Oliver Optic

Brother Against Brother Oliver Optic

Publisher Marketing: "Neutrality! There is no such thing as neutrality in the present situation, my son!" protested Noah Lyon to the stout boy of sixteen who stood in front of him on the bridge over Bar Creek, in the State of Kentucky. "He that is not for the Union is against it. No man can serve two masters, Dexter." "That is just what I was saying to Sandy," replied the boy, whom everybody but his father and mother called "Deck." "Your Cousin Alexander takes after his father, who is my own brother; but I must say I am ashamed of him, for he is a rank Secessionist," continued Noah Lyon, fixing his gaze on the planks of the bridge, and looking as grieved as though one of his own blood had turned against him. "He was born and brought up in New Hampshire, where about all the people believe in the Union as they do in their own mothers, and a traitor would be ridden on a rail out of almost any town within its borders." "Well, it isn't so down here in the State of Kentucky, father," answered Deck. "Kentucky was the second new State to be admitted to the Union of the original thirteen, and there are plenty of people now within her borders who protest that it will be the last to leave it," replied the father, as he took a crumpled newspaper from his pocket. "Here's a little piece from a Clarke County paper which is just the opinion of a majority of the people of Kentucky. Read it out loud, Dexter," added Mr. Lyon, as he handed the paper to his son, and pointed out the article.