. 
 
 They felt that with the breaking .of 
 the circle by which they had been united 
 with the weeping women, the ideal civili- 
 zation for which their club had striven, 
 was shattered, and that they had in its 
 place accepted the civilization of the dark 
 ages of blood and murder. Fred Lambert 
 broke the painful silence, during which a 
 deep longing for their ideals, bordering 
 on repentance, had seized them, by 
 quoting Schiller in Wilhelm Tell, 
 
 "Es kann der Frommste nicht ini Frieden bleiben, 
 Wenn es dem bosen Nachbar nicht gefallt." 
 
 [186] 
 
Chapter XVI 
 
 THE CLUB S EMBARKING FOR THE NEAREST 
 FIELD OF CONTEST 
 
 EFFORTS had been made to with- 
 hold the news of the terrible 
 defeat of the Union Army at Bull 
 Run from Rev. Gilbert, whose physical 
 condition w T as precarious during the hot 
 summer of 1861. This sharp observer 
 of human frailties, however, soon detected 
 that the news of some important event 
 was withheld from him and demanded 
 of his granddaughter to tell him what 
 had happened. The direct question and 
 the imploring eyes of her grandfather, 
 threw her into a spasm of weeping. 
 Fortunately the attending physician 
 called at that time. Upon the patient's 
 repeating the question, the physician 
 related, in the mildest form possible, the 
 disastrous Union defeat, and that Presi- 
 
 [187] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 dent Lincoln had called for the immediate 
 enlistment of five hundred thousand more 
 troops to prosecute the war. The physi- 
 cian was surprised at the composure with 
 which the patient had accepted the news; 
 seizing his hand to congratulate him 
 upon this feat of self-control, the physi- 
 cian noticed that the hand was lifeless 
 and that the wide open eyes were rigid 
 in death. 
 
 The club attended Rev. Gilbert's fu- 
 neral in a body; they had been chosen 
 as pall-bearers on their old friend's last 
 journey and fired a salute over his grave 
 in honor of the first victim of the Civil 
 War who had died in the village. 
 
 Rev. Colby, a lifelong friend and 
 former classmate of Rev. Gilbert, con- 
 ducted the funeral rites, and at the open 
 grave wafted a last farewell to him whom 
 a kind fate had peacefully removed from 
 the murderous scenes of his home to the 
 pleasant dreamland and rest of the 
 
 188 
 
EMBARKING FOR THE CONTEST 
 
 universal abode in which a just God rules 
 supreme. 
 
 A recruiting officer in the city had heard 
 of the company of young men and urged 
 them to enlist at once in the regular 
 army. This fact had been known by 
 every member of the club and by the 
 people of the village and had led to 
 considerable discussion whether the state 
 had the right to prevent any member of its 
 home guards from enlisting in the regular 
 army of the United States. Upon inquiry 
 it was ascertained that the state had no 
 such right in time of war. With this 
 legal question settled, and in view of the 
 urgent demand for trained soldiers and 
 of the disorder prevailing in the manage- 
 ment of the military affairs in the state, 
 and upon the urgent invitation of friends 
 in Missouri, the members finally agreed to 
 join, in a body, General Lyon's command 
 in that state, where strenuous efforts 
 were made by the enemy to secure at 
 
 [189] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 least the southern half of the state for 
 the Confederacy. 
 
 As soon as it became known that all 
 the members of the club were to join the 
 federal forces, a universal sadness spread 
 over the village, and every family felt 
 for the first time, as they noticed the 
 anxiety and care with which these young 
 men prepared for the field, that war had 
 actually begun. 
 
 The day of parting had come; a large 
 steamer was to carry the members to 
 St. Louis. The whole village was aroused 
 and accompanied the club to the landing. 
 Mrs. Graham and her daughters had, 
 for the last time, waited upon the boys 
 at the table; any attempt to drive away 
 sadness was a failure. The landlord, 
 who had come with his conveyance to take 
 the women to the landing, had brought 
 the news that large bodies of Confederates 
 had entered Missouri and that General 
 Lyon had repeatedly demanded help from 
 
 [190] 
 
EMBARKING FOR THE CONTEST 
 
 the East but had failed to get it, and that 
 the West had to help itself. This news 
 destroyed every doubt as to the wisdom 
 of the club's action and made every 
 member thereof feel relieved. 
 
 Albert was the last to bid good-bye to 
 Mrs. Graham and her daughters. He 
 had resolved to send his school books 
 with his farewell to his sister in Buffalo, 
 and to ask Mrs. Graham to do it for him; 
 in his patriotic zeal he had forgotten 
 everything else, even his sister. As he 
 handed to Mrs. Graham the books with 
 a letter addressed to his sister, and once 
 more thanked her for all the friendship 
 and loving care he had received from her 
 and asked her forgiveness for all the grief 
 he might have caused her, she, with a 
 mother's affection, kissed him farewell 
 and with an unsteady voice added: 
 
 " No, Albert, our accounts are balanced 
 to date; whatsoever the future may have 
 in store for us, I shall leave the settlement 
 
 [191] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 with the great God who has permitted 
 this tearing asunder." 
 
 "Good-bye and farewell, Lucy, my 
 sister," said Albert to the weeping girl. 
 As an answer she threw her arms around 
 his neck and kissed him and then with her 
 mother left the room. As Albert turned 
 with outstretched hands toward Mary, 
 who was seated on a chair near the 
 window where she could see the people 
 passing to the landing, she turned pale, 
 a convulsive trembling came over her and 
 she sank noiselessly to the floor. Albert, 
 terror stricken, laid her on the couch; 
 her eyes were closed and her teeth 
 firmly set; no breath escaped her lips, 
 which he passionately kissed. Never had 
 he beheld a fairer face than the one before 
 him upon which death had apparently 
 impressed its mark. Her young life 
 passed before him; he thought of her 
 searching eyes, the sudden withdrawal of 
 her hand when, by chance, she had 
 
 [192] 
 
EMBARKING FOR THE CONTEST 
 
 touched his; the peculiar secret care that 
 she had shown for his welfare — all these 
 thoughts turned upon him in a moment 
 and revealed to him the loss of that love 
 which the world could never restore. 
 
 Her mother came upon his call for help; 
 she noticed instantly that Mary had only 
 fainted. Loud calls for Albert were 
 heard outside, while Mrs. Graham was 
 administering restoratives to Mary and 
 soon brought her back to consciousness. 
 As Mary opened her eyes Albert fell upon 
 his knees before her, kissing her eyes and 
 lips, and with a voice softened by the 
 overpowering passion of love that had 
 thrilled his very being, cried, "Farewell, 
 my love, my sweet love! 9 ' and then left 
 the room to join Fred, who was still 
 calling. Upon seeing Albert, Fred met 
 him with the prosaic question, "Where 
 in the deuce have you been? we shall be 
 too late for the boat!" to which Albert 
 half angrily replied, "Where in the name 
 
 13 
 
 [193] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 of heaven did you get that word 'deuce' 
 from?" 
 
 Almost the entire population of the 
 village was present at the landing when 
 Albert and Fred arrived; Lucy and Carlo 
 were also there, while Mrs. Graham 
 stayed with Mary. The dog had whined 
 so pitifully when he noticed the boys, his 
 former comrades, leaving the house with 
 their luggage, that Lucy was determined 
 to let Carlo see the big ship in which 
 his kind friends were to leave. The boat 
 arrived at the same time that Fred 
 and Albert reached the landing. The 
 parting was painful, and its tragical 
 character was enhanced by the following 
 unexpected incident: 
 
 Harry Elwell, one of the village boys, 
 who had joined the Home Guards, had 
 secretly determined to go with the mem- 
 bers of the club. He was one of the best 
 qualified members of the company, the 
 best shot and a Unionist to the backbone; 
 
 [194 
 
EMBARKING FOR THE CONTEST 
 
 his father had died many years before and 
 the son had been the sole support of his 
 crippled mother. The old lady had 
 insisted upon seeing the "boys off" and 
 was at the landing. As Fred and Albert 
 shook hands with her and turned toward 
 the boat, Harry stepped up to his mother, 
 fell on her neck and told her that he too 
 was going with the boys. The mother 
 made no reply but clung to her son and 
 wept. The ship's bell rang, the huge 
 sidewheels of the boat began to stir, and 
 still the old lady held her boy in close 
 embrace. The passengers, who had wit- 
 nessed the scene between mother and son, 
 begged the captain to countermand the 
 order of starting; he unwillingly did so, 
 then turning to the weeping mother and 
 freeing the boy by carefully unloosening 
 her arms, he asked her in a clear, impres- 
 sive voice: 
 
 "Do you, in the presence of the 
 Almighty God and these witnesses, refuse 
 
 [195] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 to allow your son to go with his friends 
 and comrades to defend his country and 
 yours r 
 
 A dead silence followed. The mother 
 covered her eyes with her hands through 
 which the tears were forcing themselves. 
 The sun, that had been under a cloud, 
 suddenly burst forth and illumined the 
 old lady's gray hair until it shone like a 
 glittering diadem. Harry had again 
 gently embraced his mother and whis- 
 pered some endearing words to her; she 
 slowly freed herself, kissed him once 
 more, and although her tears were flowing 
 fast, bade him farewell. 
 
 Upon sign from the captain the wheels 
 again began to revolve, and as the mother 
 turned toward her home the band of the 
 receding ship began to play the national 
 hymn and the audience on ship and shore 
 joined in the sacred anthem. 
 
 The waves of the grand old hymn also 
 reached Mary's chamber in the now 
 
 [196] 
 
EMBARKING FOR THE CONTEST 
 
 deserted house. She heard the trumpet's 
 sound and lay trembling in her mother's 
 arms as if its notes were echoes of the 
 thuds of falling earth upon her lover's 
 coffin. 
 
