The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1891-07-14
THE OLD PATRIOT.
HE Is QUITE NUMEROUS IN ALL SEC
TIONs.


T1oNs.
He was a bachelor, and he owned q
little tobacco store in the suburbs. A ]
the labor, manual and mental, requisite |
to the continuance of the establish /
ment however, was done by the eX-
newtboy to whom the old soldier paid /
S4 a week and allowed free tobacco 7
He had come into the ueighborhood
from the interior of the state shortly
after the war, and for time there were
not ten houses within block of his
shop The shop is Low the one archi
tectural hlemish IN long row of hand.
some stores Miles of streets have
been built up around it.
The old soldier used to sit i'm an an
tique arm chair i'm the rear OF his chop,
sml iug from meal to meal.
"T parnt the habit in the army" me
would say. 81 never teched tobuckel
tni went TO the war;
People would look iuquiringly at his
"I got that at Gettysburg in the
second days fight" he would explain,
complacently,
He was often asked whether he was
a member of the Grand ARM OF the
Republc?'
IN; 'tain't worth while. I done my
! fighting in '63 and ga them times.
/ DON'T care about dom 1t over again
i'm talk Talks cheop.n
This made folks smile for he was con-
! tinually fighting his own battles over
! again in conversation. Every regular
| customer had been made acquainted
! with the part that he had taken i'm each
contest, where he had stood when he
received his wound, what regiment
had had the honor Of possessing him,
and how prom tly he had enlisted
against the wishes of his parents and
| sweetheart.
"Of course ou get pension" " many
| would observe.
He would shake his head and answer
in the mild tone of man consciously
repressing paTdonable pride.
81 never piled, and as long as the
! retail tobacker trade keeps up like this
L reckon l won't make no pull on the
| Government Treasury"
And he would puff at his cigar
| vigorously, beam upon the group that
surrounded his chair, and start upon
one Of his long trains of reminsceuce.
He was an amiBbly old fellow, with
kAa1 Alhll NhAElhAlN AOAAhNh huIh HUN
his curved forehead; a horid couute-
nance, boyish blue eyes, putted checks,
a smooth chin, and Il very military
looking gray moustache. He was
manifestly man who ate ample din
ueis and ample digested them He
would glance cOuteutedly downward
at his broad, round body, aud smilingly
remark:
81 didn't have that girth in my
fighting days. got it after the war
was oyer.n
All who knew him admired him.
He would tell with simple frankness
how, after Distinguishing himself at
Antietam, he chose to remain private
rather than take the lieutenancy that
was placed within his reach. He
would frequently say:
81 ain't one o. them that thinks the
country belongs TO the soldiers because
they saved it. No, sir! II they want
the country as reward, where's the
credit in savin' it?"
How could one help exclaiming:
"What a really noble old man."
Finally some of the young men who
received daily inspiration from his
photographed narratives arranged q
oul bilSO lAl AIb b4u 6OihltIs L hey
presented him with a finely framed
picture of the BIT e of Gettysburg,
under which was the inscriptions:
ITO a True Patriot, Who Fought and
Suffered Not for Sef-interest or Glory
but for Love of His Country"
This hung in his shop until the day
of his death. Then his brother came
from his native village to attend to his
burial. The brother stared at the
picture, inquired az to the meaning Of
the inscription, and then laughed
vociterously.
In the old soldiers trunk was found
faded newspaper that had been
published in his village in 1865. 1t
contained an account of an accident by
which a grocer's clerk had lost his
arm in thresh ling machine. The
grocer's clerk and the old soldier were
one person.
He had never seen battle. But so
often had he told his war stories that
in his last days he believed them: