Birmingham state herald., 1897-04-25
THE VETERAN.
St. James Budget.

St James Budget.
 Ou. of ine low window could be seen the hickory trees placed irregularly in a meadow that was resplezdent in spring. time green. Farther away the Il dismal b.lfry of the village church loomed over the pines. A horse med.tating in the shade of the h.cko.ies lazily swlshed his tail. The warm sunshine made an ob- long of vivid yellow on the fioor of the grocery store.
 Could you see the white of their eyes ?' said she man who was seated on a soap bex.
 Nothing of the kind," replied old Henry, warmly. Just a lot of tiittng figures and I let go where they 'peared u be the Lhickest. Bangr'
 MT. Fl5ming,' said the grocer. His defer:ntial voice expre ssed somehow the old mans social weight "Mr. Fleming, you never was frightened much in them battles, was you?"
 Observing his manner, the entire group Uttered. Well, guess I was,' he afl- swered finally; "pre.'ty well scared some times. Why, in my first battle thought the sky was failing down. I though. the world was coming to an end. You bet 1 was scared"
 Every one laughed. Perhaps it seemed :tramge and ral;her wonderful to them hat man should admit the thing and lhe tone of their laughter there was ,robalbly more admiation than if old 'lemlng had declared that he had al- ways been lion. Moreover, they knew lat he had ranked as an orderly ser 5eant and so their opinion of his hero- sm was fixed None, to be sure, knew how an orderly ssrgelnit ranked, but tn n 1t was understood to be somewhere jus, shy of majO.-geneTals stars So when o'd Henry admtetsd that he had been frightened there was a laugh.
 The trouble was, said the old man, T thought they were all shooting at ire. Yes, sir. I thought every man in particular. and only me. And it seemed so alarmed unreasonable you know. I wanted to explain to 'em what an all mighty good fellow I was, because I thought they might quit all trying to hit me. But l couldn't explain, and they kept on being unrea -blim.- bam-bang! So I runr'
 Two littls trlanglss of wrinkles ap- peared at the corners of his eyes Evi- dently he appreciated some comedy in this recital. Down near his feet. how ever. little Jim. his grandson. was v.si- ply horror stricken. His hands were clasped nervously and his eyes were wide with astonishment at this terrible sean dal. his most magnificent grand father telling such a thing.
 That was at Chancellorsvil,e Of course. afterward I got kind q used to 1t. A man does. Lots of men. though saem to feel all right from the sbart. uiti- as soon as l got on to it. as they say now. but at first I was pretty fius- tered. Now. there was young Jim Conk- lin, old Si Conklin's son--that used to s keep the tlnnery-you. none of y3u, recol- lect him-he went into it from the start just hs if he was born to it. But with me 1t was different. I had to get used to it."
 z When little Jim walked with his grand fathsr he was in the habit of skipping along on the stone pavement in front of the three stores and the hotel of the town and betting that he would avoid the 7 cracks. But upon this day he walked . srbcG'ly. with his hand gripping two of his grandfather's fingers. Sometimes ha Kicked abztraetedlv at dandelions that curved over the walk. Any one could see that h. was rs:lich troubled
 TherS's Sickles' colt over in the med [ der. Ji:nrsie," said the old man. Don't you wish you owned one like him?"
 um," said the boy, with a strange lack of interest. He continued his re- fections. Then finally he ventured: "Grandpa-now--was that true what you was telling those men?"
 "What?" asked the grandfather. "Whnt was telling tnem?"