 The members of the Log House Club 
 waved a last farewell to their friends on 
 shore. Carlo, seeming to grasp the 
 situation, ran to Lucy and barked loudly. 
 The distracted girl, well understanding 
 the troubled animal's appeal, threw her- 
 self on the ground, and clasping her arms 
 around her faithful friend cried: 
 
 "No, Carlo, they will never come back 
 again." 
 
 The huge steamer plowed onward to 
 its destination, St. Louis. The topic 
 of conversation among its passengers 
 was war, and war only. The grasping 
 trader commingled with the patriotic 
 warrior; the goal of the one was the 
 amassing of untold wealth and the goal 
 of the other was victory or the grave; 
 
 197 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 the lips of the one were burning with the 
 "hot sling" sold by the bartender, and 
 the lips of the other were still burning 
 with the kisses of his despairing loved 
 ones. — Horrible war! The barbarian's 
 pride and the family's curse ! Will civi- 
 lization ever grow strong enough to 
 throttle that demon? 
 
 [198 
 
H 
 
 Chapter XVII 
 
 SCENES OF HOME 
 
 **Y T^W dreary everything is 
 around here, Mamma, with- 
 out the boys," exclaimed 
 Lucy on the next morning. The old log 
 house seemed to be as large and as old 
 again as formerly; the long table in the 
 dining-room, without the lively conversa- 
 tion and hearty laughter of the boys, 
 stared at the women like the monument 
 erected over departed friends. Even 
 Mrs. Graham, the matter-of-fact woman, 
 while the breakfast was on the table and 
 she was awaiting her daughters, was 
 overpowered with the loneliness of the 
 place and with a longing for her adopted 
 sons, and burying her face in her arms, 
 she leaned forward on the table and wept. 
 Thus Mary and Lucy found her. 
 
 What a consolation to know that others 
 
 [199] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 are sharing the same burden that seems 
 to smother your very life, and to take 
 away the sunshine which had made it a 
 continuous holiday! 
 
 Carlo even, walked about the place with 
 drooping head and ears, the very picture 
 of misery. He missed the boys' cheering 
 voices and their plays with him. They 
 had trained him to fill the wood-box, to 
 get Albert's hat and shoes, to stand on 
 his hind legs and shoulder a toy gun, 
 and to do many other tricks, all of which 
 he delighted to do. He knew by the 
 women's tears that a great calamity 
 had befallen the old log house; his 
 faithful heart shared his friends' sorrow 
 and he tried by redoubled efforts to 
 console them. 
 
 In the following spring, during an 
 almost unprecedented high water, Carlo 
 saved the lives of two small children from 
 drowning. At that time the brook 
 encircling the village had suddenly be- 
 
 [200] 
 
SCENES OF HOME 
 
 come a stream and had carried with it 
 the little brother and sister while they 
 were playing on its bank. At Carlo's 
 death a few years later, the whole village 
 mourned and he was buried on the 
 brightest spot in the village cemetery. 
 Afterwards the villagers, with the finan- 
 cial aid of the members of the Log House 
 Club, erected over his grave a beautiful 
 monument, which represented the faith- 
 ful dog with the children he had saved, 
 clinging to him. 
 
 Farewell, Carlo! Never has man de- 
 served a monument more than you! 
 Unselfish, never driven by ambition nor 
 desire for reward, faithful in the grandest 
 signification of that word, always ready 
 to do and die for humanity, the story of 
 your noble life is an example for sin- 
 laden mankind, and is worthy of the 
 tears that were shed when you crossed 
 the dark river. Farewell! 
 
 The whole village felt the void among 
 
 [ 201 ] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 them after the young men had left. 
 No one had fully appreciated the silent 
 influence that had been exerted by that 
 union of young men with high ideals. 
 They had at first been made the butt of 
 ridicule by worshippers of strong drink 
 and tobacco. The log house had been 
 dubbed "The Insane Asylum," by the 
 lower strata of society, and by the better 
 classes, "The Phantom Castle." 
 
 Their faith in the realization of ideals, 
 the execution of which would require the 
 uprooting of doubly entrenched habits, 
 had not yet been planted among the new- 
 comers. Riley's confession of guilt, the 
 unceasing activity and truthfulness and 
 the dropping of whiskey and tobacco from 
 the list of necessities among the members 
 of the club, their wholesale enlistment 
 and their joining the Union army, were 
 required to convince the most obstinate 
 and vicious among the scoffers, of the 
 pure intentions and actions of the mem- 
 
 [202] 
 
SCENES OF HOME 
 
 bers and of the efficiency of their prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 On the Sunday following the departure 
 of the boys, two voices were missing in 
 the church choir, the owners of which 
 had endeared themselves to everyone. 
 The organist had played the prelude, the 
 choir had arisen to sing the opening hymn, 
 but no tone escaped them, only tears 
 rilled their eyes in the recollection of the 
 cruel parting from their companions. 
 In their stead, the whole congregation 
 arose, and, inspired with the sanctity 
 of the moment, sang as they had never 
 sung before. That Sunday's service 
 was consecrated to the memory of the 
 boys in blue and to the bereft mother in 
 yonder corner of the church, yearning for 
 the presence of her only child. 
 
 The young minister, who had been 
 sent there on that Sabbath to preach his 
 first sermon, bestowed such a eulogy 
 upon the departed friends that even the 
 
 [203 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 old mother ceased yearning for her boy 
 during the young patriot's glow of elo- 
 quence. He pictured death upon the 
 battle-field in defense of one's country 
 as the grandest and most beautiful death 
 of all. 
 
 He, too, was true to his ideals. By 
 his undaunted energy and eloquent 
 appeals to the young men of the county, 
 he revived enthusiasm for the cause, 
 saved the rest of the Home Guards from 
 disbanding, raised the company to the 
 full quota of men, and adopted Albert's 
 motto, "Never surrender." Later, as 
 the captain of the company, he paid the 
 debt to his country by a hero's death 
 upon a southern battle-field, while his 
 betrothed, Rev. Gilbert's grandchild, 
 Agnes, longed to follow him when he was 
 laid away. 
 
 The village people were anxiously fol- 
 lowing the movements of the contending 
 armies in Missouri. Several letters had 
 
 [204 
 
 
SCENES OF HOME 
 
 been received from the boys who reported 
 their arrival at St. Louis and described 
 the war-like aspect of that city. The 
 telegraph worked as yet very defectively 
 in the West. The report of the battle of 
 Wilson's Creek, fought on August 10, 
 1861, reached the village several days 
 after the battle had occurred. No list 
 of the dead and wounded had accompa- 
 nied the telegram, only the death of 
 General Lyon was reported; also that 
 the losses on both sides had been heavy 
 and that the Union army had returned 
 in good order to Springfield. 
 
 The tormenting pain of uncertainty 
 as to the names of the dead and wounded, 
 was most keenly felt in the Graham 
 family. Finally, on the morning of the 
 fourth day after the battle, Mary re- 
 ceived a letter from Albert bearing the 
 postmark of Springfield, Missouri. She 
 stared at the letter as if it had been a 
 messenger from heaven, then covered 
 
 205] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 her eyes as if she had been dazzled by 
 a sudden light and pressed her heart 
 as if to keep it from breaking. 
 
 Why is the brilliant messenger of joy 
 so closely allied to the dark one of grief? 
 Do we, in the act of being lifted to the 
 highest mountain peak of happiness, 
 see clearer the bottomless gulf of de- 
 spair below, had the die been cast the 
 other way? 
 
 Upon a sign from Mary, her mother 
 opened the letter and handed it back 
 to her daughter. While reading, Mary's 
 face showed distinctly the agitation of 
 her heart. Mother and sister waited 
 anxiously as the color of her cheeks 
 changed from the flush of the rose to 
 the paleness of the lily. Having read 
 the letter she handed it to her mother 
 with a sigh, and left the room without 
 a word. Both Mrs. Graham and Lucy 
 read and re-read the letter which fol- 
 lows, and which may aid the reader in 
 
 [206] 
 
SCENES OF HOME 
 
 understanding more fully the closing 
 scenes of this narrative by becoming 
 acquainted with the motives that led 
 the actors: 
 
 Springfield, Mo., August 9, 1861. 
 Dearest: Hoping that you have received my letter 
 of August 5th, I shall relate to you our further expe- 
 rience. We are now at Springfield, Mo., where we ar- 
 rived yesterday; the town is full of Union fugitives 
 from the southern counties of the state that have been 
 invaded by the Confederates under the Generals Mc- 
 Culloch and Price. Fred is a jewel; his good humor 
 has made us many friends in our company. Our expe- 
 rience during the time we were members of the Log 
 House Club has now become invaluable. The assort- 
 ment of needles and thread with which you presented 
 me last Christmas is now more appreciated than ever. 
 I would not exchange it for the most precious ring. 
 That reminds me that no ring of mine adorns your busy 
 hand ! How is it possible that but a single thought of 
 you can fill my whole being! When at parting I held, 
 as it seemed, your lifeless form, I knew not whether it 
 was love or approaching death that blotted from my 
 memory every other thought but of you. I know it 
 now! It was love — as endless as the ring that you shall 
 wear for me; as pure as you are and as immortal as is 
 creation itself. Severed we are still united. Should I 
 fall, plant some forget-me-nots upon my grave, but do 
 not mourn for me ! 
 
 [207] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 Fred is again calling as he did on the day we left 
 the old home; the army is to march at night and attack 
 the enemy in the morning. Fred has just finished a 
 letter to his mother in Germany and we have agreed 
 that should one fall the other would send notice to his 
 friends. I hear the last signal. Farewell, my sweet 
 love, and think of him who always thinks of you. 
 
 Your Albert. 
 
 Day after day passed in tormenting 
 uncertainty as to the life or death of 
 Albert and Fred. Newspapers furnished 
 very inaccurate lists of the dead, wounded 
 and missing. Two weeks had passed 
 since Mary had received Albert's letter 
 and notwithstanding the many inquiries 
 made by letter and friends at head- 
 quarters, no trace had been found of 
 them since the battle, and no notice had 
 been sent by either. Were they both 
 dead, mortally wounded, or made pris- 
 oners? Had heaven no compassion on 
 that poor girl who with tearless eyes so 
 patiently longed for a message from the 
 dead or living lover? 
 
