The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1881-12-06

must make up your mind to remain
private always; there is no favoritism
in the army. You have now been five
months in the regiment, and those FIVE
months have been utterly wasted; al
ways shielding yourself behind the fact
that by your birth you are gentleman
by birth and education. l tell you,
sir, those two facts are a disgrace to you
simply disgrace of blessing
and an honor. AS yet / have kept you
out of the degradation of the cells; but
l fine. that punishment by lines is of no
avail-the punishment of fine simply
falls on your mother.'
Private Jones lifted his face, all GRIM
soned by shameful bushes, and repeated
Colonel Cotherstone's concluding words
"My mother, sir?"
"Your mother, sir" returned the
chief sternly. "If you have no consid-
Grafton for your family, for yourself, for
the honor of your old name; no shame
at the contempt of your officers, no
dread of what the end of all this will be,
does the thought of the mother who
bore you never cross your mind ?"
The lad turned away in confused
silence.
"Answer me !" thundered the chief.
He spoke then for the first time, spoke
in such a soft drawling voice that Col.
Cornerstone absolutely shivered, it was
so like that other voice:
"Yes, sir, 1 do; only it is so hard"
with great sigh.
"What is so hard-your work ?n
mo, sir l don't know that I find
the work so bad. L could always groom
a horse well, and the stable work soon
got used to. And 1 don't mind the
men-they're rough, but they're good
natured most of them but it's the non
commissioned officers-I can't stand
them, SIR"
"Why not 2''
81 can do with old McAllister, sir"
said the lad eagerly, almost forgetting
his drawl; "but the sergeants in f troop
20 Lord - with auother sigh. eff
please one L displease another It's
having so many masters, and each thinks
he has right to bully me as hard as he
likes, because they've got few shillings
worth of gold lace on their jackets, 1
suppose"
(Which they have won by their own
good conduct" rejoined the colonel
"I'll tell you what it is, Hamilton
"you're young fool, with only little
further to go in the direction you re now
in to find yourself at the devil"
"You know me, sir |" the lad gasped.
81 knew your-people," answered the
colonel curtly. He had almost said
"your mother" but changed the word
in time to "people;" "and for your
names sake-not for your own, mind
will give you one more chance. If I
move you out of f troop into Sergeant
McAllister's, will you give me your
word to try and reform ?"
The crimson tide flushed anew over
the lads face. A rush of feeling (could
that darkness be tears p flooded into his
azure eyes. He forgot that he was only
private Jones, and that the tall man
with the stern bronzed face before him
was that awe-inspiring being, 'the
commanding officer" Colonel Cother-
stone, one of the strictest martinets in
the service-he forgot it all. He only
remembered that he was Hamilton of
Glenbarry, and that this was the first
real kindness, except old McAllister's,
that he had met with for months. In
the impulse of the moment he held out
his hand, and said heartily: "I'll try,
SIR"
Colonel Cotherstone just laid his
fingers in the out stretched hand for a
moment.
"Very well, Hamilton, I'll take your
word," he replied gravely. "Now you
can CO."
When the door had closed behind the
lad, Colonel Cornerstone sat down again
in his arm chair and tried to think but
think he could not. A vision of q cher
ub's face under forage cap came per-
sistently between him and his thoughts.
How many years was it ago that just
such head and face and fingered in his
memory-just such cherub's face, and
under forage cap? And yet there was
difference. The mothers sweet blue
eyes had looked straight into his own,
with never the shade of shame he had
seen in those of the son that very day,
and the forage cap, from under which
the mothers golden curls had strayed,