The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1867-05-31
Stlisteaaneuas geIsetioraussi n s.
THE SOLDIERS STORY.

4
Suppose you never come back, Walter,
what will Annie dor p. 81 .rs,fI
:. looked up at the words from the old trunk
1 was packing with my poor bits oftreasures
and my few worn clothes. and saw Annie
Hope standing beside me, with her hands
folded under her white apron. She was the
tiniest girl of ten, with.violet eyes and haxen
hair, golden where The sun kissed the ripples
tucked into the purple net. : .sa.. III 80 vi |
| She was no kin of mine. had had none
THAT l knew of since the sea washed, me
ashore upon the bleak Maine coast. lashed to
my dead mothers breast, and kind old
Gfandfather Hope, coming down to see the
dead forms strewn upon the beach, had found
me living and taken me home with him.
| ! could remember nothing of the time, but
/ almost fancied that could, and that it
was not only in dreams that / had seen my
Emether, with eyes like little Annie Hope 5
lsmiling at me in my cradle. --..-r,
Perhaps my baby eyes bad seen her angel
lspirit-Hsaven only knows.
Now most of all, the old people being dead,
land John Hope, Annie's father, and / fallen
Tout with each other because I hated his
trade of shoemaking, and would not be apr
prenticed to his brother, the baker, i longed
| for mother to sy mpathise with me and love
me, and clung to little Annie, as the one
thing fond of me in all the world. When
she spoke l looked up and saw that comfort
in her child's face, and put my arm about
/ her.
No help was to have from John Hope,
lfor he was very angry with me, and none
would have accepted, for l was Just as
langry with him Had he not said, with his
own quiet sueer and an ill-favored leer no
words could do justice to:
"Above shoemakin, Eeh7;5 That's takin'
airs, ] reckon, when you come to think that
only fur Shoemaker you'd been in the
Poor-house. Set a beggar a hoss- back and
/ it not be swearin' TO say where he'd ride tn,
but that's where you'er agoiD,' Mr.. Walter
Medway." aii .5a.. aas., .tlt isr
| All the blood in my veins boiled when 4
remembered that, and but for Annie, stand
ling near us with violet eyes wide open and
her lips apart with wonder, ]. should have
struck him !; / could not, though, before his
child. And that brings me back to her, the
little creature whose silken cheek touched
mine and whose voice uttered those words
again: a- I3 isaT t#la 2 -
Suppose you never come back, Walter,
what shall do?" s..tgl -o,libha
"Forget me, suppose L said. 90
She shook her head. g8ss s
] i'Nobody plays with me like yon. Don't
lgo, Walter. Why don't you like to make
shoesf Stay, and L Il coax father to let you
make the red ones" 4 Il arr 7,f'q .
81 must go, Annie said. aButI will
come back some day rich and famous, hope,
and then you will know better than you do
now why don't want to make shoes and
lwhile i am gone try to remember me, dear
mo one else will" d. 4ui u57!. a..-Y.q O.
She put her arms about my neck at that
and began to cry, and took my ,iackknife
out ofmy pocket and cut off a slender haxen
lcurl. e.f PC 81 ...5...-f.~os p
whats that fori she asked. a.4 IN =
ITO remember you by" said. 5fg r
"Then give me one of yours, Walter" she
sobbed, and the next instant little brown
ring of hair lay on her white palm. .r.a, b
'1n never lose it, Walter" + ss;a-ys fr
Aud / kissed the child for the last time
and shouldered my old trunk. and went
down ssairs. T.aa..,l ys.a-e .,il ai,. sl
"I'm going, JOHN" said at the shop
ldoor. =
"Well, well, as you brew so you must
drink, said the shoemaker, still stitching.
But his wife came out with her baby in her
larms and held out her hand. De- .
| aGood-bye," she said 'tand if you change
Iyour mind halfway on the road John shall
forgive you and take you back n
1 pressed the motherly hand, but / made
ltrudged out into the road on the way to meet
1.-THE stage. There were tears in my eyes and
"a great lump in my throat, but 1 had no
Thought of going back again, even when from
the stage roof saw wee Annie perched up.
lon the little garden fence waving her hand
me and fel. that that and my lady love
/ 1t was done. That night | slept in a
strange city. Next day was indeed seek
ling my fortune. H.. IT,. ~
i A fortune is a hard thing to find. Many
land many time l wished myself back in
lRushton before found it. Often at night
fall have wandered down to the wharves
and stood looking down into the turbid wa
tier, wishing for courage to bury all my woes
There, but the day came when my lucky star
arose. I did some slight service, by chance
for an old surgeon, who chose to think more
loft than it deserved, and who took NE into
his office in his gratitude. In time he grew
leven fond of me, and 10 consider me in the
light of son, so that it came to pass that al
Hast found myself asurgeon in good prac-
ltice, in fact making my own fortune, and
with every prospect of becoming celebrated
in the profession / had chosen. rl,}i7o fsl
1 was very young no longer. The boy s
Ismooth cheek was changed to a manly beard
II was broad of chest and tall OF stature. Nc
lone would have known me for the youth
who packed his little trunk in the shoe.
makers garret years before, but / had moi
forgotten the time, nor the violet eyes of my
baby true love, and my promise to her
1.-The lock of golden hair / yet wore next tC
: lmy heart, and the day came when resolved
! to go to Rushton, and see those amongs
lwhom had been reared. / wondered wha
lmy welcome would be-whether John Hop