 [208] 
 
SCENES OF HOME 
 
 In the meantime the building of the 
 new schoolhouse had progressed rapidly. 
 School was to commence on the second 
 Monday of September and Mary Graham 
 had been formally elected as one of the 
 teachers, but had not yet accepted. 
 She could not teach any one as long as 
 she was in doubt about the life or death 
 of Albert. 
 
 At last she resolved to search for the 
 missing one in person and chose for 
 that purpose the garb of a nurse. She 
 had been a highly successful assistant 
 to the village doctor in nursing difficult 
 cases that had come under his care, and 
 in view of that fact Mrs. Graham and 
 Lucy at last approved of her desperate 
 step and did everything in their power 
 to aid her. 
 
 Reports from Missouri indicated a 
 firm determination on the part of the 
 Federals to drive the Confederates from 
 the state. In the certainty of future 
 
 14 
 
 [ 209 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 bloodshed nurses were in great demand 
 in that locality and were gratefully re- 
 ceived. 
 
 On the day before Mary was to leave 
 for the South, Mrs. Graham received 
 a letter from an attorney in Germany in 
 which he requested Fred's present ad- 
 dress, and notifying her further of the 
 death of Fred's mother and the neces- 
 sity of his presence in Germany as one 
 of the two heirs of her large estate. 
 Mrs. Graham duly entrusted this letter 
 with Mary who, on the next day, as the 
 sun was sinking in the west, left her old 
 home. 
 
 Mary took passage on the same steamer 
 that a month before had taken the boys 
 to St. Louis. She was made aware of 
 that fact when the captain asked after 
 Mrs. Elwell's condition. Mary informed 
 him that the old lady was well provided 
 for by the community and that the at- 
 tention and care that she had received 
 
 [210] 
 
SCENES OF HOME 
 
 from the village people had proved to 
 be a great consolation to her. Upon the 
 captain's further inquiry after the young 
 men who had left for Missouri for the 
 purpose of joining General Lyon's army, 
 she related the painful absence of news 
 after the battle of Wilson's Creek; that 
 they were unable to learn whether any 
 of the young men had been killed or 
 wounded and that she was now going 
 south to seek for them, and that she 
 might perhaps be of some help in taking 
 care of the wounded. 
 
 The captain gave her some valuable 
 advice and promised to aid her further 
 by giving her recommendations to sev- 
 eral Union commanders then operating 
 in South Missouri. 
 
 The captain did more than this. Ar- 
 rived at St. Louis he personally conducted 
 Mary to a private family where she re- 
 mained a few days until she was well 
 acquainted with the difficulties of her 
 
 [211] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 task. She was soon convinced that she 
 would have to follow the tracks of sev- 
 eral Confederate regiments which had 
 been most actively engaged in the late 
 battle and in the caring of the dead and 
 wounded on both sides, and that in 
 order to have any show of success she 
 had to dress as a boy. Mary's courage 
 grew with the difficulties she encountered 
 and her determination to find Albert 
 and Fred, either dead or alive, became 
 unalterable. 
 
 The family with whom she stayed pro- 
 vided her with a boy's suit and with 
 coloring matter to change her complex- 
 ion. Her beautiful hair was cut in order 
 to make her disguise complete. Before 
 all this was done and before she left 
 St. Louis she delivered the letter from 
 Fred's attorney in Germany to a re- 
 liable bank with directions to attend to 
 the matter, and also made arrangements 
 with the same bank to have money sent 
 
 [212] 
 
SCENES OF HOME 
 
 to her, even though it be to adjoining 
 states that had seceded. 
 
 Mary appeared before the hospitable 
 family in her new attire, carrying an 
 old valise; at first they failed to recog- 
 nize her, so perfect was her disguise. 
 They wished her success upon her sad 
 errand; and Mary, thanking them for 
 their kindness, departed for the South. 
 
 [213] 
 
Chapter XVIII 
 
 THE SEARCH FOR THE MISSING 
 
 AT Springfield, Missouri, Mary was 
 bewildered by hearing so many 
 different stories of fugitives and 
 wounded soldiers who had been har- 
 bored by families residing near the late 
 battle-field. In order to have any show 
 of success she was obliged to trace every 
 report and to ascertain the details in 
 every instance. On the evening of the 
 fifth day she had still no clue of the 
 missing ones. Being hungry and tired — 
 the country around her was drained of 
 all eatables and appeared like a large 
 cemetery — she longed to lie down and 
 sleep the last sleep from which there is 
 no awakening. She had visited every 
 family that had taken care of wounded 
 soldiers, but no description of the men 
 applied to Albert or Fred. The very 
 
 [214] 
 
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING 
 
 pity with which she was met everywhere 
 convinced her of the impossibility of the 
 task. 
 
 She was now several miles from the 
 battle-field and too tired to continue the 
 search. Finding a secluded spot behind 
 a clump of bushes she lay down and fell 
 asleep. The yelling of a boy who was 
 crashing through the bushes where she 
 was lying awoke her suddenly. While 
 driving a cow the boy had noticed a 
 dark object before him and being un- 
 certain whether it was a beast or a man 
 he had given the alarm which brought 
 Mary quickly to her feet. She at once 
 remembered her strange situation and 
 asked the boy, who was not more than 
 twelve years old, whether there was a 
 place in the neighborhood in which she 
 could spend the night. The boy told 
 her to come along to his mother who 
 could tell better than he could. On the 
 way he told Mary that his mother had 
 
 [215] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 for several weeks taken care of a wounded 
 Yankee soldier and that about a week 
 ago he had been taken to Louisiana by a 
 lady and two " niggers "; and that the 
 lady had given hk mother a sum of money 
 with which they had bought the cow 
 he was driving. This information gave 
 her new hope and courage. Trembling 
 with excitement she asked herself whether 
 it could be possible that she had at last 
 found the right clue. 
 
 When she reached the boy's home, 
 Mary was well received by the mother 
 who gladly offered a night's lodging to 
 the exhausted boy, as she supposed Mary 
 to be. While her son was doing the 
 chores she corroborated in full his story 
 and described the wounded soldier, the 
 strange lady and her help. The woman's 
 description of the soldier, who had still 
 been in a helpless condition and unable 
 to stir when he was taken South, ap- 
 plied more to Fred than to Albert. 
 
 [216] 
 
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING 
 
 In the fullness of her heart Mary sank 
 on her knees and thanked an All-wise 
 Power for the first ray of light in the 
 gloom of her despair. The woman was 
 unable to give the lady's name nor that 
 of the sick soldier, but she described ac- 
 curately the peculiar carriage in which 
 the lady and her attendants had traveled 
 and in which they had taken the invalid 
 with them. With this indefinite infor- 
 mation Mary continued her search the 
 next day. 
 
 Words are inadequate to convey a 
 true idea of the suffering, deprivations 
 and disappointments of this brave girl 
 during the next four days. At noon on 
 the fifth day she stopped for rest at a 
 little hamlet built at a cross-road com- 
 prising a few houses and sheds. She had 
 traced the carriage with its occupants 
 to this cross-road. She entered the 
 largest of the cabin-like buildings after 
 she had vainly knocked for admittance 
 
 [217 
 

 THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 and beheld a sight that would strike 
 terror to the most courageous. In the 
 rear of the large room which she had 
 entered, there lay upon a cot an ap- 
 parently dead man. His head was 
 turned towards the door and his wide- 
 open eyes were staring at her. As she 
 turned to leave the room the light from 
 the open door revealed fully the ghastly 
 face. It was Fred! Mary recognized 
 him by a scar on his forehead. She went 
 nearer to him. The suddenness of recog- 
 nition and the solemnity of death made 
 her falter. Her eyes grew dim, her 
 brain was in a whirl, and her whole 
 body seemed to sink into a bottomless 
 space. She was about to yield to the 
 weakness of mind and body that like 
 an electric shock pierces the center of 
 life and tests the strength of its sinews, 
 but the elevating hope of final success 
 and the thought of Albert came to her 
 rescue and changed the fainting girl to the 
 
 [218] 
 
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING 
 
 heroine who defies weakness, and who in 
 all ages forms the vanguard of humanity. 
 
 Two women, who resided in the build- 
 ing, had, in the meantime, returned and 
 entered the room. They had seen Mary's 
 fainting spell and rushed to her aid, but 
 were amazed at her sudden change from 
 utter helplessness to a most vigorous 
 demonstration of strength. They had 
 never seen nor heard of instances in 
 which even death had been held at bay 
 by the power of the will. Being super- 
 stitious they believed the dark and hand- 
 some boy before them to be a messenger 
 from the evil one, which caused them 
 quickly to release their hands and to 
 turn to the open door. 
 
 Mary was surprised at their strange 
 actions, but was convinced that they 
 were the owners of the premises and 
 told them who she was and that she had 
 come to nurse the sick man if they would 
 permit her to stay. She begged the 
 
 [219 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 loan of some woman's clothing until 
 she could obtain her trunk from St. 
 Louis. The women gladly consented 
 and informed her that their husbands 
 were Confederate soldiers who had joined 
 the army on their wedding day; that the 
 Yankees were whipped and the war was 
 ended and that they expected their hus- 
 bands to return in a few days. Mary 
 further learned that the persons who had 
 left Fred with these women believed that 
 he had died the night before they had 
 reached the hamlet and that the young 
 lady, when she learned of Fred's death, 
 had been thrown into spasms and that 
 her attendants had feared for her life. 
 They had arranged to leave the corpse 
 with the women for burial and to hasten 
 South with the young lady to her home. 
 The women told Mary that they had 
 purchased a coffin with part of the money 
 left by the lady and while placing the 
 corpse within it the eyes of the dead 
 
 [220 
 
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING 
 
 man opened and the entire body slowly 
 relaxed. The physician who was then 
 called said that Fred had a chance to 
 recover provided he could be made to 
 take some nourishment, and further ex- 
 plained that his death-like condition 
 had been caused chiefly by blood poison- 
 ing from a wound that had not yet 
 healed. Mary informed her hostesses 
 that Fred was a German and an heir 
 to a large estate in Germany and that 
 they would be well paid for everything 
 they did. These mutual explanations 
 inspired confidence between them. One 
 of the women's dresses proved to be a 
 perfect fit for Mary, who discarded her 
 boy's apparel without the least regret, 
 although it had well served its purpose. 
 In her new attire she stood before the 
 pale sleeper. The memory of bygone 
 days passed enchantingly before her: 
 The strong friendship between Albert 
 and Fred, her deep love for Albert and 
 
 [221 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 the cruel pain of parting from him. 
 Placing her warm hand upon Fred's 
 icy cold forehead and kneeling beside 
 his couch, she asked in a voice trembling 
 with love and woe: 
 
 "Oh, Fred, where is Albert?" 
 
