Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1908 — A CROSS OF HONOR [ARTICLE]

A CROSS OF HONOR

The fourth and last day of the Huntley sale was dragging slowly on. The Incidents of the bidding were as commonplace and unentertaining to most of the men who sat half wearily round the baize covered table and looked languidly at meddl after medal as they were to the auctioneer himself. The score or so of buyers were as varied a crowd as any event could well bring together. Lord Wentlocke was a well known collector who never missed an Important sale. Next to him .at a man without cuffs, who bought all the most expensive lots without apparently looking at them. Opposite was a Jew, who made all his bids by furtive winks and who endeavored by amusing sallies to distract bls competitors’ attention at critical moments, and between him and the British museum representative a turbaned Parsee, buying on behalf of a Calcutta art gallery. Two schoolboys had strayed in and looked on silently or compared notes of admiration in apprehensive whispers. At last the auctioneer pulled himself together. “Surely this will rouse you, gentlemen, if anything will,” he said. “Lot 184, a Victoria cross presented to Private Thomas Young for conspicuous bravery at Magdala; purchased by Mr. Hutiey from Messrs. Link and by them from the original holder. What shall I say?”

It seemed that the national collection was not in want of a specimen. Lord Wentlocke never by any chance opened the bidding, and the Jew always wait-, ed a little to find out who was Interested. Some one else started with £lO, and in the twinkling of an eye the cross had advanced to £2O and then bang a moment. It was then in the pause marking what would probably have been the halfway point that the silence was broken by the poorly clad woman, who had sat, nervous and unobserved, near the door. ' “Oh, sir,” she cried In a voice that was half a sob, “I don’t understand, but I could save only £2, and—and I am his mother!” « There have been many scenes of psychological suspense at Wetheby*«. Millionaires have plunged recklessly for historical pictures, relatives and legatees have carried on their wrangles and snarled across the table for the possession of heirlooms, but never In the annals of that famous house has there been so vivid a moment as when the mother of Thomas Young, the man who had displayed conspicuous valor at Magdala, stood forth in her neat and pathetic poverty and timidly held out the two pounds’ worth of silver for which she had starved and drudged In order to redeem her son’s medal. The silence was only for a second. Some one down the table, woefully out of touch with the wave of feeling, gave an amused laugh at the absurdity of the thing and, anxious to share the exquisite joke with the auctioneer, looked up, with a merry smile, as be called out, “Twenty-one!” 1 The Jew was on his feet in an Instant “Shut up, you fool!” he shouted furiously. “Can’t you see?’ The auctioneer—it was Mr. A., ever the most courteous and sympathetic of his profession—quietly tapped his rostrum once or twice. “Gentlemen,” he said, “this Is an unusual Incident and I think we will all agree that some way must be found out of the difficulty. So far the prices have been very satisfactory, and should It happen by any means—l cannot make any suggestion, gentlemen—but should It happen that in this one instance the price Is not maintained I do not think that the vender will have any cause for complaints. To my firm I myself will be responsible. The bidding when I last took it stood at £2O. That was Lord Wentlocke.” “Mine, too,” said the man without cuffs readily. “Surely you heard me. I thought you took mine.” “The gentleman is quite right,” said the Jew, rubbing his hands delightedly. "I heard him myself—before Lord Wentlocke, if anything.” He had never spoken a more obvious lie or one which passed so unquestioned. “As the matter Is in dispute, I have no option but to start the lot again,” said the auctioneer, with Infinite relief. “But, to take you completely into my, confidence, I must Inform you that I have against It a reserve merely nominal, as it was thought at the time, of £5." v

“Guineas,” said Lord Wentlocke quietly, and when the hammer fell, as it did without a second’s pause, it was amid enthusiasm which rivaled the scene when the famous petition crown created a record of £SOO. Lord Wentlocke never had any hesitation in the matter. "You must have no scruples about accepting It from me,” he said, crossing the room and putting the medal Into the rough and toil worn hand. “Your country is heavily in your debt, find what we are doing la little enough. How came your son to sell it?” “I was ill,” she replied, the tears running down her cheeks. “Oh, my lord, how can I thank you?* “It's nothing,” said Lord Wentlocke, the modest English feeling of awkwardness in conferring a favor gaining tbs ascendant, and to avoid the poMtbility of * scene he opened the swinging doors and escorted the mother of Private Young down into the

* Three was another ovation awaiting Lord Wentlocke on his return, bat that chivalrous and ingenuous peer, having rent his brougham to an address In the Borough road, decided to walk to GtMh Ivenor place rather than receive it Grasses everywhere. Grasses are widely distributed. We usually think of them as existing In our temperate zones only, because here we have the perennial pastures and meadows. They are, however, to be found so tar north that the soil is frozen under them during the greater part of the year, while they are also common to parts of the south where the frost is never known. Even the mountain tops that are clothed with perpetual snow have just below tho snow line their carpets of poas that grow and bloom through a brief period every year. The grasses push hard against the eternal snows. Applying Limo. The fall is generally considered the best time to apply lime, but moderate application may be made whenever the farmer finds it convenient to perform the work. Much of the fall grain ia seeded on corn ground, and this land in not plowed up or In shape to apply the lime advantageously at that season.

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