Forward, March | Page 4

of which
was that of a mine located beneath her, and causing a second
explosion--of her own magazines--by concussion.
During these six weeks the country was in a ferment. For three years
war had raged in Cuba, where the natives were striving to throw off the
intolerable burden of Spanish oppression and cruelty. In all that time
the sympathies of America were with the struggling Cubans; and from
every State of the Union demands for intervention in their behalf, even
to the extent of going to war with Spain, had grown louder and more
insistent, until it was evident that they must be heeded. With the
destruction of the Maine affairs reached such a crisis that the people,
through their representatives in Congress, demanded to have the
Spanish flag swept forever from the Western hemisphere.
In vain did President McKinley strive for a peaceful solution of the
problem; but with both nations bent on war, he could not stem the tide
of popular feeling. So, on the 20th of April he was obliged to demand

from Spain that she should, before noon of the 23d, relinquish forever
her authority over Cuba, at the same time withdrawing her land and
naval forces from that island. The Spanish Cortes treated this
proposition with contempt, and answered it by handing his passports to
the American Minister at Madrid, thereby declaring war against the
great American republic.
At this time Spain believed her navy to be more than a match for that of
the United States, and that, with nearly two hundred thousand veteran,
acclimated troops on the island of Cuba, she was in a position to resist
successfully what she termed the "insolent demands of the Yankee
pigs."
On this side of the Atlantic, Congress had appropriated fifty millions of
dollars for national defence, the navy was being strengthened by the
purchase of additional ships at home and abroad, fortifications were
being erected along the entire coast, harbors were mined, and a
powerful fleet of warships was gathered at Key West, the point of
American territory lying nearest the island of Cuba.
Then came the President's call for 125,000 volunteers, followed a few
weeks later by a second call for 75,000 more. This was the summons
for which our young friend, Ridge Norris, had waited so impatiently
ever since that February morning when he had arranged a bowl of roses
and read the startling news of the _Maine's_ destruction.
No one in all the country had been more impatient of the long delay
than he; for it had seemed to him perfectly evident from the very first
that war must be declared, and he was determined to take an active part
in it at the earliest opportunity. His father was willing that he should go,
his mother was bitterly opposed; Dulce begged him to give up his
design, and even Spence Cuthbert's laughing face became grave
whenever the subject was mentioned, but the young man was not to be
moved from his resolve.
Mardi Gras came and passed, but Ridge, though escorting his sister and
cousin to all the festivities, took only a slight interest in them. He was
always slipping away to buy the latest papers or to read the bulletins

from Washington.
"Would you go as a private, son?" asked his father one evening when
the situation was being discussed in the family circle.
"No, no! If he goes at all--which Heaven forbid--it must be as an
officer," interposed Mrs. Norris, who had overheard the question.
"Of course a gentleman would not think of going as anything else,"
remarked Dulce, conclusively.
"I believe there were gentlemen privates on both sides during the Civil
War," said Spence Cuthbert, quietly.
"Of course," admitted Dulce, "but that was different. Then men fought
for principles, but now they are going to fight for--for--"
"The love of it, perhaps," suggested the girl from Kentucky.
"You know I don't mean that," cried Dulce. "They are going to fight
because--"
"Because their country calls them," interrupted Ridge, with energy,
"and because every true American endorses Decatur's immortal toast of
'Our Country. May she always be in the right; but, right or wrong, our
country.' Also because in the present instance we believe it is as much
our right to save Cuba from further oppression at the hands of Spain as
it always is for the strong to interpose in behalf of the weak and
helpless. For these reasons, and because I do not seem fit for anything
else, I am going into the city to-morrow to enlist in whatever regiment I
find forming."
"Oh, my boy! my boy!" cried Mrs. Norris, flinging her arms around her
son's neck, "do not go tomorrow. Wait a little longer, but one week,
until we can see what will happen. After that I will