 No answer came. She noticed only a 
 slight moving of his eyelids and a slight 
 tremor of his body. Bending down so 
 he might hear, she exclaimed: 
 
 "Fred, you must recover, you must 
 tell me where Albert is! The battle 
 begins, for Albert's sake help me to win 
 it!" 
 
 Her eyes shone with the fire of this 
 resolution; her form grew erect again 
 as of old and from the drooping mourner 
 she had changed in an instant to the 
 brave woman who is determined to win 
 the prize at all hazards. As she stood 
 before Fred holding his hands and count- 
 ing the feeble beating of his pulse, the 
 two women entered and saw the beauti- 
 
 [222 
 
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING 
 
 ful girl meditating beside the couch of 
 the apparently doomed soldier. Look- 
 ing up, Mary saw the astonishment of 
 her new friends and smiled, while the 
 latter gazed on the noble, girlish face of 
 grace and energy, and attracted by the 
 wonderful power displayed in her fea- 
 tures, threw their arms around her and 
 kissed her as a token of welcome. 
 
 Thereafter began a siege with death. 
 It required the utmost exertion of the 
 three women. Mary remained with the 
 patient day and night. A ball that had 
 been lodged dangerously near Fred's 
 heart was extracted by a skilled surgeon 
 who assigned the presence of the ball as 
 the reason for Fred's continued un- 
 consciousness. After the operation 
 Fred's condition improved physically, but 
 his mind remained a blank for a long 
 time; nor was he able to regain the 
 power of speech, although he made 
 many efforts to articulate which were 
 
 [223] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 murmurs only, and not understood by 
 any one. 
 
 The clamor of war was around them. 
 Confederates as well as Federals passed 
 the hamlet at intervals without molest- 
 ing the women. An officer, whose hand 
 had been bandaged by the women, had 
 fastened a metal cross to the door. 
 Many sick and wounded soldiers were 
 cared for by them; it made no differ- 
 ence to which army an invalid belonged; 
 in fact, the women frequently did not 
 know whether the suffering soldier was 
 a Federal or Confederate, consequently 
 the commanders of both sides often 
 supplied the "Cross Road Hospital" 
 with the necessary provisions and medi- 
 cines, as they were informed of the living 
 heaven between the two surging fires 
 of purgatory by some convalescent 
 soldier who would, upon his return to 
 duty in the field, praise its nurses as 
 angels and their work as sacred. 
 
 [224 
 
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING 
 
 Winter came and Fred's mind was 
 still under a cloud; his mutterings were 
 still unintelligible, although his body had 
 become stronger. On a bright day in 
 February, while left alone in the room, 
 he slowly arose, and, for the first time 
 since he had been wounded, stood upon 
 his feet. As Mary entered the room he 
 stretched out his hand and distinctly 
 uttered "Mary." She went to him, 
 with tears of joy running down her cheeks, 
 and grasping his hand, asked: 
 
 "Where is Albert?" 
 
 He did not answer immediately, a 
 cloud of unspeakable woe passed over 
 his face as he pointed to the floor and 
 with a tone as solemn as the grave, 
 answered, 
 
 "Dead!" 
 
 "Dead," repeated Mary, and she sank 
 upon Fred's couch in utter hopelessness. 
 
 Fred's condition became worse after 
 his premature exertion; the physician 
 
 15 
 
 [225] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 who was called shook his head in severe 
 disapproval of Fred's arbitrary action 
 and said that a repetition might prove 
 fatal, since the patient had again fallen 
 into that stupor which so closely resem- 
 bled death. Mary had no time to mourn, 
 her whole attention and that of the two 
 women and two negroes, a brother and 
 sister, who had been engaged as assist- 
 ants, were steadily in demand by the 
 sick and wounded that were sent from 
 the neighboring localities in which both 
 opposing armies operated. Mary's power 
 of resistance seemed marvelous. She 
 often dropped to sleep from sheer ex- 
 haustion while at work. The patients 
 deeply appreciated the struggle of this 
 noble girl in their behalf, and many a 
 youth, who owed his life to her tender 
 care and skillful treatment, in leaving 
 the place, left his love with that angel 
 in human form. 
 
 Spring had come and gone and Fred 
 
 [226] 
 
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING 
 
 was still in danger of a relapse. He, 
 more than any other whose life had been 
 saved by these unselfish women, had 
 noted their exertions and the remarkable 
 will power of Mary. When his mind 
 had darkened and death asked for ad- 
 mission, it was Mary's gentle voice 
 asking, "Fred, where are you?" that 
 brought him back to consciousness and 
 life. He would watch for hours her 
 deeds of kindness to the afflicted and 
 gradually he felt a passionate love for 
 the sweet girl, which made health and 
 life the more desirable. 
 
 Albert's name had not been men- 
 tioned since his almost fatal effort of 
 trying his strength. Mary had at first 
 accepted Fred's disclosure of Albert's 
 death as an unalterable fact, but as she 
 pondered over Fred's condition as it 
 must have been since the battle, hope, 
 the undying flame of life in the human 
 heart, whispered louder and louder that 
 
 [227] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 Fred, in his protracted delirium, might 
 have been mistaken and that Albert 
 might still live; that he might have 
 been severely wounded and, like Fred, 
 might have been saved by some sister 
 of mercy. 
 
 Eternal hope! Who would live with- 
 out thee! How many hearts crushed 
 with affliction hast thou saved! How 
 many hands, directed by despair, hast 
 thou stayed on their way to destruc- 
 tion! 
 
 The spring and summer of 1862 had 
 brought a rich harvest of blood; the 
 battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas had 
 been fought and won by the Federals. 
 The immediate result of the victory had 
 been the saving of Missouri for the 
 Union. The battles around Richmond 
 in Virginia had been less successful for 
 the Federals and consequently the danger 
 of the capture of Washington was im- 
 minent. A feeling of distrust prevailed 
 
 [228 
 
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING 
 
 in the North similar to that which had 
 existed after the first battle of Bull 
 Run. The clamor, "Let the South 
 depart in peace," again became the cry 
 in the North by politicians of every 
 class, whereas the patriots that had not 
 yet enlisted and were able to fight, 
 joined the army; thus proving their 
 love of country by deeds and leaving 
 to stump speakers and to stump poli- 
 ticians the task of taking care of the 
 wind. 
 
 As soon as Fred was able to write, 
 Mary informed the St. Louis bank of 
 his convalescence. In a few days two 
 gentlemen, of whom one was a notary 
 public, appeared at the hospital and in- 
 troduced themselves to Mary and Fred 
 as the representatives of the bank in 
 St. Louis, producing at the same time 
 the necessary vouchers. They had come 
 for the purpose of obtaining from Fred 
 a power of attorney for some person in 
 
 [229 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 Germany who was to serve as Fred's 
 agent and manager of the large estate 
 which had been left him by his mother. 
 After the business had been completed, 
 Fred asked them for a private interview 
 at which he made his last will and testa- 
 ment in favor of Mary Graham. 
 
 The successful completion of his per- 
 sonal affairs had a remarkable effect 
 upon Fred. He had been tormented 
 about the disposition of his property 
 in the event of sudden death and had 
 for some time resolved to turn over to 
 Mary his entire expected wealth in 
 Germany as a token of his love, but he 
 had been unable to devise a safe plan of 
 executing his desire until the arrival of 
 the representatives of a responsible bank. 
 
 His mind, now freed from this care, 
 had won a victory over his body; the 
 thought that Mary's future could under 
 no circumstances be threatened with 
 the care for her daily bread as had been 
 
 [230 
 
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING 
 
 her mother's lot, seemed to drive the 
 blood more rapidly through his veins; 
 his appetite returned and his eyes re- 
 flected the inner glow of this very change. 
 The physician and the nurses noted 
 with astonishment this rapid transition 
 from threatening death to vigorous life, 
 which the expert called a freak of nature 
 and the nurses called a miracle. 
 
 How merciful and yet how just is 
 Nature in her disposition of pain and 
 joy! During the terrific suffering caused 
 by his wounds, man is longing for death 
 as a deliverer. In his gradual recovery 
 of health he sees the beauties of heaven 
 and earth, he feels the unspeakable joy of 
 returning health and with the love which 
 is akin to that love of Him who died on 
 the cross, and who in the pangs of death 
 asked that even His murderers should 
 be forgiven, man, in the disposition of 
 an All-wise Power, is also ready and 
 willing to forgive every foe. 
 
 231] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 Fred gained in health and strength, 
 In less than a month from the time he 
 had made his will, he was able to help 
 himself. During that time he had oc- 
 casional conversations with Mary about 
 their old home, but both refrained from 
 mentioning Albert's name, although each 
 felt that the question of his life or death 
 must soon be determined beyond any 
 doubt. 
 
