The funeral over, and the Californian safely laid in his native soil on
the hillside, men gathered in groups on the corners of the village
street, or stepped into the bank to look at the six-shooter which had
failed their friend in his hour of need. The local minister, gazing upon
the dead man's revolver, was heard to remark:
"They that take the sword shall perish with the sword."
But the bystanders would not endure the doctrine. Their Anglo-Saxon
blood recoiled. And a former Californian, who was an old friend of
Cummins, stepped forward and said:
"Mr. Lamb, Will Cummins was not afraid to perish with the sword. And, if
he could have drawn that revolver, there would have been two dead
robbers. This doctrine of non-resistance is wrong, dead wrong. We proved
that in California, just as you people proved it here in the Civil War.
Will Cummins was not afraid to defend his rights."
"But," replied the minister, who in spite of his name seemed eager for
the combat, "the Civil War was a national crime. Think of the hundreds
of thousands of young men, North and South, who perished."
"Yes, Mr. Lamb, the war _was_ a crime.
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