True To His Colors

riate to the occasion? We want to let the folks in advance of us know that we are coming,

looked at Dick Graham, who was the finest singer in the squad, and the la

one while ther

of the hea

l quail 'mid the

ze on the mo

traced at the m

s where our

hand or the hea

of 'Many

s a part of two verses of "E Pluribus Unum." Of course the members of the squad all knew the song, but they did not suppose that Dick would ha

aid Ed Billings, as soon as the whoops and yells of derision with which the patriotic words w

, straw-foot, boom, boom, boom!" which they chanted with all the power of their lungs. Dick Graham congratulated himself on having said a word for the Union, and paid no sort of attention to the good-natured prods in the ribs which he r

When they filed through the gate into the academy grounds the sentry presented arms, and the commandant, who was standing at his window, turned away. The boys saw it, and told

hair in which he was sitting and waved the flag over his head, while the rest of the squad trooped up the wide

r the sea 'mid the

tle and temp

r guns with their

ellow: Couldn't you get up spi

e passes? I thought not. If things were as they used to be you w

and gone to town without permission. But these are times when rules don't count. There is your mail, and if you wi

e all about it, and then I shall be

esired information, "Congress has passed a law commanding all Northern

s State

at I kn

I? As long as the State does not tell me to go, I shall stay where I am un

I don't get it. But it will come fast enough if the Yankees begi

by with their hands in their pockets and see this government broken up, and you may depend upon it," said Marcy earnestl

odney, snapping his

be in your State and

ded Rodney, almost fiercely. "He says that if wa

States are stronger than we are, and they woul

aws or ties of blood to hold us together? Although we speak the same language, we do not belong to the same race that they do; we are better every way than they are, and we're not going to be bound to them any longer. The slave-holders of the South ruled the old Union for sixty ou

her will need me. Our blacks will al

are, and I'll bet you there are not a hundred in the South tod

mebody on the plantation, and I am the only one sh

d then, if the Yankees declare war against us, every ship that floats the old flag will have to watch out

ll not do any

ou really a traito

rs-the same colors that your gr

swered Rodney impatiently. "I'll bet you he would not fight under it now; and neither would Washington. But how will you fare

ousin's last words. "Mother will have something to do with me, I reckon; and so will Jack when he returns;

fight for

called upon to choose s

t fight ag

but you don't want to air any of your disloyal sentiments in their presence, for if you do, they will be likely to tell you that you needn't come again. My paper says that is what the Richmond girls are doing, and our Barrington girls

t exception, and if the committee will shut up every one of that sort they can get their hands on, they will do the publ

archway, waving his flag and making the hall ring with his shouts as he went. "Rally on the center, boys, and yell defiance to the Regicides and Ro

the Stars and Stripes, led by the tall student, Dixon, of Kentucky, who was backed up by nearly all the boys from the States that had not yet joined the Confederacy. The noise was deafening, but the colonel did not come out of his room to put a stop to it, and that confirmed Rodney in the belief that he was "all right for tomorrow morning." His frien

d and would have been restored to its place, but not without considerable trouble. The staff was so very slender that the lightest boy in school would have thought twice before attempting to climb it, and therefore the staff would have had to come dow

onsequently he offered no remonstrance when the orderly gathered the colors up in a bunch and started downstairs to deliver them to the head of the school. But the

anded, in no friendly tones. "Put it down here on the fl

im up he dared not refuse to obey the order, for he was well aware that he would get into trouble if he did. He folded the flag, and the tall student went with him to m

m to remember that there was a law forbidding this very thing, and the guards did not remind them of it, or try to send them to their rooms, fo

ants, and finally the lie was passed, and Rodney Gray and several other students in the lower hall proceeded to "mix up" promiscuously. Dick Graham was not among them. He stood at the head of the stairs, where he could see all that was going on without being seen himself. When the leaders

the orderly in a careless, indifferent t

re he knows it," replied Dick hastily. "Don't your ears tell you that the

t it best to go in with the report, in order to save himself from being hauled over the coals for neglect of duty. When the colonel came out of his quarters, buttoning his uniform c

ou have nothing to do with this

ed Dick. "I don't fight

e Miss

the stairs, along the hall, and through the archway with all haste, and then Dick went, too; but he went down t

telling how long the fellows will be able to keep up the farce, no

ell and without e

ave done it better. If

ought they were

ain they brought with them a light ladder that had been stored there for safe keeping. Moving at a run, they carried it around the building

room when you sent the orderly in to fetch him out?" whis

pen and the orderly should cha

to listen a moment to the tumult of voices that came from the direction of the parade-ground. "The fellows are at it yet, and if t

rather surprised to hear Dick say this. If he was still friendly

ought a heap of it once, and I don't know but I think as muc

s are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States," wrote Thomas Jefferson, and all the Northern and Southern delegates agreed with him. If they had intended to form one State or one government, they would have said so in language too plain to be misunderstood. That was Dick's way of looking at it, and he was honest in his belief that the authorities at

DICK GRAHAM S

ake tracks for cover and leave me to take care of myself. There is no need th

nd it. He made his escape with it, the ladder was taken back to the tool-house, and no one was the wiser for what had been done. If the students who presently followed the colonel back from the parade-grou

quired Dick, as Rodney came to the hea

. Did you get it?" he asked in a lower tone, first making sure that no one except those who were "in the plot" were near enough to overhear his words. "Bully for yo

the breast

There's nobody around ex

ou going to

ever see it again, and that is in

t want it to go in the kitchen stove, and

me of sense do you w

rate States of America," replied Dick gravely. "I need some s

flag away from him. But the latter was a strong, active fellow, and plucky as well, and Rodney wasn

se you, on the honor of a soldier, that you shall

u want to d

d me this afternoon that I need not call at her house again until I could tell her that

she will never see it hoisted again, and that assurance will have to satisfy her. If she should get her hands on it you would never see it again,

ed!" exclaim

hey don't submit. Dick Graham, you are a traitor, sure enough. You think more o

wrong," replied Dick. "

her does, and that's eno

gets re

d Rodney hotly. "But there's one thing about it. Our own flag goes up on that tower after roll-

call that going," sai

ke sure it was safe, and after looking up and down the hall to see that no one was observing hi