 Mary could not possibly avoid seeing 
 the pure and tender love that Fred 
 expressed in every action and in every 
 look. She saw that rising passion with 
 a trembling fear and avoided as much as 
 possible his approaches. The calamity 
 of Fred's growing love almost broke 
 her down. She was convinced that no 
 living man could take Albert's place in 
 her affections, even if she had the most 
 positive proof of his death. In this 
 almost unbearable condition of her mind 
 she finally resolved to demand of Fred 
 
 [232 
 
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING 
 
 what positive knowledge he had of Al- 
 bert's death, and, if there could be no 
 doubt, to show her where he was buried. 
 On the next morning she invited Fred 
 to a private conversation in the arbor 
 that had been built by the convalescents 
 of the Cross Road Hospital. 
 
 Fred obeyed sadly. In compliance 
 he related the events which had taken 
 place since Albert and he had enlisted 
 at St. Louis and which are stated in the 
 next chapter. Mary listened through- 
 out with an interest which seemed to 
 drive every drop of blood from her 
 countenance and to rend the walls of 
 her agitated heart. 
 
 [233] 
 
Chapter XIX 
 
 THE BATTLE OF WILSON S CREEK. 
 
 IT now becomes necessary to trace 
 some of the events which took 
 place after the members of the 
 club had left their home. 
 
 Shortly before reaching St. Louis, upon 
 the invitation of the captain, they held 
 a farewell meeting in the latter's private 
 office. At this meeting they resolved 
 and sacredly pledged themselves to hold 
 a reunion on July 4, 1865, in the old 
 log house. 
 
 When they landed at St. Louis the 
 condition in Missouri was extremely 
 critical. 
 
 To save southern Missouri, General 
 Lyon had been ordered to take command 
 of all the Union forces in that state. 
 Encouraged by the Confederates' success 
 
 234 
 
THE BATTLE OF WILSON S CREEK 
 
 at Bull Run, Generals McCulloch, Price 
 and Pierce, with about sixteen thousand 
 troops that had been gathered in the 
 states of Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, 
 were detailed by the Confederate govern- 
 ment to co-operate with Governor Jack- 
 son of Missouri in order to retain the 
 southern half of that state for the Con- 
 federacy. To oppose these forces Gen- 
 eral Lyon had, all told, not quite eight 
 thousand men, mostly home guards, a 
 few battalions of regular infantry and 
 even from this small force, General 
 Scott, then the commander-in-chief of 
 all the Union forces, had ordered the 
 cavalry to be sent East. 
 
 Our friends were immediately sent 
 toward Springfield, where General Lyon's 
 army was operating. Albert and Fred 
 reported to Captain Plummer of the 
 regular infantry, while the other members 
 of the club were assigned to other divi- 
 sions. 
 
 [235] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 On August 9, 1861, the Union troops 
 in and around Springfield were ordered 
 to be in readiness to march at any time 
 against the enemy who had approached 
 the city within ten miles. At twilight 
 in the evening of that day the small 
 army of eight thousand men courage- 
 ously left Springfield to meet the Con- 
 federate army of sixteen thousand, in 
 order to at least check their march to 
 the North, if they could not defeat them, 
 owing to the inequality of numbers. 
 
 "There will be no Bull Run this time/* 
 said Albert as he handed Fred the musket 
 which had been carefully examined by 
 the two friends, and then both hastened 
 to join their company. 
 
 It is not the intention to describe the 
 entire battle which commenced shortly 
 after daybreak on the next morning, and 
 which terminated in the evening by an 
 orderly withdrawal of the Union forces 
 to Springfield; nor to describe the death 
 
 [236] 
 
THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK 
 
 of General Lyon at the head of his 
 troops while he cheered them on to over- 
 come the unequal numerical contest by 
 unequaled bravery. 
 
 Of the many tragedies during the war 
 only one is singled out that is no more 
 nor less tragic than many others, but that 
 has thrown its shadow over the chasm 
 of half a century and is still remembered 
 and felt by the few whom death has 
 spared, and who will bear willing testi- 
 mony of the heroism of its actors. 
 
 Plummer's battalion, to which Albert 
 and Fred belonged, was about the first 
 division that came into action. With 
 an irresistible determination they threw 
 the opposing Confederate forces into 
 disorder and partial flight. Having 
 crossed a corn-field and being hidden 
 by a dense thicket they were in the act 
 of capturing the nearest Confederate 
 battery when the enemy received en- 
 forcements of two regiments from Louis- 
 
 [237] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 iana and Arkansas and they, in turn, 
 drove back the Unionists. 
 
 In the heat of the battle and by force 
 of circumstances Plumrner's battalion 
 had divided into many squads while 
 attacking and pursuing the enemy. The 
 sudden appearance and forward move- 
 ment of the new Confederate troops 
 was hotly contested by Albert and Fred 
 and five more of their company. They 
 were somewhat sheltered by the under- 
 brush and opposed the enemy with fear- 
 ful effect, checking their advance. 
 
 Neither Albert nor Fred nor any of 
 their five comrades had noticed the 
 gradual withdrawal of the Union forces 
 and the gradual massing of Confederates 
 in front of them until it was too late. 
 The small Federal force was soon com- 
 pletely cut off and could have honorably 
 surrendered if that word had ever been 
 thought of among them. 
 
 They dispersed quickly, since they were 
 
 [238 
 
THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK 
 
 now the targets of the approaching 
 enemy. Fred and Albert, being still 
 close together, had almost miraculously 
 escaped the multitude of bullets aimed 
 at them. At last Fred fell, hit by three 
 bullets; a few moments later a hail of 
 lead struck Albert and he sank noise- 
 lessly down to that eternal sleep. At 
 the same moment a Confederate officer 
 broke through the heavy thicket and 
 knelt beside the dying foe; casting one 
 look at the face on which death was now 
 rapidly pressing its mark, the officer, 
 in a tone that would unman the bravest 
 of the brave, a tone in which trembled 
 all the tortures of hell and the love of 
 heaven, cried, "Albert!" and from the 
 dying boy's lips, from the immeasura- 
 ble depth of his heart, came the word 
 "John," and then those lips closed for- 
 ever. 
 
 John, for it was he, buried his face 
 upon his dead friend's breast and wept; 
 
 [239] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 even the fierce men from the South 
 under his command stood awe-striken 
 before the bloody harvest. 
 
 War, however, is relentless! The Con- 
 federates, who had driven the Federals 
 before them, were forced to stop in the 
 pursuit and retreat over the gained 
 ground before a perfect deluge of shot 
 and shell from DuBois' battery. Press- 
 ing a kiss upon Albert's brow John 
 quickly arose and made a forward move- 
 ment towards the hill from whence the 
 death-bringing missiles came. This 
 rapid change must have been imme- 
 diately noticed by the vigilant Federal 
 commander, since the next shot from 
 there struck John, killing him and two 
 of his men instantly and wounding many 
 others. Upon the Confederates' retreat 
 before such a rain of death a gigantic 
 son of Louisiana picked up John's body 
 and placed it beside Albert's. 
 
 Eventually the Confederates were 
 
 [240] 
 
THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK 
 
 driven back within their lines. During 
 the continuance of the battle neither 
 army permitted the other to occupy the 
 first battle-field that had been enriched 
 by the blood of as valiant soldiers on 
 both sides as ever waged a contest. 
 There the two friends lay undisturbed 
 in the sacred stillness of death, guarded 
 from all sides by the cannons of the 
 North and South. 
 
 On the next day, the Confederates 
 being then in possession of the late 
 battle-field, the burial of the dead began. 
 The detachment that had been under 
 the immediate command of John during 
 the battle and that had witnessed the 
 tragic death of the two friends, insisted 
 that one coffin and one grave should 
 hold both and that their remains should 
 be embalmed to make their future re- 
 moval possible. 
 
 Midway between where the two friends 
 had fallen their grave was dug; as the 
 
 16 
 
 [241] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 coffin was lowered and the blue and the 
 gray were forever united in Mother 
 Earth, it was not the glare of the sun 
 alone which made the sons of Louisiana 
 shade their eyes. No guns were fired 
 over the grave, a prayer only was ut- 
 tered by some one for a Union of the 
 North and South as true as had been 
 the friendship of the two foes below and 
 as lasting as their union would be in 
 death. 
 
 As we know, Fred's wounds did not 
 prove fatal; the loss of blood together 
 with the prevailing heat caused him to 
 faint and appear like a corpse. Even 
 after he had recovered consciousness 
 he could not stir. His condition re- 
 sembled a living death, although he dis- 
 tinguished the sounds about him and 
 had recognized John's presence. When 
 the Confederates were in turn driven 
 back, a shell exploded near him hitting 
 a Confederate as he was in the act of 
 
 [242] 
 
THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK 
 
 stepping over Fred's apparently dead 
 body. The result was grewsome; the 
 victim, with one-half of his head blown 
 off and the brain oozing from the other 
 half, dropped instantly dead upon Fred 
 and lay there until the next morning, 
 when the Confederates in burying the 
 dead, found to their surprise a "Yankee" 
 still showing signs of life, pinned under 
 their comrade's dead body. 
 
 Fred owed the further special care 
 that was taken of him by the enemy to 
 the fact that he had fallen near Albert 
 and that it was presumed that he, too, 
 must have been a friend of John's. 
 Fred was accordingly left with a poor 
 family living near the battle-field, with 
 instructions from the physician as to the 
 further care of the wounded man. Two 
 bullets, which had been extracted from 
 his body, were also turned over to the 
 family with directions to hand them to 
 the patient if he should recover or to 
 
 [243] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 put them into his coffin if he should 
 die. 
 
 The news of the battle of Wilson's 
 Creek reached Elma several weeks before 
 she received the report of John's death. 
 She had never ceased to love that tall, 
 chivalrous man whose outward appear- 
 ance impressed the beholders at once 
 with the honesty of the man and the 
 kindness of his nature. Elma had long 
 ago repented of her vain and selfish 
 treatment of him at the time when he 
 had offered her the most visible proof 
 of his honest love, and she, in a fit of 
 self-admiration, had rudely rejected the 
 form in which the proof had been given. 
 
