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The Call of the South

The Call of the South

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Chapter 1 No.1

Word Count: 2209    |    Released on: 01/12/2017

with the citizen-soldiers who followed the standards of the 71st Ohio, waiting for the bugle to call th

s, would volunteer to a man. It was no less certain that, presenting unbroken ranks of willing soldiers, it would be the first selected

the claimants more and more difficult. Finally on the 6th of January, 191-, Se?or Emilio Ma?ana executed his coup d'état, overthrew the existing government, declared himself Protector of Venezuela, and "for the people of Venezuela repudiated every act and agreement of the spurious govern

of January his ministers informed the allies that their most august sovereign would deal henceforth

he Senate resolution declaring war was adopted after being held up long enough to permit fifty-one Senators to embalm their patriotism

e floor, the frequent outbursts of hand-clapping and applause as favourite officers of the regiment were recognized by the galleries, the surging and unceasing din and hubbub of the shouting and gesticulating mass of people on floor and balcony, gave the scene a holiday air which really belied the feelings of the greater number both of soldiers and onlookers. There was a serious th

man of that fineness which is Nature's patent of nobility. The older daughter is a young woman of eighteen years perhaps, inheriting her mother's distinction of manner and dignity of carriage, and showing a trace of hauteur, attributable to her youth, which is continually striving with a spirit of mischief for possession of her gray eyes and her now solemn, now laughing mouth. The younger daughter, hardly more than a child, has an undeveloped but fast ripening beauty which her sister cannot be said to possess. They have gray eyes and erect figures in common; but ther

continues, "I declare, mamma, I believe Helen thinks all these soldiers are just for

ke his place in the regiment, fo

lf, I suppose, even though he thoug

't you? Humph! he is too young sort, too much like a lady-killer to be a soldi

eaks through and strikes down and overwhelms all this clamour of applause, and there is no sound save the hurrying into ranks of the men on the floor. Then comes the confused shouting of a dozen roll-calls at once, the cracking of the rifle-butts on the floor, the boisterou

So he brings the guns again quickly to salute as the colour-guard emerge from an office door behind him, bearing "Old Glory" and the 71st's regimental colours; and, turning, he presents his sword as the field music sounds To the Colour and the bullet-torn standards sweep proud and stately to their posts in the centre battalion. This sudden and unexpected adaptation of the ceremony for The E

its personnel. Its men are of all sections and classes and parties. My mother was a South Carolinian, my father from Massachusetts. Your colour-sergeant is a Texan, and your regimental colours are borne by a native of Ohio, grandson of him who placed those colours on the Confederate earthworks at Petersburg. You in the aggregate most fitly represent the sentiment of th

cheer. Not a man had moved; though not a few felt as did Corporal Billie Catling, who remarked to his chum when the ranks were dismissed, "It's going

fectly developed outlines; and many heads were turned to look a second time at him, attracted both by his appearance and by the fact that he seemed to be an utter stranger to every one around him, not having changed his position nor spoken to a soul since coming up into the gallery. He was broad of shoulder, full-chested, straight-backed, with a head magnificently set on; and had closely cropped black hair showing a decided

me and went over his face. He, Hayward Graham, had applied to enlist in this regiment a month before, and had been refused admission because of the small portion of negro blood in his veins,-and that in a manner, too, that added unnecessary painfulness to the refusal. He rather despised himself for coming to w

lack humiliation of the thought that he might not even offer to die for his country in this select company because he was part-so small a part-negro; and he gnawed his lips in irritation. But when the f

behind the three women of the Colonel's family. At the foot of the stairs Lieutenant Morgan met

" thought Graham, as he passed out into the

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