The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1888-08-31
I shall never FORGET the broken.

sented at last to sing. His face was
so rapt as he sat beating time with
his forefinger and occasionally quav.
ering out an effective Dying Tonight,
Dying Tonight" we sang as if our
very life blood was ebbing away,
that l began to realize the absolute
cowardice of ridiculing d perfectly
innocent, unconscious man. / began
to try and shield him from the fun
makers, and was finally joined by
Orphee, who became and eloquent
partisan. AS for Parsons, he grew
almost to worship the handsome,
sweet-voiced ad.
One luckless afternoon, Parsons,
Orphee and 1 strolled off together,
leaving "Miss Anna" to the mercies
of our mess; but tormented by some
vague presentment of evil, l induced
my companions to return a little
earlier than they intended. AS we
neared the tent my ear caught the
sound of derision that came first from
our Virginian, and were then finally
caught up by the others and then
ended in peal after peal Of laughter.
We pushed eagerly in. Alas! Miss
Anna" decked out in the most ride
ulous toggery, had been tied between
four stakes driven into the ground
and the men were engaged in prick
higher with pine burrs until the poor
animal fairly writhed with agony.
In a minute we had freed her and Par
sons held the poor bleeding creature
close to his breast. Hissmall, square
figure seemed to rise and dilate with
q certain sense of superior power, as
he turned his blanched face and blaz-
ing eyes upon the crowd.
"You call yourselves gentlemen"
he said harshly, "you who have tor
tured a poor, dumb, defenseless
creature left in your care Thank
God, my meaning of the word is diff
ferent! You have no excuse. You
are all supposed to be men and hon
orable men, men who are fighting
for the rights of their country, and
yet you can amuse yourself with
such s~enseless cruelty a you have
practiced this afternoon. YOuhave
branded yourselves as towards
and liars, for"-and here his voice
broke suddenly-"I trusted you"
There was an ominous, threaten
ing stir in the little tent, and several
men stepped out towards the speak
er, picturesque in his very u~npictur>
sequences, whose grotesque figure
stood out sharply against the bit OF
landscape showing through the open
ing in the tent. But his face awed
them back. The goat turned and
moaned pitifully, rubbing his nose
against Parsons coat with mute in
sistence. His face softened wonder
fully, be seemed to forget the men,
his anger, everything, and he whis-
pered to her in soft, caressing tones.
"You have followed me through
thick and thin, Miss Anna. When
the overflow came and we were starry
ing, it was you who struggled back
to us through the water, and it was
your milk that kept us alive. Every
thing then depended on your
strength. We called our baby after
you and when the poor little one
died it cut me cruelty, cruelty. lean
not forgive this days work. BE
brave, Miss Anna, be brave" and
putting his cheek on Miss Annals
head the tears fairly rolled out OF
his eyes.
He stopped q minute, drawing III
his breath in short, quick little -sObs
and threw out both hands with afor-
lorn gesture of abandonment.
COIL great God! was so lonely
when wife and babies all were dead,
and l loved Miss Anna then; I love
her now as the one relic left ne OF
that beautiful, vanished past. Then
the war came and tried TO leave
you, thinking it would be best, but
you followed me to be ridiculed, de
and eventOrtured. All thecon-
duct of the past week breaks
me and | see what a blind fool | have
been"
parsons, you're to 90 on picket
duty tonight, and you had better
start now," called in the voice Of our
Themen, now thoroughly
ashamed of themselves, came nearer
and were about to offer some heart
felt words of apology, but Parsons
turned away, and delivering Miss
Anna" over to Orphee, said plead
"If anything should happen to ne,
you will take care of herr"
Orphee's eyes filed with tears as he
pressed the extended hand.
Without another word or look
Parsons strobe out into the dark.
"We're brutes, cowardly brutes!"
said our Virginian, disgustedly.
"I northumberland a million Yar-
KEGS than hear that mans story tod
in thai voice again." said another.
That night was a weary one We
could not forget the solemn figure,
the dark, patient face, the broken,
tender voice, and the pines
above the river far away seemed to
mingle their grief at u coWardice
and brutality. Meanwhile "Aiiss
Anna" slept peacefully on the best
blanket of the mess, while we lay
there sleepless, thoughtful, unhappy,
even the greater issue of the war
m~omentarily forgotten.
With the dawn came action. The
Yankees vel upon US, and wefought
like wildcats. As evening came on
the fight was suspended, and when
our mess met everybody was there,
"Miss Anna" included, except Par
sons. We had made up a scheme to
beg his forgiveness and to yea
to be gentlemen, at least.
Each of us had a separate speech of
apology to make expressive of
and contrition. When night
down and Parsons did not