 When she heard of his death on the 
 field of battle, life's greatest and sweetest 
 boon seemed to have vanished from her 
 forever. She at once set out to recover 
 his remains and bring them home for 
 burial, but failed to find them; the 
 soldiers of his command who had been 
 
 [244 
 
THE BATTLE OF WILSON S CREEK 
 
 present at his burial, in the belief that 
 the war had ended, had left the service. 
 The only other living witness, as far as 
 she could ascertain, was Fred, who was, 
 as yet, unable to give her any information. 
 She thereupon took Fred with her in 
 order to give him better care than he 
 could receive from the poor family who 
 had been entrusted with him, as has been 
 related in a former chapter. 
 
 [245] 
 
Chapter XX 
 
 FOUND AT LAST 
 
 RETURNING now to Fred and 
 Mary in the arbor at the " Cross 
 Road Hospital," where Fred had 
 ended the description of the battle and 
 its bloody results and was explaining 
 his semi-conscious condition after he had 
 been wounded. Mary was still not 
 fully convinced of Albert's death and 
 attributed Fred's impression of the scenes 
 that followed after the battle to the 
 hallucinations of a disordered mind. She 
 was determined to obtain absolute proof 
 of Albert's death; for that purpose she 
 ascertained Elma's address and sent a 
 messenger to her with the information 
 that Fred, whom Elma had left as dead, 
 had nearly recovered and had agreed 
 to search for Albert and John's grave, 
 further asking her to join them in the 
 
 [246] 
 
FOUND AT LAST 
 
 search which would be instituted upon her 
 arrival and for which preoarations had 
 been made. 
 
 The messenger returned in company 
 with Elma and two of her servants. 
 She was handsome; the subdued mourn- 
 ing for John was still traceable in her 
 classic features. As the two girls were 
 standing face to face, both being the 
 innocent victims of the cruel war, and 
 both harboring an undying love for the 
 two friends in an unknown grave, the 
 tragedy of the moment overpowered 
 them. Although they were strangers 
 their tears commingled as they em- 
 braced each other, yielding to the sym- 
 pathetic longing of true women to cling to 
 another heart that throbs in like anguish. 
 
 Preparations were hastily made to 
 leave within a few days. When the 
 time arrived for parting, Mary's two 
 faithful co-workers, whose husbands had 
 been killed in battle, were frantic with 
 
 [U7 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 grief at Mary's leaving. The promise 
 that she would soon return did not lessen 
 their grief; Fred's bountiful payment 
 for their services had no effect upon 
 them; they cried and moaned for that 
 angel who had miraculously appeared 
 at their threshold and who was now 
 returning to that place where hatred 
 and murder were unknown. 
 
 After a few days' journey they came 
 in sight of the battle-field of Wilson's 
 Creek. Fred left Mary and Elma at the 
 home of the old lady who had been his 
 first attendant. They were received 
 with undisguised joy by mother and son 
 who could not believe that the home- 
 less boy of 1861 and Mary, the dis- 
 tinguished looking lady of 1862, were one 
 and the same, until Mary reminded 
 them of the circumstances of their first 
 meeting. 
 
 Fred and the servants went to work 
 immediately, searching for the location 
 
 [248 
 
FOUND AT LAST 
 
 of the thicket and corn-field where Al- 
 bert and John had fallen. Now that 
 Fred was called upon to produce the 
 proof of their deaths, he began to doubt 
 the facts, as he had pictured them in 
 his memory. After a long and vain 
 search among the fields and woods, 
 which now looked so remarkably strange 
 to him, he became convinced that with- 
 out help from some one who was better 
 acquainted with the landscape and the 
 burial of the dead after the battle, he 
 would never find the exact spot where 
 the two friends had been buried. Or 
 was it true, as Mary indicated, that 
 the death and burial of his friends was a 
 dream only, and that Mary with her 
 doubts and her indestructible faith in 
 God's love and justice, was right and 
 he wrong? The torment of approach- 
 ing insanity was upon him and utterly 
 exhausted he fell asleep. 
 
 After many hours he awoke. Elma's 
 
 [249] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 servants and the widow's son were near 
 by and were glad of his awakening. 
 The long sleep had refreshed him and 
 driven away the threatening clouds of 
 a disordered mind. With renewed vigor 
 he resumed the search; questioning the 
 boy about the location of the last year's 
 corn-field he was astonished at his ready 
 answer, and became more astonished 
 when the boy told him that he had helped 
 to bury the dead on the next day after 
 the battle. Being further questioned 
 he remembered distinctly that the sol- 
 diers had wept as they buried an officer 
 and a "Yankee" in the same grave. 
 Upon Fred's request the boy led them 
 at once to the spot, nearly eighty rods 
 away, and pointed to the grave after 
 having cleared away a lot of dead 
 branches and leaves. 
 
 The finding of the grave and the cor- 
 roboration of Fred's story by the boy 
 was received by Mary with the calm 
 
 [250] 
 
FOUND AT LAST 
 
 with which the deer, worn out by the 
 chase, receives the mortal blow. The 
 last hope gone! Tearless, holding her 
 feverish beating temples, she sought a 
 lonely place to bury that last hope and 
 to hide from the world the raging of 
 the fierce battle within her. After hours 
 of anguish a faint ray of hope found once 
 more its way through the night of her de- 
 spair ! Was it not possible that the soldier 
 who was buried with John was not 
 Albert? Who had identified him? Cling- 
 ing to this sweet delusion she fell asleep. 
 On the next morning the bodies were 
 placed in the two coffins which had been 
 procured from Springfield; before the 
 final closing Fred asked Mary and Elma 
 whether they wished to see the remains; 
 both assented. At the appointed time, 
 in company with their attendants and 
 the widow and her son, the mourning 
 girls approached the coffins. Elma took 
 but one look at John's calm face, then 
 
 [251] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 fell upon her knees, asked his forgiveness 
 and entreated him to wait for her. 
 
 Mary stood silently beside Albert's 
 outstretched form; her eyes were cen- 
 tered upon his genial face which even 
 death had failed to rob of its beauty. 
 
 Elma at last arose and fled to the car- 
 riage where the widow tried to comfort 
 her as a mother would her child. Mary 
 still remained at Albert's side; the land- 
 scape was bathed in the golden sunshine 
 and beckoned her to live. Fred had 
 anxiously watched her; not a tear 
 dimmed her eyes; not a muscle seemed 
 to move within her; she appeared like 
 a marble statue watching death. Fred 
 urged her to join Elma, told her that 
 their country demanded her services, 
 reminded her of a mother's love and 
 anguish, and still she did not answer 
 nor give a sign to indicate that she had 
 heard him. 
 
 The silence became oppressive and 
 
 [252 
 
FOUND AT LAST 
 
 unbearable to Fred. As he was in the 
 act of leading her from the fatal spot, 
 she turned to him and in a voice as 
 sweet as a seraph's, said: 
 
 "Yes, Fred, your friend Albert is 
 dead ! God was jealous of him and called 
 him home. Please leave me alone for 
 an hour. I must decide within myself 
 to whom I must pray or whom I must 
 curse at such a sight." 
 
 Every one honored her wish and left. 
 Fred turned once more toward the gloomy 
 scene before the trees would hide the 
 view, and saw Mary kneeling beside the 
 coffin, lifting her hands to the heaven 
 above. 
 
 Upon their return Mary was found 
 dead beside her lover; her head lay on 
 his breast; her face, now really angelic, 
 showed no trace of pain; her left hand 
 held two letters, one directed to Fred 
 and the other to her mother; her right 
 hand, touching her lover's forehead and 
 
 [253] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 eyes, still held the pencil with which 
 the letters had been written. 
 
 "Mary, Mary!" cried Fred when he 
 beheld the girl he worshipped in the 
 awful majesty of death. He grasped 
 her hands, from which the warmth of 
 life had not yet flown, as if to tear her 
 away from the dark abyss of death. 
 Vain endeavor! In the agony of those 
 moments he condemned Mary's selfish- 
 ness of having crossed to the other 
 shore without him. 
 
 The letter to Fred was not sealed; it 
 requested him to bury the lovers in the 
 same coffin and in the same grave in 
 which the two friends had been bedded, 
 and to forward the letter directed to her 
 mother to its destination. This was 
 done. Fred, in addition, erected a 
 monument upon the grave of the two 
 lovers; he also gathered all the property 
 which had been owned and left by Mary 
 and together with a large sum of money 
 
 [254 
 
FOUND AT LAST 
 
 forwarded them to Mrs. Graham, and 
 then returned to the army with the in- 
 tention of selling his life at the highest 
 possible price. 
 
 Elma had John's remains sent to her 
 home and buried upon her father's plan- 
 tation. She had a modest mausoleum 
 erected over his grave and made it the 
 center of a small park which her two 
 faithful servants cared for under her 
 directions. She never married and yet 
 she lived a useful life. With the tenacity 
 of love's memory she recalled every 
 conversation with her betrothed, every 
 principle he had demonstrated and every 
 ideal he had worshipped. Thus John's 
 grave became to her the fountain of 
 noble and great thoughts, which she 
 fastened and molded in that sanctuary 
 with the pen and scattered broadcast 
 over the regenerated South. 
 
 Mrs. Graham received Mary's tear- 
 stained letter, and for some time was un- 
 
 [255] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 able to comprehend its crushing con- 
 tents; Lucy feared for her mother's 
 reason during this trying time, until 
 the strong woman, like hundreds and 
 thousands of other mothers, accepted 
 the inevitable for her country's sake. 
 During the club's reunion in 1865, upon 
 the urgent solicitation of its members 
 to preserve the letter, she permitted it 
 to be copied and a copy to be delivered 
 to each member. The original letter 
 was sacredly kept by her until her death, 
 which occurred on Christmas day in the 
 year 1902. When the dark messenger 
 had spread its shadow over her noble 
 face she requested the letter to be laid 
 upon her bosom; soon thereafter, with 
 a smile of welcome, as if Mary were 
 standing on the distant brink of that 
 dark river, the mother also crossed it. 
 
