News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-01-17
THE BAD BOY AND HIS PA.
HENNERY TELLS THE GROCERY HIAN
WHAT HE THINKS OF THEOLD
SOLDIERS.
The Excuse the Bad Boy Finds for the Vet
Gran who Sometimes Drinks Too Much.



cram who Sometimes Drinks Too Much.
[From the Milwaukee SUM-
"Say. come iu here while I give Won
piece of advice, F." said the grocery man
to the bad boy, as the youth entered the
grocery one cold morning, with an old
veteran from the Soldiers Home. who
went up to the coal stove and rubbed
his hands, and turning to the old vet
eran, the grocery man added. "No, sir,
you can't have any plug tobacco, unless
you have got the money to plank right
down on the counter, and I had rather
you wouldn't come here to trade any,
way, because you look hard, and smell
IRONY, and my customers don't like to
mix up with you. The old veteran
warmed his hands and went out, with
tear IN his eye, and the grocery man took
the bad boy in the back end of the store,
and said, "You want to let those old sol
dlers 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, and he saw you walking up to-
ward the Home, with soldiers ON each
side OF you, holding on your arms. 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 acted as if he had been
the means of saving the boy from ter
nble fate. The boy was so mad he
couldn't speak for a minute, and then he
said:
"You and pa are pretty crowd to go
back on soldiers, amt you? How long
is it since you were hunting around this
town trying to hire substitute to go to
war for you? Then a soldier who vol
untcered was the noblest work of God,
and you helped pass resolutions to the
effect that the country owed a debt of
gratitude to them that could never be
paid. Every dollar pa has got he got
out of soldiers, when he was sutler of
regiment. Every mouthful I eat now is
the price of a soldiers wages, who spent
his money with pa. Pa wasn't ashamed
of soldiers then, and at that time SOL
der would have been welcome to plug
of tobacco out of your store, and now
you turn an old wounded veteran out
doors because he hasn't got five cents to
buy tobacco"
"There, there" said the grocery man,
becoming ashamed of himself 'You
don't understand your pas situation, or
1uine, you see"
Eyes, I see, +" said the bad boy, ''I see
1t all Just as plain as can be, and it is
my turn to talk, and l am going to talk
Tie time is past when you need the
soldier. When you wanted him to stand
between you and the bayonets of the
enemy, he was 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
sauerkrout and playing cards, and sent
them to him by the fastest express, and
you prayed for him, and you welcomed
him home with open arms, and said there
was nothing too good for him forever
after He should always be remembered,
his children should be cared for and ed
his children have died or grown up and
gone west, and you do not welcome him
any more. He comes i'll 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 patriot, who sent substitute to
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 us, and the
grocery man acted hurt. "The govern
ment paid the soldiers, and gave them
pensions, 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
pension to man who has lost his arm,
or who has bullet holes all over him? If
q train runs over mans leg, the rail
road is in luck if it does not have to pay
ten thousand dollars. What does the
soldier get? He gets left half the time.
am opposed to people getting drunk,
but as long as lots of the best people in
town get drunk when they feel like it,
why is it worse for an old soldier, who
has no other way to have fun and feel
rich, to get drunk. Ii you had to live at
the Soldiers Home, and work on the
road, and do farm work, for your board,
you would get as full as a goose when
you came to town. Outside of the
Home grounds the old soldier feels free
He looks at the bright sunshine, inhales
Gods free air, walks upright toward
town, and Just as his old wound begins
to ache, he sees a 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 words of the
Constitution, all men are born free and
equal, endowed with certain inalienable
rights, among which are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness, and he
goes in and orders schooner Of beer.
When he gets full he is the prey of fool
ish boys, like hre-bugs, who have fun
jeering him, and they SNOWFALL him and
say Look at the old drunkard' If he
lays down on the railroad track and is
killed by the cars, you read in the
paper of another veteran killed Your
only anxiety is as to whether he is the
same cuss you trusted for the tobacco
last summer, and the soldier is buried
without tear. Now, l have had it
drove into me by the conversation of
people older than me, by newspapers,
| and resolutions that soldier is one of
the salt of the earth. You may say that
the idea is outlawcd, and that when you
have got through having use for a SOL
der that he becomes a thing unworthy
to be recognized, but as long as L live a
man who fought can have a share Of
what 1 have got, and l will help him
home when he is full of benzine, and
whip any boy that throws snowballs at
him, or calls him names, and don't you
forget it.
"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 friend of mine. By
gum, [ never felt so much like pirate
in my life. You are right"
"Well, that is all right" said the bad
boy, as he started to go, ''But don't you
ever act sassy again when an old soldier
comes in here to get warm, and if he
wants plug of tobacco and hasn't got
the money you let him have it just as
though he owned block of buildings,
and if he forgets to pay for it l will bring
in coal or saw wood Tor you to pay for
it," and n emery went on twhIstling,
''When johnny comes marching home