stocked with slaves, and the quietude
of domestic life. He had cheerfully given up his friends and prospects as
a planter, and entered the service of his country. Frank Helm, the second
son, soon followed the example of his older brother, Lina. He obtained a
like commission, but he did not, like his brother, get along quietly. His
prospects as an officer were soon blighted, and all hope of being
serviceable to his country vanished forever.

CHAPTER VII.

DUELING.

Lina Helm was an easy, good-natured, clever fellow; but his brother Frank
was his opposite in nearly every thing; proud, fractious and unyielding.
As might be expected, Frank, soon after entering the army, got into an
"affair of honor," according to the duelist's code of laws. He was not,
however, the principal in the difficulty. One of his friends and a
brother officer, had a quarrel with a gentleman whom he challenged to
mortal combat. Frank was the bearer of his friend's challenge, and on
presenting it, the gentleman refused to accept it, saying that the
challenger "was no gentleman." Then, according to the rules of dueling, no
alternative was left for Frank, but to take his brother officer's place,
and fight. This he did and came from the bloody field disabled for life.
In consequence of his lameness, he was under the necessity of resigning
his commission in the army, which he did, and came home a cripple, and
nearly unfitted for any kind of business whatever.

While on the subject of dueling, permit me to record some of the incidents
of another "affair of honor," which occurred in the District of Columbia,
between Gen. Mason and Mr. M'Carter, two antagonistic politicians.

M'Carter offered his vote to the inspectors, and Mason challenged it.
M'Carter offered to swear it in, when Mason said if he did so he would
perjure himself. This blew what appeared to be but a spark into an angry
blaze, and a duel was momentarily expected; but their warlike propensities
subsided into a newspaper combat, which was kept up for several weeks,
each party supposing they had the advantage of their adversary. In this
stage of the quarrel, Gen. Jackson, with one of his aid-de-camps, Dr.
Bruno, visited Washington. Dr. Bruno was a friend of Gen. Mason's, and
to him the General submitted the correspondence, desiring his opinion
relative to the advantage one had obtained over the other. Dr. Bruno
decided against his friend, which probably exasperated him still more,
and