The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-03-20
THE VETERAN.

Out of the low window could be seen
three hickory trees placed irregularly in
q meadow that was resplendent in
springtime green. Farther away the
old, dismal belfry of the village church
doomed over the pines. A horse medi-
tating in the shade of one of the hick-
cries lazily swished his tail. The warm
sunshine made IN oblong of vivid yell
low on the floor of the grocery store.
Gould you see the whites of their
eyes?' said the man who was seated on
a soap box.
Nothing of the kind" replied old
Henry warmly. "Just a lot of fitting
figures, and 1 let go where they 'peared
to be the thickest. BangV'
"Mr. Fleming" said the grocer. His
deferential voice expressed somehow the
old mans exact social weight. "Mr.
Fleming. yoH never was frightened
much in them battles, was your"
The veteran looked down and grin
ned. Observing his manner the entire
group Uttered. "Well, l guess l was,"
he answered finally, ''pretty well scared
sometimes. Why, in my first battle l
though the sky was falling down. 1
thought the world was coming to an
end. You bet I was scared"
Every n laughed. Perhaps it SEEM
ed strange and rather wonderful to them
that a man should admit the thing, and
in the tone of their laughter there was
probably more admiration than if old
Fleming had declared that he had al
r1nx,o ICo,, N 1,D,, NTDpoauor tLo- l,,oyr-
that he had ranked as an orderly SER
geant, and so their opinion of his hero
ism was fixed. None, to be sure, knew
how an orderly sergeant ranked, but
then it was understood to be somewhere
just shy of a major generals stars. So
when old Henry admitted that he had
been frightened there was a laugh.
"The trouble was" said the old
man, II though they were all shooting
at me. Yes, sir, I thought every man
in the other army was aiming at me in
particular, and only me. And it seemed
SO darned unreasonable, you know. /
wanted to explain TO 'em what an al
mighty good fellow l was, because 1
thought then they might quit all trying
to hit me. But / couldn't explain. and
they kept on being unreasonable-blim
--blam-banSl So I run"
Two little triangles of wrinkles ap-
peared at the corners Of his eyes. Evil
IDENTIFY be appreciated some comedy in
this recital. Down neal his feet, how
ever, little Jim, his grandson, wa Wis.,
IDLY horror stricken. His hands were
clasped nervously, and his eyes were
wide with establishment at this terrible
scandal-his most magnificent GRANDPA
Their telling such a thing.
"That was at Charlottesville. OF
course afterward l got kind of used to
it. A man does. Lots of men, though,
seem to feel all right from the start. l
did as Q as l got on to it, as they
say now, but at first / was pretty fius-
tered. Now, there wasyoung Jim Couk-
lin, old ST Conklin's son-that used to
keep the tannery you none of you recol-
leot Lim-he went into it from the start
just as if he was born to it. But with
me it was different. l had to get used
TO it,"
When little Jim walked with his
grandfather, 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 could
avoid the cracks. But upon this day he
walked soberly, with his hand gripping
two of his grandfather's fingers. Some
times he kicked abstractedly at dande-
lions that curved over the walk. Any
one could see hat he was much trou-
bled.
"There's Sickles' colt wei in the
medder, Jimmie said the old man.
Don't you wish you owned one like
bim?''
"Umr' said the boy, with a strange
lack of interest. He continued his re-