 The publication of the letter at the 
 present time, nearly fifty years after 
 Mary's death, should not be considered 
 
 [256] 
 
FOUND AT LAST 
 
 as a profane lifting of the veil which 
 covers a stricken daughter's immortal 
 love for her mother and the despair that 
 drove a lovely and beloved girl to seek 
 death as the last hope. 
 
 Dearest Mother:— Albert's coffin serves me as a 
 table while I am writing my farewell to the only being 
 in this world who has a right either to condemn or to 
 applaud my act. When your sweet, searching eyes read 
 these lines your daughter will be cozily bedded with 
 her lover in the bosom of Mother Earth. Do not be 
 jealous, dearest Mother! It must be sweet to rest down 
 there, away from all turmoil, hatred and murder. Oh! 
 I am so weary of life! Your first-born has reached her 
 goal. When Albert fell, my life was canceled. Had he 
 died as the victim of disease I could have continued to 
 live in the thought that he had paid the debt of nature. 
 But he was murdered by his country which he loved so 
 well! His uniform, now his shroud, is still stained with 
 his precious blood! 
 
 No, Albert, your girl is coming! With the parting 
 kiss you took her soul; now take her body also. 
 
 Farewell my dear, dear Mother! A wild desire seizes 
 me to ask your forgiveness! I know you will forgive 
 me. You would not force me to live without hope; to 
 plod through the dreary desert before me, ever yearn- 
 ing for my lover's kind face, his soul-lit eyes and strong 
 arms and never, never to find them above the sod! 
 
 17 
 
 [257] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 My sweet, sweet Mother! The earth is gliding from 
 me! I press my lips upon your sacred name and, with- 
 out pain, cross to the other shore to meet my lover. 
 Farewell! 
 
 Your Mary. 
 
 [258] 
 
 
Chapter XXI 
 
 THE REUNION 
 
 ON the morning of July 4, 1865, 
 the old log house on the banks 
 of the Mississippi wore a festive 
 dress. Garlands of oak leaves, inter- 
 twined with flowers and ivy, decorated 
 the venerable building, the birthplace 
 of the club that bore its name. 
 
 A cozy cottage had been lately erected 
 nearby, which, in connection with a small 
 garden, was surrounded by a tasty and 
 well-kept picket-fence. Mrs. Graham, 
 the owner of the cottage, her daughter, 
 Lucy, and Mr. Henry, the village post- 
 master, were standing in front of the log 
 house engaged in conversation; suddenly 
 they were disturbed by a whistle and the 
 rumbling of a train. Lucy with her old- 
 time zeal interrupted the two older 
 persons by clapping her hands and ex- 
 
 [259] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 claiming, "The^boys have come! The 
 whole village is hurrying to the depot 
 to receive them." 
 
 Yes, the boys have come, but not all 
 of them! At that thought Mrs. Graham 
 turned pale and fled to her room where, 
 upon her knees, she wept bitterly. The 
 sun, however, shone brightly, the birds 
 were chirping their morning hymn and 
 the crowd of villagers were joyfully 
 welcoming the members of the "Log 
 House Club" and accompanying them 
 to the venerable building which the post- 
 master had named the cradle of the club. 
 
 Once more the spacious dining-room 
 was thronged with the familiar faces, 
 though changed by age, pain and suffer- 
 ing. The furniture had been kept intact 
 in anticipation of this reunion. In the 
 place of Hugo Brenner, the last presiding 
 officer, Ralph Bowdoin was chosen presi- 
 dent and Lucy Graham its secretary. 
 
 Ralph took the chair and suggested 
 
 [260] 
 
THE REUNION 
 
 that the responses to the roll-call should 
 be made sufficiently exhaustive as to 
 show upon the company's book, for the 
 benefit of the members and their rela- 
 tives, the cause, place of death and burial 
 of any member since deceased, and to 
 name the nature of the sickness or 
 wounds, if any, and where they had 
 been received, of the living members. 
 The president's suggestion was approved 
 and the secretary was asked to call the 
 roll. 
 
 Lucy arose to get the company's book 
 that had been last used by Albert. She 
 found it safely stowed away in Albert's 
 wardrobe upstairs with other things be- 
 longing to the beloved dead. She made 
 a short entry therein and then with a 
 visible effort steadied her voice, brushed 
 away the tears and read: 
 
 "John Gibson." 
 
 "Killed in the battle of Wilson's Creek, 
 and buried in Louisiana," answered Fred. 
 
 [261] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 "Albert Burdett," called the trembling 
 girl, with a voice that seemed to issue 
 through an ocean of tears. 
 
 "Killed in the battle of Wilson's Creek 
 and buried where he fell," was Fred's 
 slow answer. 
 
 "Fred Lambert." 
 
 "Present. Received three rifle-shot 
 wounds, one in left shoulder and two in 
 abdomen, at the battle of Wilson's Creek, 
 also a sabre cut in right arm at the battle 
 of Gettysburg," answered Fred. 
 
 "Byron Burns," cried Lucy in a com- 
 manding tone that would have done 
 justice to a corporal. 
 
 "Present, without having been wounded 
 or sick," responded Byron. 
 
 "Paul Gerard." 
 
 "Wounded in the knee at the battle 
 of Lookout Mountain," answered the 
 former law student, whose peculiar limp- 
 ing walk was now explained. 
 
 "Ralph Bowdoin." 
 
 [262] 
 
THE REUNION 
 
 " Miraculously escaped from fever, also 
 had left ear shortened by rifle ball at the 
 battle of Spottsylvania Court House," 
 answered Ralph quite cheerfully. No 
 one present had noticed Ralph's defective 
 ear until this announcement was made, 
 whereupon he received his comrades' 
 congratulations for his narrow escape 
 from instant death. 
 
 "CarlKron." 
 
 "Killed in the battle of Mills Springs," 
 answered Peter Ivan, who had been an 
 eye-witness of Carl's death and his aven- 
 ger in the fierce bayonet charge that had 
 secured the victory for the Federals. 
 
 "Lou Johnson." 
 
 "Not heard from since the battle of 
 Wilson's Creek, after which he was re- 
 ported among the missing," answered 
 Peter Ivan. 
 
 "Hugo Brenner." 
 
 "Died of malarial fever contracted 
 among the southern swamps," answered 
 
 263] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 the presiding officer, who had been treated 
 in the same hospital for the same disease. 
 
 " Peter Ivan." 
 
 "Present and unharmed," responded 
 the lucky Hungarian who had gone 
 through an ordeal in the old world and 
 another in the new without having re- 
 ceived a scratch. 
 
 "Mrs. Graham." 
 
 "Present," answered the worthy ma- 
 tron, as all eyes were directed upon her 
 careworn face. 
 
 "Mary Graham." The secretary's 
 voice, while pronouncing her unfortunate 
 sister's name, was as soft as the touch 
 with which the Angel of Death opens 
 the portals of eternity to the centenarian. 
 
 "Killed by despair and buried at 
 Wilson's Creek with Albert Burdett," 
 answered Fred with an involuntary sigh 
 and with his eyes shut as if he would 
 thus blot from his memory the last 
 tragical scene on that battle-field. 
 
 [264] 
 
THE REUNION 
 
 "Lucy Graham," called the secretary, 
 thereby breaking the silence which, after 
 the announcement of Mary's death, lay 
 like a stifling cloud upon those present. 
 
 " Here," answered Lucy. Having care- 
 fully chronicled her answer she announced 
 Carlo's feat of saving the two children, 
 also his death, and his burial in the 
 village cemetery. 
 
 This announcement created a sensation. 
 Every member related some remarkable 
 act of Carlo's, spoke of his faithfulness, 
 of his forethought and cunning. The 
 memory of him became even at that 
 moment a blessing to his former masters 
 and companions, since their united love, 
 admiration and sympathy for him al- 
 leviated their grief for those sleepers in 
 southern soil and cleared the atmosphere 
 for the day's festival. A resolution was 
 then passed that Carlo's death should 
 be recorded like that of any other 
 member. 
 
 [265 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 It was now eleven o'clock in the fore- 
 noon. Mrs. Graham invited the club 
 to enjoy the next two hours in a social 
 talk and in visiting the scenes of their 
 former usefulness; admonishing them to 
 return at one o'clock sharp and enjoy 
 a family dinner as of old. In the distant 
 city cannons were booming in recogni- 
 tion of the day. The new depot and 
 station that had been built near the 
 last grading done by the boys, was taste- 
 fully decorated and was carefully ex- 
 amined by them. They were welcomed 
 by the depot agent in true Western 
 style. 
 
 The people of the village greeted them 
 with such genuine friendship that it 
 brought tears to the eyes of the boys. 
 Union flags floated everywhere. They 
 raised over Rev. Gilbert's grave a beauti- 
 ful flag and also decorated the grave of 
 Harry Elwell's mother who had died the 
 year before, believing that her son would 
 
 [266 
 
THE REUNION 
 
 soon return, although the people in the 
 village knew that Harry had heroically 
 died on the battle-field of Chancellors- 
 ville. 
 
 Punctually at one o'clock they returned 
 to the log house. In entering they mar- 
 veled at the remarkable change of the 
 interior. The old dining-room had been 
 profusely decorated with pictures, flowers 
 and garlands, and the table was loaded 
 with viands of the choicest kinds. While 
 they were still admiring the pleasant 
 changes in the familiar room, Rev. Colby 
 entered from the adjoining room, fol- 
 lowed by Mrs. Graham, Lucy, Mrs. 
 Henry and daughter Anna, and a strange 
 young lady, who, leaning on Mrs. Gra- 
 ham's shoulder, blushed and wept al- 
 ternately. All were carefully dressed 
 and their actions and features were as 
 expectant as if some unusual event were 
 about to happen. 
 
 Those of the members who were not 
 
 [267 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 in the confidence of the ladies were dum- 
 founded at the strange spectacle, and 
 viewed the proceedings as if they ex- 
 pected an enemy's battery to open fire 
 on them at once. Yet no enemy was 
 near. The reverend gentleman, whose 
 snow-white hair formed a pleasing con- 
 trast to his smiling face, cheerfully re- 
 marked that on such a day of days some- 
 thing more than a waste of powder 
 should be the order of the day; that the 
 commemoration of the birth of this 
 nation, since the grave for Slavery had 
 been successfully dug, and the prepara- 
 tions for its final extinction and burial 
 had been fully made, had a holier sig- 
 nification than heretofore, and that on 
 such a day it would be eminently proper 
 that the most sacred action of all the 
 sacred actions of mankind should be 
 performed, and that in this instance 
 the fittest place for its performance 
 would be the birthplace of those high 
 
 [268 
 
THE REUNION 
 
 ideals which the Log House Club had 
 adopted and had scattered broadcast 
 over the land. 
 
 The company seated themselves while 
 the minister, like a patriarch of old, in 
 a voice trembling with emotion, spoke 
 of the large list of sacrifices that the 
 club had made. 
 
 "Weep not," he continued, although 
 his own eyes were moist; "from their 
 graves, and from the graves of others 
 like them, has at last arisen the Goddess 
 of Liberty freed from the chains of 
 slavery! The blood that was spent 
 in the cleansing process is holy blood! 
 Wherever the slain may be assembled, 
 whether in the bosom of the ever gen- 
 erous Mother Earth or in the promised 
 gorgeous labyrinth of heaven, they are 
 happy and expect you to continue the 
 fight of breaking the other fetters of 
 mankind and yet ever jealously guard 
 the liberty which their blood has aided 
 
 269] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 to establish. Even the blood of Lincoln, 
 whose only fault was his excess of love 
 for humanity, like the blood of the 
 One who demanded that we should love 
 our enemies, was required to complete 
 the victory. 'It is done.' The blood 
 of the noblest of mankind has set the 
 stamp of immortality upon Liberty and 
 she will never die!" 
 
 " Farewell, brave comrades on the other 
 shore," the speaker exclaimed with a 
 steadier voice, and pointing upwards, 
 "and farewell also to you, sweet maid, 
 who healed the wounds of others, but 
 who bled to death from the wound a 
 cruel fate had inflicted upon you. The 
 wheel of progress demanded your blood 
 to mingle with the hero blood of your 
 brothers upon its journey through un- 
 told centuries and through jungles of 
 vice and superstition! We ask you to 
 bless our work to-day as we bless the 
 
 [270] 
 
THE REUNION 
 
 work of Him whose ways we cannot 
 fathom. Amen." 
 
 The "Amen" was repeated by those 
 present and seemed to brighten the sad 
 faces in the room. 
 
 The speaker then unfolded a paper 
 which he held in his hand and asked the 
 persons whose names were called to step 
 forward. The excitement among the 
 assembled friends was now intense; at 
 this moment Mr. Henry, the postmaster, 
 entered and was welcomed by the com- 
 pany. 
 
 The minister then called the names of 
 the following persons, who placed them- 
 selves before him in the order named: 
 "Byron Burns and Lucy Graham." 
 "Paul Gerard and Anna Henry." 
 "Ralph Bowdoin and Ruth Burdett." 
 The minister turned to the rest of the 
 company and asked them to serve as 
 witnesses to the marriage of the three 
 couples before them. All arose. The 
 
 [271] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 ceremony was performed, recorded in 
 the company's book and duly acknowl- 
 edged by the witnesses. 
 
 Mrs. Graham, before asking the com- 
 pany to be seated, explained to the un- 
 initiated that upon her urgent request 
 the contracting parties and their rela- 
 tives had maintained a complete silence 
 as to the coming events and asked to 
 be forgiven for having withheld such 
 interesting news from them. 
 
 "As we grow older," she added, "we 
 are growing more cautious, more skepti- 
 cal, if you please; for that reason I 
 feared that if the intended union of these 
 young people had been generally known 
 some unforeseen event might have in- 
 terfered and destroyed the realization 
 of their wishes, as wishes of like impor- 
 tance, frequently expressed, have often 
 been destroyed." 
 
 A general amnesty was cheerfully ex- 
 tended to Mrs. Graham and her allies, 
 
 [272] 
 
THE REUNION 
 
 and many compliments were bestowed 
 on all the ladies for the extraordinary 
 feat of keeping such a secret for such a 
 long time. 
 
 This pleasant exchange of civilities 
 brought about a marked change in their 
 conversation. Life with its duties and 
 rewards asserted itself and demanded 
 the sunshine of the living presence. 
 
 Encouraged by this change, Ralph 
 Bowdoin introduced his wife, Albert's 
 sister, Ruth, and informed them that she 
 had been a nurse in a Federal hospital 
 in the South to which Ralph had been 
 conveyed as a doomed man, having con- 
 tracted what was thought to be a hope- 
 less case of malarial fever. The phy- 
 sicians had left him with the nurses 
 without instructions. Ruth's special at- 
 tention was directed to him by his calling 
 her "Albert," when she was leaning 
 over him to arrange his pillow. Think- 
 ing of her brother and his friends and 
 
 18 
 
 [273 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 that the invalid might be a member of 
 the famed club of which Albert had 
 written her, she gave him the closest 
 attention. He fully recovered, notwith- 
 standing the physician's death sentence, 
 and before leaving the hospital he made 
 the fair Ruth an offer to dedicate his life 
 to her, which dedication was accepted. 
 
 The blushing bride, as beautiful in her 
 modesty as she was in her features and 
 form, fled to Mrs. Graham, who em- 
 braced her and called her daughter. 
 
 Paul Gerard now introduced his wife 
 as the postmaster's pretty daughter. 
 He asserted that ever since she, as her 
 father's deputy, had delivered to him 
 a long looked-for letter from his mother, 
 there had been an unwritten contract 
 between them that some day he would 
 come and ask her to be his wife, and that 
 this contract, during the war, had been 
 put in writing and properly signed. 
 
 Byron Burns was also compelled to 
 
 [274] 
 
THE REUNION 
 
 betray some of the secrets of his court- 
 ship. He introduced his wife, Lucy 
 Graham, as his former pupil in algebra, 
 who could not comprehend the wisdom 
 and possibility of taking something from 
 nothing, and who had, as a special con- 
 dition, made him pledge to strike that 
 study from the family's bill of intellect- 
 ual fare before she would speak the 
 decisive word. 
 
 Further complications were cut off 
 by the command of dinner; the company 
 gathered around the familiar table, at 
 which Rev. Colby occupied the seat of 
 honor. The conversation during the 
 meal was more fascinating than the 
 delicacies of the table, although the latter 
 were excellent. The reminiscences from 
 the past life of the club and the soldiers' 
 life in camp and battle, together with 
 the interesting remarks by Rev. Colby 
 and the ladies, presented a wonderful 
 variety of entertainment. 
 
 [275] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 Before closing the eventful festival 
 with a short prayer, Rev. Colby ex- 
 pressed himself with great satisfaction 
 at the extraordinary results of the work- 
 ings of the club, which had manifested 
 themselves chiefly in the pointed and 
 condensed narratives of personal events 
 in which the respective speakers had 
 taken a part. He attributed this gentle- 
 manly instinct to the observance of the 
 "Golden Rule," which prohibits the 
 lenghty, therefore tedious and deaden- 
 ing, parading of such narratives before 
 a suffering audience, but which encour- 
 ages the condensed expressions of facts 
 in order to create a revival of other facts 
 and ideas, which, if related briefly and 
 to the point, thus leaving their vital 
 powers intact, will lead to moments in 
 life that are never forgotten, and that, 
 even in the remote future, may enrich 
 other moments and become the germs of 
 noble and great deeds. 
 
 276 
 
THE REUNION 
 
 Upon Mrs. Graham's invitation the 
 members of the club met at her cottage 
 on the next morning. 
 
 Ralph Bowdoin had accepted a posi- 
 tion as an assistant agent at the village 
 railway station and was to share the 
 cottage with Mrs. Graham and Ruth, 
 his wife. A strange, passionate love had 
 seized Mrs. Graham for Ruth, who closely 
 resembled Albert and whose actions re- 
 minded her of Mary. 
 
 Byron Burns and Lucy were to leave 
 for a distant state in which Byron had 
 accepted a professorship in the higher 
 mathematics. Lucy, at the final part- 
 ing, threw herself into her mother's 
 arms and declared she would never have 
 consented to leave her if Ruth had not 
 pledged herself to take Mary's place. 
 
 Paul Gerard and his bride were to 
 leave for Paul's old home where his 
 parents and a partnership in a lucrative 
 law practice awaited him. 
 
 [277] 
 
THE LOG HOUSE CLUB 
 
 Fred Lambert, formerly the merriest 
 of all, was now the saddest. Upon Mrs. 
 Graham's question how she could ever 
 repay him, he answered, by giving him 
 Mary's picture and the ribbon she wore 
 on the day the club left for the war. 
 Both were given him. 
 
 The other members scattered as yet 
 aimlessly over the Republic which they 
 had helped to save. 
 
 At noon on the next day the whole 
 village turned out for a general hand- 
 shaking with the departing members 
 of the club and wished them Godspeed 
 on their second journey. A beautiful 
 wreath, encircling the words "The Log 
 House Club," had been fastened to the 
 smoke-stack of the engine of their train 
 on which the members were to leave. 
 A special car, also decorated, had been 
 provided for them. When the signal 
 to start was given and the train slowly 
 began to move, the village church choir 
 
 278] 
 
THE REUNION 
 
 of 1861 began singing the national hymn 
 and the throng of people joined at once 
 in the grand old song, while their friends 
 on the train, remembering the parting 
 of years ago, stood at the windows of 
 the car, waving their handkerchiefs, and 
 mourning for their dead comrades of 
 bygone days. 
 
 [279 
 
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