Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-10

the spring and to find him so suriy. He had a
small hut which was nothing but hole dug in
the hillside. with little level place in front
shaded BY growing cactus. This showed he
had been there some time, settled inhabitant
Of a country that is summed. And the wonder
Ing little boy was with him.
As the sergeant stood talking with this ma
We drove past with the wagon to a good bit of
camping ground. And as the men on foot
strobe past singly, Armstrong looked at the boy,
! smiled. and said
Hello. kid Merry Christmasr' and he drew
from his pocket a couple of defective cartridges
and tossed them to the boy as a sort Of Christ
mas gift.
The man quickly came between the pair. and
taking the cartridges from the boy, forced them
back upon Armstrong.
"Dout give him tham," said he. "Do you
want to kill him."
wouldn't hurt him Then he and the man
stood looking at each other for q little till it
seemed that they might have cried out ~
know your' For the look on Armstrong; face
! passed from anger at the interference into
doubling surprise, and then into o depth of ten
derness. as it did sometimes when he sat alone
I on the barrack porch looking back beyond the
horizon and the evening sun shono on him.
And he said softly:
| where is his mother?'
/ That's none OF your
| The man stopped by an effort and visibly
/ trembled. Then, hoarsely: Don't. for God s
sake, talk to him about church nonsense, He
dont know Christmas nor Sunday; he only
knows night and day, and he's happyr'
/ Then they talked together a little time, the
sergeant and all the rest having gone on to es-
tablish the camp. Armstrong put questions
and the man replied, sometimes with gesture
ike denial. Finally the man said:
We'll, You see what I've come to-"
''Ies, and look at me, said Armstrong. For
some moments the two faced each other in
silence. Then Armstrong put out his hand,
saving;
Its been hard enough on both Of us; and
now we've come to this He seemed to choke
IL his utterance as he recognized and admitted
/ the fact that whatever IL was fate had denied
him for the sake of this other the gift had not
brought happiness with it. The other grasped
his hand, and for a moment they stood thus;
then Armstrong came over toward the camping
spot, as nonchalant, as carelessy active. as ever
whistling gay air as he came. 1t was but an
assumption Of Indifference, but il was well
done II prevented our questioning him.
Though good comrade he had definite limits
to his intInacies.
Armstrong was strangely different from the
run OF enlisted men. He had education; he
thought. But he did not make a parade OF his
learning before the poor devils who could only
put nnger TO the pen while some one else made
the mark. Armstrong wrote a good hand and
might have been headquarters clerk if he would.
We didn know anything about him; he never
talked OF his past, as men ordinarily do When
he nrst came among us he picked up the drill SO
fast that 1t was rumored he was deserter from
some other regiment; but when the first ser
geant limited much to Twobars he was
snubbed for his pains.
Another thing: 1t was pretty well understood
that Armstrong was but an assumed name
half the time he seemed not to recognize the
name when spoken to. But that was nothing
against him IN community where the majority
of men had had SO many names that they an
swered to any at random. And he chummed In
with all, was pleasant, self-reliant, never did
mean trick, and we all liked him. he gambled
and drsnk-too much. probably, but he seemed
to do SO not for the moneys sake or for the
liquor. but from restlessness of spirit. He
wanted a constant change.
'Oh, Armstrong, called one OF the men,
pointing toward the pool. Armstrong looked
around quickly and saw the boy following him.
Laughing aloud. lie caught the boy up in his
arms and thea put him down carefully. He sat
down on the ground and began to talk to the
youngster.
How old are you?'' said he
The boy made no reply but looked at him
with an untaught child fearless interest in a
new face.
"How long have you been here9'' said Arm
strong.
six times" said the boy
Times what!'
Its come hot weather six times" said the
boy. explaining.
And what have vol done in all that timer
Nothing. Dad hunts. sometimesI go with
him. had a favn. but it ran away"
The boy had absolutely no fear of his new
acquaintance. We ali noticed it, and Hakker-
son grunted out gently:
Did you ever see anything like the way chill
dren and dogs take to him?" When in garrison
Armstrong was usually followed by a troop of
abandoned ours who found in him their only
friend.
But Armstrong; gentle eye fell upon the boy
with pitying glance.
You stay here alone, You go hunting, Why,
you are not much over six years old at the
bestr'
Then he sat silent, not seeing anything. with
his hand on the boys head. till the little fellow
| stirred uneasily Then he recovered and said
as though hungry for a familiar word:
Tell me, what is your name?"
But the boy replied
What did you call me?"
Armstrong gathered himself from his dreamy
state. Il called you-what? Why, kid wasn't
| it?''
After that. The next you said?''
II don't Notwithstanding guess. Only,
1 said, Merry Christmas
That's it. 1t amt my name, you know. 1t
sounded queer. What is it2'
Then 1t was that Armstrong perceived a duty,
not OF military nature. develoving upon him
I But be was not the man to shrink from any
L
unworthines. TO hear what he would say. Per
| haps Hakkerson felt this the most keenly of
any, for be started first and, with commenda-
| ole thoughtfuiness, pulled Gutter, who was
staring round-eyed and omitted to swear at all
Armstrong, left alone with the boy, put his arm
about him and looked into his eyes.
MY boy" said he don't you know what
| Merry Christmas means?'
The boy shook his head.
did you never hear Of CHRISTI
The boy nodded. Il hear dad say it when
he mad"
Armstrong got up quickly and walked a few
PAGES back and forth. I'm not the worst of
men, but I'm bad sample. / never knew
much of this. and what did know I've tried to
/ forget And now that this should come to me
TO be done-her child-bu. Ill do what I can
and God help mel" He had raised his hand as
/ though taking an oath.
Then he sat down again and we saw that be
/ took of his battered old hat And he spoke,
but In a voice SO low, 50 tender, that none but
/ the boy could hear. And the sight softened all
our hearts-for it was Christmas day and
/ Christmas recollections were crowd ng upon each
/ VI us-and We ceased to dwell grumblingly upon
the comforts had left behind at the post
I We became good comrades again and warmed
toward each other. SO that Gutter took a needle
and thread to Hakkerson's torn blouse and
[ Hakkerson showed Gutter how to heal q blist +
cred foot overnight, and the sergeants COM
mands were more like requests and the cook
put extra coffee in the pot, and the teamster
did not kick his mules to make them stand