Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1884-01-31
HIS TURN TO TALK.
The Bad Boy Holds an IndisH alton
Meeting With the Grocery Man.
TPeok's SUM-

grocery one cold morning with an oil
! veteran from the Soldiers Home. who wen
up to the coal stove and rubbed his hands
and turning to the cid veteran, the grocer,
man added: No, sir, you cart have an
plug tabaccO, unless you have got thu
money to plank right down on the counter
and had rather you wouldn't come her
to trade anyway, because you look hare
and smell trowsy, and my customers dom
like to mix up with you.n
The old veteran warmed his hands an(
went out, with tear in his eye, and tn,
grocery man took the bad boy in the bacl
end of the store and said:
You want to let those old soldier
alone. Your pa was in here last night
and he said he was ashamed of you. He
SAID he and your ma were out riding, ani
he saw you walking toward the Home
with soldiers on each side Of you, holding
your arEas, and your pa thinks they were
drunk. Now, you ought to be ashamed
Let those old soldiers alone They are
bad lot" and the grocery man looked as
though he had been the means of saving
the boy from terrible fate.
The boy was so mad he couldn't speak
for minute, and then he said
" You and pa are pretty crowd to &C
back on soldiers, amt you? How long is
1t since you were humping yourself around
this town trying to hunt substitute to &c
to the war for you ? Then the soldier who
volunteered was the noblest work of God
and You helped pass resolutions to the
| the effect that the country owed debt OF
gratitude to them that never could be paid
Every dollar pa has got, except what he
! nj vorlyor haTnra ha y,
| got out of soldiers, when he was a sutler
IN regiment. Every mouthful l eat now
! is the price of soldiers wages, who spent
his money for pas brandy peaches and
| sardines. Pa wasn't ashamed of soldiers
then, when they got drunk on brandy
| peaches he sold to them, and at that time
a soldier would have been welcome to a
| plug of tobacco in your store, and now you
turn an old wounded veteran out doors be-
| cause he hasn't got five cents to buy
| tobacco"
'There, there" said the grocery man,
becoming ashamed of himself You dent
understand your pas situation, or mine,
you see"
"Yes, 1 see" said the bad boy, II see it all
! just as plain as can be, and it is my turn
to talk and / am going to talk The time
is passed when you need the soldier.
When you wanted him to stand between
you and the bayonets of the enemy, he was
a thoroughbred, and you smiled when he
came in the store, and asked him to have
cigar. When he was wounded you hustled
around and got together sanitary stores,
such as saueTkrout and playing cards, and
sent them to him by the fastest express,
and you prayed for him, and when he had
whipped the enemy you welcomed him
home with open arms and said there was
nothing too good for him forever after.
He should always be remembered, his chill
dren should be cared for and educated, and
all that Now he is old, his children have
died or grown up and gone West, and you
do not welcome him any more. He comes
in here on his wooden leg and all you
think of is whether he has got any of his
pension money left His old eyes are so
weak he cannot see the sneer with which
you drafted patriots, who sent substitutes
to the war, look at him as he asks you for
a plug of tobacco and agrees to pay you
when he draws his next pension, and he
goes out with pain in his great big heart
such as you will never feel unless you have
some Goldfish spoil on your hands Bah
You patriots make me tired"
"You are pretty hard on u.s." and the
grocery man acted hurt. THE govern
ment paid the soldiers and gives them pen
sions, and all that, and they ought to know
better than to get drunk"
Paid them," said the bad boy indig
nantly, What is four dollars a month pen
sion to man who has lost his arm, or who
has bullet holes all over him? If a train
N ,,,on'o 1ar tho railroad iC in
luck if it does not have to pay ten thou
sand dollars, What does the soldier get.
He gets left half the time. / am opposed
to people getting DRINK, but as long as pa
and lots of the best people in town get
drunk when they feel like it, why is it
worse for au old soldier, who has no other
way to have fun and feel rich, to get drunk?
If you had to live at the Soldiers Home
and work on the road. and do farm work
for your board, you would get full as
goose when you came to town. Outside
of the home grounds the old soldier feels
free. He looks at the bright sunshine, in
hales Gods free air, walks upright towards
town, and Just as his old wound begins to
ache, he sees beer sign, and instead of the
words man that is born of woman is of
few days, and full of woe,' coming to his
mind. he thinks of the Constitution, all
men are born free and equal, endowed with
certain inalienable rights, among which
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi-
ness and he goes in and orders schooner
of beer. The saloon is the only place on
Gods green earth where the old wounded
veteran is free and equal, and he makes the
most of it. You can all class me with barn
burners, and cruel sons of rich people who
have no hearts, but the smile of pleasure
on the face of an old veteran when l speak
kindly to him, and the tear. of JOY that
comes from the broken heart and plows its
way dow the burrows of his cheek as he
searches IN his pocket for red bandanna
handkerchief, makes me feel as though l
owned brewery"
Say, hold on, Hennery," said the grocery
man, as his eyes became dim, You go out
and call that soldier back and tell him he
is a friend of mine. By gum, never felt
so much like a pirate in my life. You
have learned me lesson, and / shall be
proud hereafter to see you kind to an old
soldier, even if he is drunk, and if your pa
says any more about your being disgrace
on the family by being seen with old sol
diers. l will hit him in the ear and twit
him of being sutler in the army"
"Well, that is all right" said the bad
boy as he started to 60. But don't you
ever act sassy again when an old soldier
comes in here to get warm, and If he wants
q plug of tobacco and hasn't got the
money you let him have it just as though
he owned q block of buildings, and If he
forgets to pay for it will bring in coal or
saw wood for you to pay it" and Hennery